Pueblo chieftain., 1921-07-07
sx Frederic I. Haskin.


papers and periodicals of the United
States lost long drawn out and I'M
portant fight of many years stano-
ing during the latter part OF June.
. when the House committee on fost
Offices and Post roads tabled the Ions.
worth bill which would have nullified
the second class postal increases whieh
went into effect on July frst.
Albert S. Burleson. Postmaster Cen
eral turnout both Wilson administra-
tions. fought long and ardently to put
this measure on the statute books, and
won out with the help of the then
Democratic majorities in both Houses
of Congress.
The Increase in second class postal
rates. which affects all newspa pers and
periodicals, is the fourth of success
sion of annual increases. The first oc-
CURED on July !. 1918.
Prior to that date, the postal rate
for second class matter was uniform
for newspapers and periodicals. no
matter what distance 1t was sent 10
the subscriber. The recent Postmaster
General and those who sided with him
attacked this system as subsidy
granted by the government. and con-
tended that in the transportation OF
this second class mail the Postomcc
department actually lost consider
able sum of money.
The answer made to this argument
was that an increase of postal rates
on this kind of mail matter was put
ting heavy tax on the dissemination
of Information. The magazines of
national circulation were particularly
bitter against the increases. zon-
ing system went into eject at the
time, which made It necessary to put
much more postage on periodical
sent, let us say. from New York
Office OF publication to subscriber on
the Pacific coast. than on "A similar
periodical sent to a subscriber in New
ark. ". J.
TIE ZcaiaG syssem
The system now in effect provides
eight zones. The frst zone includes
territory for Nifty miles in all d.rec-
tions The second zone embraces an
additional hundred miles, the third
zone hundred and hfty miles more.
the fourth zone an additional three
hundred miles. Zone five takes in ter
ritory four hundred miles beyond the
limits Of zone four. zone six adds an
other four hundred miles. as does zone
seven. and zone eight includes all ter
ritory beyond the limits of the seventh
tome
A difference was made between pure
reading matter and advertising matter.
hut this IS OF little sneit. a, practi-
cslly every newspaper and periodical
today is made up OF mixture OF both.
When the FIRST inercss. went into eff
feet the rates per pound of mail be-
came II. cent? for the first and second
zones. Iis cents for tn. third zone. .
cents for the fourth zone. "a for the
fifth zone. -, for the sixth zone. , cents
for the seventh zone. and 3is cents for
the eighth zone.
The following year these rates were
increased again varying from II, cents
pound in the first and second zoneE
to Sis cents a pound in the eighth zone.
Tho Increase on July /. 1870 carrie d
these rates up to iA cents . pound IN
tionste Increases all along the line up
to ~ cents a pound IN the eighth zone.
The rates which have Just gone into
effect are, for each pound of rrcond
class mail AS follows:
First and second zones cents. third
zone. J, cents: fourth zone. nve cents,
fifth zone. cents: sixth zone. : cents:
seventh zone. . cents: eighth zone. 10
cents
The newspapers and periodicals have
been making last ditch fight to pre-
vent the last Increase going into effect
until the new postmaster general had
time to investigate. thru commission
appointed for that purpose. the JUS.
tico Of the second class rates. and
whether II was necessary to have them
so high for the sikc of postal revenue
Despite the fact that congress has been