The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-06-26

NEWSPAPERS WILL COST IIoRE
rFrem tho D.venpet Daily T'ms..l

sss:.' ss,.'ss room work N be an additional '1,
The zone system , tage on periodical pnblica-
tions is wrong IN Ne Just every energy
in the nation II b kerted to make this homo
genous nation al Of men and women having
the s9Ino ideals, the ,ame manners and customs
the Same language and the same beliefs concerning
the nation and It's destiny The system OF post
cost the man IN Colorado much more TO take
magazine thsn It costs man In Nev York state.
where the masa1ins is rEtnted i means that nsws.
that In each section OF the country local puhlica-
uons will be taken In preference to magaztnes Of
national circulation. This tends to make Texas IN
a mental way live within itself It makes the Paci'
fc coast states mentally live within themselves It
make. this mdas west 1nnn s ons way y anS 8. ss s
phaszed more and more. Instead OF national unity.
If such Aw IL allowed to stand. there VIM do
with al its attendant sectional 5eaosies and lack
Of national vision or interest SectionaliEm pro-
tns srss. ss., s and e nation vas
shaken with the free silver craze. We've had this
sectional bias even when there was national distri
. crop Of local prsjudfces Will develop when parts
of our great counry enot held together by COM
No argument that win stand analysts can 30 pro
duced in defense Of the zone system The chief
thought when the government established the post
Office was to weld the nation into one body. The
system tends to break 1t up into sections II
the government s going to insist that the zone sys-
second class mail matter over to the express com
pandes. The government as government has no In
terext In It.
Neither is there any sound argument IN defense Of
the plan of charging one rate Of postage on reading
matter and higher rate on the advertising matter
The ulan Is an assumption that the reading matter
has no relation to the advertising.
The news could not be bought the salary OF re-
porters printers and pressmen paid, all the over
head expense Of clerk hire and rents met and the
white paper and dnk purchased, SO IS to produce the
tfA vSrHk mhoV
had only the subscription income to depend on.
Newspapers without advertisements would be so
high in oa OF the pee road have to
60 In ignorance Of all that is contained in nevspa-
pers and magazines.
The advertising section makes the reading matter
section Of the periodicals. possible at subscription
price within the reach Of every person In the con-
try This makes for an alert, well informed people.
F1t congress- hasn't been able to see that fact It
sees only what Is paid for the advertising and
thinks that is all clear profit In addition to the sub
scrfption rate, which assumption Is nonsense, as
anyone can see who stops to think Yet congress
penalties the advertising section which makes the
reading matter section possible
large part Of the income Of the postoffce de-
partment comes from letter postage 1t seems never
to have occurred to congress that the advertising
sectona of the newspapers and magazines create at
least twothrds Of all the first class letter postage
income Stop all newspaper and magazine adver-
tisnE for six months and the postoffce department
would show deficit Of income that would starhe
the postmaster general out OF his shoes.
Possibly IL the increase OF postage rates were
flat increase and not zone system increase which
cannot be defended neither subscribers nor publish
ers would protest much IL the government gave
good mail service. But it is not giving good mail
service Trains taken off, postal clerks are laid
Off mail is carried beyond transfer points, papers
are delivered at times several days old and the
service is in deporable condition. Prospects are
il will not be improved under present arrangements.
What is to be done? There are two things-get
after your senator's and congressman and protest
against the higher rates and bad mail service In
the meantime prepare to pay more Tor your papers
odv {ain