Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-11-22
POSTAL ZONE LAW
CAUSESREACT|ON
Farm Journals, Hampered in
Work, Fail to Respond to
Government Call.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Copyright, 1918. by N. Y. Evening Post. Inc.)
'"The sins that ye do by two and
two we shall pay for one by one"
wasn't intended, of course. by the
eminent bard who wrote the verse
to apply to the democratic admin
istration, but that is just about how
Secretary, Houston Of the Depart
nent Of Agriculture must have felt
when the editors Of two score farm
and agricultural publications. whom
Ne had asked to cooperate with
him in telling the farmer what must
be done in the reconstruction period,
bluntly confessed that the operation
Of the postal zone law was hamper
ing and sitting them.
Circulation Cut Down.
: The Secretary of Agriculture had
nothing to do with the framing of the
law or. its passage, but he is only one
Of a number of officials who have
needed the help Of the press and have
found the newspapers and magazines
apathetic because Of the confiscatory
provisions Of the postal zone law.
which raised the postage on second
class mail matter to such prohibitive
rates as to cut down circulation and
thereby impair the revenue of publi-
cations generally.
MI - 1S
newspapers had appealed repeatedly to
the democratic Congress not to impose
this burden in war time, when the
costs Of white paper and production
Kitchin, the democratic leader in
Congress, turned a deaf ear. even
though, it is said, President Wilson
himself favored the repeal of the law.
Mr.. Kitchin is charged by the pub
fishers with having refused hearings
and jamming the measure through his
own committee instead of referring
it to the post office committee, the
customary procedure understhe rules.
Failed to Return to Congress.
So. deep was the resentment of the
public against this action in many
parts of the country where the pub
fishers had not hesitated to tell the
people the kind OF treatment they had
gotten in Congress that f1fty-nine of
the democrats and republicans who
had stood with Mr.. Kitchin for the
zone law failed to return to Con-
gress. Two-thirds of the number
were democrats. and some of the
democratic leaders who favored the
repeal of the law are openly saying
that the unwise action Of their col
leagues cost them the last eject on.
Certainly a change in forty members
did change the complexion of the
House.
not that Of a post-mortem on the last
election. The same group of demo-
Gratis who believed the law unjust in
the first place are urging that the
democratic party correct its error
now. E.. T. Meredith. president of the
Agricultural Publishers Association.
and q prominent Iowa democrat, was
the Prairie Farmer Of Chicago. as
saving that the democrats were plan
ming to repeal the measure, because
they were quite sure the republicans
would do it anyhow when they OBJ
tanned control
West Particularly Affected.
The effect of the law has been to
produce sectionalism, as publishers
have had to increase their rates to
distant subscribers. The west has
been particularly affected. Indeed.
the whole operation Of the law has
been such. as to prevent in America
the success Of many educational meas
ures intended to make this country a
homogeneous nation. Secretary Hous-
tom himself had nothing to say about
fhe matter in his conference with the
nubiishers, but his experience is not
new and the administration fully real
ICES that 1t will not get the kind of