Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-30
A VICIOUS LAW.
by DIR. FRANK CRANE.
Copyright, 1919

! About the most amazing piece of stu
pidity ever perpetrated by delibera-
| tive assembly was the clause in The
war revenue bill recently passed BY
Congress compelling magazines and
new spapers after July /, 1913. to bs
mailed on the zone system. This means
that a magazine published in New York
will have one rate Of postage to Cali
fornia, another to Colorado. another &c
Pennsylvania and so on.
| Further than that, under this law
and each individual magazine or news
paper will have TO be examined in or
| der 10 find out what proportion the
reading matter bears to the advertis-
/ ing columns, and that rate viii vary
/ for every issue This viii make /:
practically Impossible for great dis
tributing agencies. like the American
News Company. 10 handle magazines
and newspapers as they do at present
! it is no wonder the postmaster declar-
1 ed that the bill would not work.
i In substance the bill amounts to de.
priving the people of the United States
4 of their main channel OF public opinion
! III time like this, when nationa
solidarity is absolutely essential. this
amounts to more than folly. It ap-
proximates treason.
/ For instance:
The increased cost of paper has al
ready reached every publication in the
/ United States The business fsafsr&gel
of the New York Times declares thai
/ this increased cost amounts TO 100000
| a year for his paper. which is far il
excess OF its profits.
4 Flfty-five farm papers state under
Il hat he
for the year 1917 over 1916 amounts Z
sl107,016
| ON top OF this comes the zone tax
which. if carried into effect. will GER
,tainly wipe out the majority of thu
i23.355 publications in the United states
Don c. Seitz. business manager of thu
New York World. said:
The newspaper business is today thu
most heavily loaded in the country. j
pays the highest wages. enjoys no form
Of protection. sells It's product at th'
| lowest cost our coinage Will permit
and always at fixed price. II canno
well pass its load along or change from
dav to day as the merchant meets price
raises. 1t must appear at an arbitrar!
hour at all hazards.
1T is paying nearly twice as much a!
| formerly for white paper, in some in
stances three times as much. To thu
| you propose to add 10 per cent dut.
and a cold FLOODED proposition to tai
are now paying three times as mucl
as they formerly paid for white paper.
James Kelley. proprietor of the Chi
caao Herald. says:
Il have in existence today $4,000 in
diyidual contracts with people OUTSIDE
OF Chicago, subscriptions paid in ad
| vance and ! have contracted with eacl
OF these $4,000 people to deliver
paper at a certain price. Now. ] can
not pass this increased postal rate oil
| to them, and in more than 40 per cen
of those cases I shall have to pay NOR
for carrying the paper than ] get TO
the finished product Today on m.
daily mail circulation, IL this rate wen
into effect. outside of Chicago the post
age would cost me $23b.S37. and thu
white paper 1851. 300 and receive 70
those papers s372.470. or $11s.6s7 les
than the white paper costs me. ant
the postage"
4 f. T. Meredith, who speaks for tn
agricultural press. declares that fifty
five farm publications have plants
buildings and invested capital to
total of more than s12.0o0.0oo. Thei
combined profits in 1915 were s5s1,s75
Secord-class postage paid in 1916 wa
1858 900. so that an advance of l cen
only in second-class rates would wip
out all but $4,000 OF their combine,
profits. This is the amount left to tn,
| whole hfty-hve combined. It. Of course
means ruin to the weaker ones. 4
: few Of the stronger publications cal
possibly survive.
j This law would deliver a blow a