Milford chronicle., 1917-10-12
MOTOR TRICKS AND THE PARCEL
POST SERVICE.

The following editorial last Monday
appeared in the Morning News. OF
Wilmington, and there are two facts
which should be well considered by
the farmers in connection with mar
keting farm products, which this edi-
torial calls attention to, and must be
lived down by farmers. These are the
avaricious charges for products. and
honest quality The method propOs-
ed by the United States government
to get produce to the consumer from
the producer is new. but it should
be made effective-and it will be if
honest purpose and earnest effort is
made to carry it out successfully to
both farmer and the government.
The editorial of the News follows:
Hoping to reduce the cost of living
the Postal Department at Washington
has a scheme TO run motor trucks as
part of the postal service to carry
produce from the farms to the con-
sumers in the cities.
One OF the high officials of the post
Office department thinks that if prop
erly operated the new plan would re-
duce by fifty per cent. the present
postage rate on fOodstuffs and extend
the zone Of quick parcel post service
from an average radius of six miles
from the city pOstOfiices of the coun-
try to at least fifty miles, with no in
crease in the cost of transportation
The railroads are paid nineteen cents
per ton mile while motor trucks, it
is contended. can be operated at
cost of between nine and eleven cents
per ton.
The department intends to begin
with trucks of half ton and one ton
capacity. Should the business war
rant it trucks carrying three tons
would be employed Trucks that are
untitled for military service could be
used in this delivery service. The
parcel post system as at present Op-
Grated has fallen far below expecta-
tions in bringing the city consumer
and the country produce together
Statistics show that each rural de-
livery route averages but one parcel
day from the farms to the cities, al
though the average from the cities to
the farms is eight parcels a day.
The mail order houses and other
concerns in the cities have used the |
parcel post to much advantage. There |
should be no sound reason why the |
average from the farms to the cities |
should not be as large. However. |
many persons in the cities who have |
tried to use the parcel post as a
means of dealing directly with the
farmers have been much disappoint-
ed. One reason is that the farmers.
or at least many of them. are dis
posed to charge the same prices on
the farms as the produce is sold for
In the city markets. They want to
get too large a share of the profit that
goes to the middle man. For instance
person will happen at a farm and
want butter. The farmer will look
It city prices and ask at those prices. \
The same with poultry. This may
1ot be the general practice, but it is
done in cases. Then again.
n this kind of dealing there must be
good faith. A person that buys does
10 sight unseen" and sometimes he
s stuck"
Any effort of the department at
to help should however
'e cordially commended. Vast uuan- '
tiles of vegetables went to waste in q
central and lower Delaware simply {
ecause they could not be or were not
transported. Motor trucks should
elp solve the high cost of living and 7
hey should help in conserving food r
upplies. 1t is a large undertaking 7
hat the department proposes. but it T
hould be entirely feasible. S