The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1915-01-25
PARCEL POST PUT
FLORIDA TOWN
ON MAP in RED
Tropic Was At Mercy of Rail
roads and Express Companies
Until Ensey Started
MARKETS OUT OF REACH,
GROWERS DESPERATE
Now the Postmaster Complains
That He Is Overwhelmed
With Ensey's Business

WASHINGTON. Jan. t-Tropic
was q mighty small dot on the map
In the orange telt OF Florida until
the parcel post came along ana let
tered Its name In red ink.
The products. consisting principally
OF citrus fruits, were at the mercy OF
the transportation companies until the
Parcel Post law pointed the way Out
OF it's difficulties. Its orchards were
producing wealth that might De
classed as untold" IL only the fruit
could be sent to market. but the rail-
roads were unreasonable and the ex'
press companies were prohibitiye In
their tariffs. The fruit was allowed
TO rot on the ground because the mar
kets were closed to them and things
were mighty black for the people OF
Tropic until, provldentially, the parcel
post came TO their rescue.
Representative Claude L'Engle. who
represents the people OF the First Dis
trict Of Florida In congress, tells the
story while sitting in his home al
Chevy Chase. Mr.. LEngle. incident
ally spent his summers in Florida
boosting the parcel post and his win
tiers in Washington hghting the
! rheumatism.
I Mr.. L'Engle doesn't take the credit
for the metamorphosis OF Tropic fol
hts own, but gives ii 10 Geo. +. Ensey
q Tropic fruit grower. When the ex.
press companies were charging a
dollar a box to haul box OF oranges
Ito the northern markets and the
railroads asserted they had no freight
cars for fruit. Mr.. Ensey. with a copy
Iof the parcel post law In his hand
began to figure" Then he wrote 70
all dealers within q radius Of SOC
miles. offering them oranges in small
lots at prices considerably below the
commission houses. The retailers
read Mr.. Ensey's letters and smiled
rduhiously. The plan, they thought,
was hardly feasible, but IL Ensey
wanted to mail them oranges and
he wanted less than they were al
ready paying and he was able to
make deliveries in good order and
he wanted his money in advance
well. they thought they might try It.
Ensey's orders at first were small
He packed his oranges into crates OF
not more than eleven pounds and he
sent out good oranges. The fruit
growers were willing TO trust Ensey
for their money and Ensey was will
ing to trust the "out-of.town" deal
ars. SO he got the plan under way.
II wasn't very long before Ensey
began getting repeat orders accom-
panied by checks for his last ship
ment. In little while the postmas
ter Of Tropic began to complain OF
overwork because OF Ensey's parcel
post shipments, but Ensey wasn't
through.
The orange season drew to a close
and Ensey began to branch out In
business He tried tomatoes and the
results were as good, II not better
than those obtained from the orange
mail order scheme. Ensey found that
he could pack his tomatoes In small
boxes. stick on some stamps and REAP
q profit.
Still Ensey would not stop. He In
cluded beans, peppers. pineapples and
cucumbers In his marketing system
and Uncle Sam carried away his stun
a. fast as he could wrap II up. Now
Il Is not known whether Ensey had
included the possibility Of an In
creased weight limit In his plans OF
whether he was just lucky enough to
have II turn out that way, but the
FIRST thing Tropic and Ensey knew
the postmaster-gene had boosted
tho weight limit to so pounds and En-
sey found the small packages we're
no longer necessary.
Today Ensey is handling, direct to
retailers In all parts Of the southern
states, about all the beans, pineap
pies, tomatoes, oranges and cucum
bers that Tropic can grow. Uncle Sam
Is finding his business at Tropic heav
Ter each month. The fruit growers have
stopped fussing with the express com
panies and the railroads are leaving
III to Ensey. And the retailers who
buy from Ensey are finding that Epsey
can undersell the commission men
EIseY is getting rich.