The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-06-03

subsiSins the Magazines

/ What possible reason can be offered
why the government should carry
weekly ard monthly magazines from
I Philadelphia and New York 10 gen
Francisco and Seattle and Portland AZ
q good deal less than cost II charges
a good deal more than cost 90 carry
letters: why should Il tax tho country
Ia carry weekly and monthly maya
zines across the contlnentg
when Dean Richmand was al the
head Of the New York Central a boy
asked him Tor a pass 60 hls home town.
Richmond could assume a very terrible
aspect. and. looking a. awful as he
could. lie reared at the youngnter
why DO you want . paasg'' The 10y
Yves 80 terrified that he forgot the
/ speech that he had learned FOR the oc-
castor. and blurted out. Because ]
don't want 30 pay" Dean Richmond
remarked. IN the adiuration Of presi-
dent Harding by the eternal" or its
equivalent. that this was the first time
any ono had ever told the truth in ask
ing for a pass. and he gave the boy
his free ride.
The publishers Of the weekly ana
monthly magazines don't want 20 pay
what Il actually cost the government
70 carry their publications 20 distant
points. and many ~ them are heavy
contributors 20 Republican campaign
funds and expect a return from Re
publican congress for their generosity
To oblige them. Mr.. Mondell has intro
duced a bin 20 repeal the postal bone
law on second class mail.
The law Is just. but Il - also gcner-
Gus Il probably does not make the
postage Of magazines 20 distant points
remunerafive 10 the government. but
II Is just Ia that 10 approximate that.
II makes the postage greater for longer
distances. No one can reasonably
question the fairness OF that The OBJ
tect 81 repeating the zoning law Is 20
give the magazine publishers an aver
age rate. though the haul f. q great
deal more than the average. The aver
age haul OF all second class matter
ipcluding newspapers, - about eco
miles. But the average haul on coun
try weeklles Is not over 50 miles, and
on daily papers Of most Of the cities
Il IS not over Is miles, ana Of the larg-
est % the daily newspapers Il Is under
$50 miles. II II obvious, therefore. that
the average haul ~ the magazines II
several hundred miies. II the zone law
Is abolished. they can get a great deal
more than the average haul al an av-
erage rate. This would be worth mill
lions TO the periodical publishers. Bot
the averaging involves giving the per-
iodicai publishers a great deal more
than they pay for. and making things
even by giving the publishers Of news
papers. whose circulation l. mostly To-
cal. q great deal less than they pay
for.
There Is absolutely no merit Ga the
proposition 10 abolish the coming law
It's only effect-and this Is the pure
pose Of the proposed repeats 20 add
millions to the profits Of the periodi-
cal publishers at the expense either %
newspapers or Of the general taxpay
ers Of the country. IL Is as indsfensi- /
BILE as Il would be % vote money out
~ the Treasury 81 these periodical
publishers. for Il is manifestly the
same thing 10 the government to keep
from going into the Treasury as 10 lot
il go in ana then vote u out.
This bill 20 repeal the coming 3aw
IN a bin 10 pay heavy aabyentl0n 70 /
one class Of publishers q the weekly 1
and monthly magazines 81 wide cir
cuiation. BY transporting their editions
for less than ost.--Philadelphia Re- +
cord.