The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-12-15

trade periodicals. churches upon
religious publications. doctors upon
medical periodicals, and the general
thought and education Of our coun-
try upon home periodicals with their
digested accounts OF current thought
and achievement.
mo country can survive without a
literature; as a matter Of fact. a
country's greatness Is measured
largely by the wealth and the
variety Of its letters. Throttle our
writers, lessen their media OF ex-
preston and You win not only OBJ
struct our national progress but al
so distort our national thought and
cloud our national vision, for the
creators Of literature play an inn
portant part in directing public
opinion, in shaping public thought
in safeguarding public moralss
Now, above all times. our govern
ment needs a strong. Intelligent,
fearless and Independent press; 1t
needs the brains OF honest, clear
thinking writer's. as well as honest,
clear thinking legislators.
Thanks mainly to a low uniform
rate Of second class postage q vast
reading public has grown up in
America and q great body Of Ameri-
These writers depend for a large
part Of their living upon American
periodicals. Destroy or seriously
cripple these periodicals and you
VIII exterminate American writers.
Is that sensible. or economical
thing to do?
but am not appealing to YOU to
undo the injustice wrought by the
ubiquitous and destructive Zone
Postal system on the sole ground
that 1t carries a death sentence TO
authors and to periodical publishers.
In all fairness that should be
enough to warrant its repeal or All
least its radical modification. but
that is perhaps the smallest injury
attributable to do it To vastly in
crease the subscription rate OF
periodicals, to force many OF them
out or business constitutes q body
blow at education: for remember. OF
all children who attend our schools
only about ten per cent ever attain
more than grammar school edu-
cation! For their subsequent edu-
cation for their acquaintance with
public AFFAIRS, for their knowledge
or matters outside their own inti-
mate worlds, they must depend
largely upon their reading. Destroy
the home reading circle and YOU
work an injustice OF the gravent
sort. and one which no amount Of
revenue can Offset.
American magazines and perio-
olcals are the finest In the world,
they cover every branch OF human
thought and endeavor, they range
In scope from the purely fictional
magazines to the highly technical
ana scientific trade journals and
agricultural papers. their education.
a value is not second even to our
public schools. And those OF the
highest educational value will be-
precisely the ones to suffer the
greatest injury from q prohibitive
postal rate. Free schools and q
public press ara Hnaeparabla from
each other. The Zone Postal sys-
tenn as IL now stands virtually taxes
periodicals out OF existence since ii
levies a toll which the publisher
cannot pay, and which he cannot
pass on to his subscribers, for they
VIII refuse 10 become subscribers.
II you lay q tax upon reading why
not o tax upon school books?
"A low postal rate Is privilege
granted BY the government to the
people, 1t is not q method for rails
ing revenue and should not be so
@lAA9A4G& I'D 41ACAG AZ KuOEG I01S-
on why the postohfce department
should show an operating profit than
the department Of agriculture or the
weather bureau should do SO. All
are educational and business build
ing devices OF incalculable value TO
the nation. II the postoface must be
MN for gain then why not abandon
Tie rural free delivery and save
st9. 100000 a year!
Nor Is 1t true that the present
second class postal rate constitutes
q subsidy Of magazines and periodi-
Gals. The fallacy Of that argument
has been proven. Would you assert
that American farmers are sub
sidizcd In an amount equal to the
operating cost of the department OF
agriculture7 Or that American ship
ping is subsidized in an amount
equal to the cost OF government
weather reports2 Mol"