The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1928-02-10

pay Tor the handling n SOrtin.
of these thousands of pieces o
mail at the office at which the,
are deposited for mailing; thu
government must transport then
on railroad trains for which the
government must pay the rail
roads; when they arrive at destin
alton the government must pay fol
sorting them by individual address
es and must pay the carriers fol
delivering them to the individuals
to whom they are addressed.
But in the case of the same class
of mail used by the merchants OF
the small cities and towns, practi-
cally all of it would be delivered
direct to the persons to which the
pieces are addressed through but
the one post office. and the gov
eminent would save the cost of
handling and sorting in one post
office, and would save the cost of
the rail transportation. Yet it
proposes to handle the mail that
involves these additional costs at
two-thirds the charge for which it
will handle the mail that does not
involve these additional costs.
During 1927 the charge for
handling third-class mail of two
ounces or less was one and one
half cents per piece, except for
booklets of twenty pages or more
and weighing two ounces or less,
for which the charge was one cent,
and these n cent mailings were a
comparatively small percentage of
the more than four billion pieces
of third class mail handled by the
post office department. During
1927 the cost to the government of
handling each piece of third-class
mail was OVERWHELMINGLY
one cent and eight mills. OF this
per piece total, .34941-approxi-
mately four mills-was the cost
per piece for transportation and
distribution in transit.
In other words, it cost the gov
eminent a very small fraction less
than n and a half cents to ham
die each piece of third-class mail,
weighing two ounces OF less, when
there we're no transportation
charges. That is, the third-class
mail directly through the one post
office and to the people in the vi
cinity of that post office. That is
the character of the third-class
mail used by the merchants of the
smaller cities and the country
But for the third-class mail or
iginating in the large cities-the
li~rect-by-mail advertising of the
nail order houses and the big city
nerchants-distributed over wide
treas, the cost to the government
vas better than one-quarter of a
,ent per piece more than the gov
,rnment received.
Now it is proposed to cut the pos
age rates to these mail order
Houses and big city merchants to
point where the loss will be more
han three quarters of a cent on
.ach piece without granting the
anne reduction to the merchants
f the smaller cities and towns
whose mailings cost the govern
lent one-quarter of a cent per
iece less to handle.
That is direct discrimination
gainst the people of the smaller
tiles and country towns, whose
communities depend for their pros
Gritty and growth on the main
of a merchandising center; !
is direct discrimination against
merchants of these commun-
les against whom would be as
essed a heavier sales cost in {
leir effort to meet the competi-
on of the mail order houses and :
lie large city merchants than is l
ssessed against these outside !
1mpetitors; it is a direct discrim- !
lation against both the printer :
nd the newspaper publisher of
smaller cities and towns t
no must depend for their pros Y
Gritty upon the prosperity of the
.erchants and the people of their |
)mmunities.
Charged to Taxes :
1t is a subsidy to the mail order :
buses and the big city merchants /,
that it proposes to render a SER :
ce for these mail order houses :
Id big city merchants at less than =
lie established costs of that SER
ce and charge the deficit up to
Ie taxpayers of the nation.
Any congressman, and especially 7
~ congressman representing a Y
untry district, who would vote for 7
at bill is not entitled to the sup 7
,rt of the people of such a dis s
let. He would be voting to sac Y
flee not only the interests of the !
sople who have elected him, but Y
e best interests of the nation as
whole because the best interests
pend upon the prosperity of all
e nation, and not upon the pros F
of the cities alone. 7
If congress wishes to pass a law f
aking a ~one-cent postage rate on T
ird-class mail there will be no Y