Chapter D: M. Carr (1)

Bills have been introduced in the present Congress, by Senators Burnham and Kean, with a view of further improving the postal service. These measures are for the purpose of enabling the postal department to extend its parcel delivery service, commonly designated as the “parcels post.”

There is a large percentage of citizens who strongly advocate an enlargement of the parcels carrying service performed by the government. A number of foreign countries have for years maintained parcels post systems on broad gauge plans; in fact, in Great Britain, in Germany and a few other countries, the parcels post is conducted in a manner so as to almost monopolize the express business. But in these countries conditions, both geographically and commercially, are vastly different from conditions that obtain within the United States. In the old countries, there is greater density of population, and distances which mail matter traverses are about one-thirteenth the distance that the average piece of mail matter is carried in the continental United States.

In considering any postal innovation, it is essential that not alone the operation and the revenue of the postal department be taken into consideration, but also what the effect of the innovation will be upon the industries located in various districts of the United States. Some of the bills introduced in Congress, chief among them, that introduced by Congressman Hearst during a former session, and the one by Congressman Henry of Connecticut, during the present session, have elements that mark them as undesirable and thoroughly impractical under prevailing conditions, or any possible conditions that may arise in the United States during the next quarter century.

The postal department is not conducted for the purpose of profit; rather it is conducted to perform a special service, which governmental function can best perform for the people. But the department should be self-sustaining. The revenue derived for the services rendered the people should be sufficient to cover all expense of operation economically performed. Any legislation involving the performance of this service for less than cost to the government does not appeal to the economist as wise or desirable. Yet the postal department does perform certain services at a loss, although there are compensating circumstances which more than overbalance the expenditure. In the carrying of newspapers and periodicals, under the present system, there is probably a loss, but at the same time the people receive a general benefit far outweighing the cost to the government by having cheap and good literature and such information as the press of the country conveys and this at the minimum of expense. The second class rate, a subsidy granted the press, has been instrumental to a degree impossible of estimation in improving the intelligence of the people and raising the standard of citizenship.

The proposals set forth in the Henry bill, involving the establishment of a parcels post system with a maximum weight of 11-pounds and the maximum charge for maximum weight 25 cents from one postoffice in the United States to any other postoffice or where mail is delivered, are objectionable from an economic view. In the first place, such service would entail heavy losses annually to the department; these losses possibly reaching $150,000,000 or $200,000,000 annually. Then again this system of parcels post would be a wonderful factor in increasing the unequal distribution of business throughout the nation. Geographical and other conditions greatly vary throughout the states of the United States. In the thickly populated districts, where manufacturing is carried on, the cost of labor and the cost of production of articles of manufacture, ranges from 20 to 50 per cent less than in other sections, principally in the agricultural regions. A parcels post that allows the transportation of merchandise at as low a rate as that provided for in the Henry bill, would enable consumers residing in agricultural districts, where wages are high, to purchase their goods in the lowest priced markets in the United States, and the results of this system would be to concentrate industries in the large cities and densely populated districts to the detriment of agricultural and other sections now undergoing commercial and manufacturing development. This would retard the growth of towns and the upbuilding of manufacturing industries in those sections. Thus it can be seen that there would be no compensating effects to justify the installation of a parcels post of this character.

The exorbitant charges made by the express companies and other carriers have caused the people of the United States to demand that the package carrying machinery of the United States postal department be enlarged. Recognizing this demand, Postmaster-General Meyer in his annual report made the recommendation that the parcels carrying service of the government be broadened and that the parcels post be extended so as to make the maximum weight of a package carried 11 pounds with a graduated rate up to one pound and a pound rate of 12 cents, making the maximum rate for the maximum weight $1.32. He also recommended that a parcels post be established over rural delivery routes, starting from the post-office where the route emanates and ending upon a rural route. For this service he recommended that the limit of weight be 11 pounds and the charge 5 cents for the first pound and 2 cents for each additional pound, making the maximum charge for an 11 pound package 25 cents, and that this service be limited to bonafide merchants and others residing along the line of a rural route.

In making his recommendation as to parcels post enlargement, it is evident that the postmaster-general well considered not alone the welfare of the department as to revenues sufficient for proper maintenance and the installation of a more efficient service, but as well carefully weighed the economic aspects as they relate to geographical and commercial conditions throughout the Union.

A careful study into Mr. Meyer’s plan will show that it does not contemplate any revolution in commercial methods. Notwithstanding the charges made to the contrary, by those opposed to his views, it does not appear that should his system be adopted by Congress that the large houses doing an exclusive mail order business would have any advantage over the merchants of the smaller cities and towns. The rural parcels post would certainly be not alone advantageous to the twelve or fifteen millions of people residing in agricultural districts, who are now served by more than 38,000 rural carriers, but would be of great value to the live merchants in the smaller towns who at a minimum of expense could utilize the rural service for the delivery of goods to their patrons in the country.

