Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-12-15
THE POSTAL ZONE
SYSTEM UNJUST,
DESTRUCTIVE
(statement by Rex Beach)

Statement by Rex Beach)
I write to urge the best EFFORTS
towards effecting a repeal of the un-
| Just and destructive Postal Zone Sys-
tenn as applied to periodical pubhca-
lions which was passed at the last ses-
sion of Congress.
When the Zone System goes into full
! effect it will mean an increase in the
postage charge for periodicals OF from
so to 900 per cent. This will inevitably
result in a vast shrinkage in circula-
| ton, and as a consequence many Of our
most important publications will be
forced out of existence. Others will
be seriously crippled. If periodical
publishers change their places of busi-
ness, to conform to the necessities OF
the Zone System, as some of them con-
template doing, if their influence Is
arbitrarily limited. we will have at best
sectional rather than a national
press.
1 do not consider it necessary to
call your attention to the vital i'm
portance Of maintaining truly ma
tional press. especially at this crisis in
our affairs, when our national life de-
ponds upon our unity of thought and
our solidarity of purpose.
To destroy that unity, that solidar-
ity; to weaken it in any way is blow
at that democracy for which we have
taken up arms.
No country can survive without
literature; as a matter of ract, a coun-
try's greatness is measured largely by
the wealth and the variety of it's let
tiers. Throttle our writers. lessen their
media of expression and you will not
only obstruct our national progress but
i also distort our national thought and
cloud our national vision, for the Gre
ators Of literature play an important
part in directing public opinion, in
shaping public thought, in safeguard
ing public morals. Now. above all
times our government needs strong,
intelligent, fearless and independent
press: it needs the brains of honest,
clear-thinking writers, as well as hon
est, clear-thinking legislators.
| Thanks mainly to low uniform rate
of second class postage a vast reading
public has grown up in America and
great body of American writer's has
come into being. These writer's depend
for a large part of their living upon
American periodicals. Destroy or seri-
| ouSly cripple those periodicals and you
| will exterminate American writer's
/ Is that sensible, or economical
thing to do?
! But l am not appealing to you to
undo the injustice wrought by the
iniqutous and destructive Zone Postal
Z SyStpm 10
ries death sentence to authors and to
periodical publishers. In all fairness
That should be enough to warrant it's
repeal or at least it's radical modifica-
ton, but that is perhaps the smallest
INJURY attributable to it. To vastly
increase the subscription rate of
periodicals, to force many Of them out
! of business constitutes a body blow at
! education; for remember, of all chill
dren who attend our schools only about
| ten per cent ever attain more than .:
grammar school education. For their
subsequent education, for their &C
quaintance with public affairs, for their
! knowledge of matters outside their own
intimate worlds, they must. depend
| lar ~ upon their reading. Destroy
the home reading circle and you work
, an injustice of the gravest sort. and
one which no amount of revenue can
! offset.
! American magazines and periodicals
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 high
ly technical and scientific trade Jour-
nails and agricultural papers, their
educational value is not second even
to our public schools. And those Of
| the highest educational value will be
| precisely the ones to suffer the great
est injury from a prohibitive postal
rate. Free schools and a public press
are inseparable from each other. The
| Zone Postal System as it now stands
virtually taxes periodicals out Of ex-
istence since it levies a toll which the
| publisher cannot pay, and which he
cannot pass on to his subscribers, for
they will refuse to become subscribers
IT you lay tax upon reading why not
a tax upon school books?
A low postal rate is privilege
granted by the government to the
people. 1t is not method for raising
revenue and should not be so consid-
cred. There is no more reason why
the Postotfice Department should show
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