Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1914-01-30
A POSTAL MARKET PLAN

Political economists used to say,
People are separated by rivers,
mountains, seas and mutual dread"
One by one, these barriers have been
conquered. Witness some notable eX-
amples, the Suez canal, the st. Goth
ard tunnel, the Simplon tunnel, the
Brooklyn bridge, the Panama canal.
The conquest of each one marked
distinct advance in civilization and
human welfare. Note also the names
OF Watt, Fulton, Morse, Bell, Mar
conf, Wright and Observation-Disclosures
removers, all!
Strange to say, very strange, in
deed, the greatest barrier of all,
barrier infinitely more wasteful of
human energy and time, than a trip
around the Horn, or a detour of the
Alps, still remains to hamper prog
ress and impose a burden, needless
and heavy upon mankind. Stranger
still, this barrier was not even recog-
nized as such by our leading men
hence they passed it by and attacked
the lesser ones.
This big barrier stands mountain
like, between the producer and the
consumer, challenging another Full
ton or Marconi to actionl Burle-
son, favored by the Fates, is in
position to demolish it with a stroke
of the pen This conquest, unlike
the others, will require no vast treas
ure nor sacrifice of life, nevertheless,
the task will demand the courage of
Wright and the unconquerable per-
severance Of an Edison!
What is the barrier! Let me illus
tate by personal experiences. / have
an orange grove in Florida and a
cherry orchard in Michigan. The bar
riers between me and the consumer
are the same, whether in the North
or the South. They are not peculiar
to fruit growers, either, but are COM
mon to all producers, hence, the or
ange will serve as true type for IL
lustration.
When this fruit commands 81
case in Florida, my nothern friends
must pay So or Sc a case. In other
words, 1t costs four or five times
more to carry an orange over the
barrier than it does to produce it.
This absurd and unnatural condition,
due to a marketing system, inordi-
nately expensive and inefficient, con-
stitutes a barrier much more waste
full Of human energy and time than
trip around the Horn; the Alps are
mere ant hill in comparison.
Burleson can demolish this bar
rier.. How? Simply by raising the
parcel post weight limit to 100 ponds
aud lowering the tariff to an actual
cost basis; establishing a rate of SO
cents case on oranges from Florida
to New York, Chicago, and inter
mediate points, with c. o. D. priv
ileges included, and similar rate for
all other products. This would en-
able the producer to deal directly
with the consumer and thereby elimi-
Late the barrier. Then the consum-
er would pay $3.50 instead of Sc a
case for oranges, and for all other
foods in proportion.
No, such a plan is not impractic-
able! Consider a train of 10 cars
running on a passenger schedule
from Florida to New York, carrying
800 cases to the car, or 1000 cases in
all. At SO cents case, the train
would yield revenue of $500 for a
35-hour trip. This sum would pay
the railroad generously and still
leave enough for local delivery. In
it's perfected form, this plan would
require a clearing mouse or postal
market operated under the auspices
of the postoffice, in which all food
stuffs would be handled in standard
packages.
You know the usual objections to
such plan, you also know with what
stubborn ferocity the plan would be
assailed by influential men who now
control the barriers, and derive a
profit therefrom, hence, you will