The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-10-27
THE HAsKIN LETTER
MARKETING BY MAI.
By Fredericl< ,. HasIIin.

By Frederick
The opening Of the parcel DOS
system has given the America,
housewife new avenue througl
which to procure table de1tcacles
\ home cured meats and many othel
4 articles, including even milk ans
Icream, can be procured directly IRON
the farm with no delay in their DC
! livery No less a person than UncN
! Sam himself has given this means q
solving some of her food problems
The movement toward marketing 9!
mail has now passed tie e1peri
mental point. 1t is rapidly deveAop
/ ing into practical business-ltke sys
TEN by which thousands OF fam1ne'
lare materially decreasing the cos
Iof living and at the same time Sc
curing food products of higher quat
lity.
Last March the post general
Eof the United States selected ter
| cities In which to inaugurate spe'
tcial campaign to secure larger use O
the parcel post by the farmers In de
liyerfnR their products directly tt
the consumers. These cities were
Birmingham, Ala; San Francisco
Calf. Atlanta and Athens. Ca;
Rock Island. Ill; Boston and Lynn
Mass; La Crosse. Wis; Detrolt
ton. D. G. The campaign was car
rfed on Chiefly through circulars ad-
vertising the advantages of the par
eel post as sales medium. which
were distributed as widely as posi-
ble among farmers within reasonable
reach.
The success of the scheme has
been especially well demonstrated n
Washington. which may be taken az
a sample city in the mail marketing
campaign. Some idea of the business
developed may be gained from tne
statement that the daily shipment o.
perishable farm products througn
the washington postofftce last week
averaged over Isl packages per day
or about 1000 per week. It is esti-
mated that fully thousand Wash
ington families are now ENJOYING
weekly shipments Of fresh country
produce OF some sort. eggs and put
ter comprising the most numerous
shipments. This trade has all peen
worked up since last May ana ~
likely to be increased during the win
ter when the city prices OF THESE
commodities are highest.
ii must be largely credited to the
personal enthusiasm with which CITY
Postmaster Otto Praeger inaugurated
the work. Mr. Praeger first issued
a carefully written circular In Wn1cn
farmers were told in simple Words
lust how the parcel post could ala
them in selling their goods and ask
ing them to let him know at once
Just what goods they had to sell. Inc
circular contained no tecnncal
terms, but gave simple directions Tor
packine farm products and explained
the postage rates per pound.
About $4,000 of these circulars
were sent out, chiefly to places with
in radius of $50 miles of Washing
ton. Rural postnlasterS posted them
nm In their Offices and distributed
them among their patrons. Soon MT
Praeger began to receive persona
answers from individual farmers
Within a month he was in possession
of an imposing list OF names o.
farmers wishing to sell their goods
directly to city consumers. The CO.
operation of the public library and
of the Washington Branch of tins
Housek eepers' Alliance was then Sc.
cured. A list Of farmers was placed
upon a public library bulletin boarc
where it could be consulted by every
housewife in the CITY. The farmer
were later instructed to send theil
list of products with prices directly
to the library. The letters and post
cards containing these were placed
upon the bulletin board bearing the
farmers price list IS those bearing
lists of new books.
The Housekeepers' Alliance is
national organization having
branch in most large cities. It's OBJ.
iect is the study and development OF
every condition calculated to I'M
prove and benefit the home. Mrs:
Harvey w. Wiley. the president OF
the Washington Branch. 1mmed1ateiy
recognized the value OF the parcel
post, so that cooperative commit
tea for active work was formed WITH
Mrs. F.. L. Ransone as chairman
This committee has been testing az
many of the farmers who have listed
goods as has been possible dur1ne
the summer and a detailed report Is
TO be issued later. A SUFFICIENT num-
Der Of reliable farmers have been
found to warrant the Alliance IN rec
ommending the plan and cooperating
with the parcel post authorities. a
box in the postofice has been RACED
at the disposal OF the Alliance &C
which communications relative 70
marketing by mail can be addrese'ed-
An women ordering goods from the
list Of farmers secured by the post
Office were invited to send in their
experiences.
The Alliance is also forming q
number of Consumers Clubs. These
are groups Of ten or more Womsn
who do not belong to the Alliance,
but are under the leadership OF an
Alliance member Each member
must be a consumer who is willing
to order farm products directly from
the farmer and report her experience.
Last week, one Of these clubs gave 9
luncheon at which the menu consist
ed chiefly of products ordered oy
mail from one farm They tncluaeo