The bills introduced, respectively by Senators Burnham and Kean, are in perfect harmony with the recommendations of the postmaster-general.

With the diversion of small packages from the express companies to the mails, the revenues to the postoffice department would be proportionately greater than the increased cost occasioned by the greater tonnage of matter carried.

During the past fiscal year, the expense of maintaining the rural delivery routes was in excess of $26,000,000. The installation of a parcels delivery over the rural routes would most likely during the first year place the rural delivery on a self-sustaining basis. There are 38,253 rural routes. Should each carrier over a route on his daily trip carry only 88 pounds of merchandise from the local stores to the patrons on his route, it would give the government a revenue of approximately $24,000,000 annually, and this service can be performed without other carrying equipment than rural carriers now have.

When every phase of the recommendations of Postmaster-General Meyer be carefully weighed, it becomes apparent that his plans are based upon soundest business judgment.

Opposition to Mr. Meyer’s recommendations comes from three sources, namely:

Large manufacturers, jobbers and other classes of business men who annually spend enormous amounts for letter postage.

Country merchants who are unduly alarmed over the growth of the catalogue houses, and who fear that a parcels post extension will increase the mail order business to their detriment.

Express companies, whose revenues would be decreased by operation of the system.

Data Relative to Proposed Extension of Parcel Post. pp. 1-6.

OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL,

_Washington, D. C., March 4, 1908._

MY DEAR SENATOR: It affords me great pleasure, in compliance with your request, to place at your disposal the data which are available relative to the proposed extension of the parcel post.

It does not appear to be generally appreciated that a comprehensive system of parcels post is already in satisfactory operation in most foreign countries. Exhibit No. 1 gives detailed information on this subject. I show here the limit of weight which has been fixed in a number of instances:

Pounds.
Great Britain 11
Germany 110
France 22
Italy 11
Chile 11
New Zealand 11
Austria 110
Belgium 132
The Netherlands 11
Cuba 11

The rates in the countries mentioned are much lower than those shown in Exhibit No. 2, which have been recommended for the general parcel post in the United States.

The present rate on the general parcel post is 16 cents a pound for people in our own country, the limit of weight being 4 pounds, while the rate from the United States to 29 foreign countries is 12 cents a pound and the limit of weight to 24 of these countries is 11 pounds. In other words, our own people must pay 4 cents a pound more for the privilege of dispatching packages to each other than when destined to residents of a foreign country. I have therefore urged a rate of 12 cents a pound for packages forwarded through the mails to post-offices in the United States and its possessions, subject to the same regulations as exist at the present time, with the exception of increasing the weight limit to 11 pounds. The service can be rendered at a cost well within the rates recommended.

According to the report of the record of weight of second-class mail matter, transmitted by the Post-Office Department to the House of Representatives under date of February 1, 1907, the average haul of all second-class matter was 540 miles.

Of the total receipts of the Post-Office Department 69 per cent are expended for labor and supplies, and 7 per cent for conveyance charges other than those paid the railroads for transporting the mail. A general rate for parcel post of 12 cents a pound would produce a revenue of $240 a ton. Even on the basis of a 540-mile average haul, I find the debit and credit sides of 1 ton of parcel post to be as follows:

By postage $240.00
To railroad transportation, 540 miles, at 5½ cents $29.70
Other transportation charges 16.80
Labor and supplies 165.60
------

Total cost 212.10
------
Profit 27.90

A local parcel post confined to rural delivery routes is also advocated at the rates given in Exhibit No. 3. The Department favors the establishment of this special service because of its ability to render it with great advantage to the farmer, the country merchant, and other patrons of the routes, as the necessary machinery (over 38,000 routes now regularly covered by rural carriers) is in operation. There are some 15,000,000 people living on these routes, which shows the vast possibilities of the rural service. It has been estimated that if but three packages of the maximum weight were handled each trip on the rural routes now established the resulting revenue, even at the low rates given, would more than wipe out the postal deficit. The increased cancellations would automatically advance the salaries of postmasters of the fourth class, and the remaining revenue, which would be clear gain, would be of great assistance in making the rural service self-sustaining. The rural service will, in all probability, cost the government this year $34,000,000, an increase of $10,000,000 over last year.

The history and advantages of the rural delivery should be understood by our people. There is a feeling in many quarters that it is an extravagance and an unnecessary drain upon the postal revenues. The first rural route was established in the latter part of 1896, $14,840 being expended for rural delivery during that fiscal year. At that time the postal deficit was $11,411,779. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1907, the expenditures for rural delivery aggregated $26,671,699, while the postal deficit showed a decrease, as compared with 1897, of $4,800,000, the deficit amounting to $6,653,282. This would seem to show that while the expense incurred for maintaining rural delivery is great, yet the rural delivery has been instrumental in increasing the general postal receipts. However, its benefits to our people can not be measured in dollars and cents.

That a local parcel post would be of material advantage to the retail merchant in competition with mail-order houses is seen at once when it is pointed out that the latter, at the proposed general parcel post rate of 12 cents a pound, would be obliged to pay $1.32 for sending an 11-pound package to a rural route patron, a difference in favor of the local storekeeper of about 10 cents a pound, or $1.07 on an 11-pound package.

Letters and petitions for the extension of the parcel post are being received from all sections of the country. Many commercial bodies formerly opposed to any action of this kind are on record as being heartily in favor of it.

On the other hand, objections have been raised to the measures the Department is advocating. Although no sound argument has been advanced in opposition, the contentions which have been made are not without interest. I mention the more important of them, at the same time giving the replies which they have elicited:

It has been stated that the Department is not equipped to deliver 11-pound parcels received in the general mails. The present postal regulations provide that where a package is of undue size or weight a formal notice shall be sent the addressee requesting him to call for it. This practice, would continue were the weight limit increased to 11 pounds, in the case of offices having free delivery. Nor would it work a hardship, for under the present limit of 4 pounds the average weight of parcels sent through the mails is but one-third of a pound. Increasing the weight limit would not have nearly as great an effect on the average weight of parcels mailed as seems to be commonly supposed. Where packages were addressed to persons living on rural routes they would, of course, be delivered to the boxes of the patrons by rural carriers, who would not thereby be inconvenienced.

The claim that the special local rate recommended for the parcel post on rural routes would eventually be extended to include the entire postal service has been given considerable publicity. The impossibility of this becomes apparent when attention is directed to the cost of railroad transportation, which has no part in the former service. About $45,000,000 were paid last year for mail transportation and $6,000,000 for postal cars.

Others have said that large mail-order houses would, under the proposed law, utilize the special parcel post or rural routes through agents to the great disadvantage of the country merchant, first assembling their orders and despatching them by express or freight to suitable distributing points. The Department has recommended provisions which will prevent any such use of the routes. It should be remembered, too, that even in the absence of a specific prohibition of this nature, any systematic attempt upon the part of a mail-order house to thus distribute its wares would necessitate the employment of many thousands of local representatives. The catalogues of these concerns indicate in no uncertain way that they attribute their success, in large measure, to their low selling expense, and that the absence of any sort of agents is the principal feature of their argument in accounting for the supposedly low prices of their goods.

The cry of “class legislation” has been raised. There is, of course, no discrimination involved, for all who can be reached by rural carriers will be accommodated. It would be as reasonable to decry the laws which permit the delivery of mail to patrons living on rural routes, while persons differently situated are obliged to make a trip to a near-by post-office to obtain their letters.

Those who claim that an increase in the weight limit would work an injury to country merchants appear to have the impression that mail-order houses now deliver their goods extensively through the postal service, and that this practice would largely increase if the recommendations which have been made become law. Upon a moment’s reflection it will be perceived that the present rate of 16 cents a pound ($16 per hundred-weight), as well as the proposed rate of 12 cents a pound ($12 per hundred-weight), are alike prohibitive on practically all lines of merchandise. Mail-order houses make their shipments usually by freight or express and would continue to do so.

Antagonism to the proposed measures, when analyzed and found not to be the result of selfish motives, appears to be based upon inaccurate or insufficient information. In illustration, I desire to invite attention to a communication of the Richmond Commercial Club, of Richmond, Ind., which appeared in the Congressional Record of January 4, 1908. In this letter the statement was made that a certain mail-order house would save $40,000 a year on the mailing of catalogues alone. Catalogues are rated as third-class matter, whereas the Department’s recommendations with respect to parcel post relate to fourth-class matter only. Catalogues are now mailable at 1 cent for 2 ounces, or 8 cents a pound, 4 cents a pound less than the rate proposed for the general parcel post. The mail-order house referred to, therefore, would gain nothing under the proposed law in the mailing of its catalogues.

With the adoption of new conveniences of life by urban residents, and the ever-increasing attractions of the city, especially potent in their influence upon the younger generation, the importance of affording farmers and ruralites generally every legitimate advantage becomes more and more apparent. The free rural delivery has improved materially and intellectually the life of great numbers of these people. Is it too much to ask that the Department shall make a further use of this important system; a use which, while adding appreciably to the postal revenues, will directly and vitally benefit every man, woman, and child within reach of a rural route? The countryman would have the necessities of life delivered at his gate at an average cost of 2 cents a pound, thereby facilitating and increasing consumption. This would mean augmentation of the trade of thousands of country merchants. The commercial traveler should appreciate the advantages of this system; it would increase his orders because the country merchant buys from the jobber or the wholesaler. Every component part of our commercial system would feel the effects of an increased prosperity.

It would inevitably tend toward the improvement of the roads. Better roads and improved postal facilities in the rural districts would result in increased values of farm lands. The rural service as now organized has accomplished something in this direction; its enlargement will add to the good attained.

Believe me, faithfully yours,

G. v. L. Meyer.

Hon. Henry E. Burnham, _United States Senate, Washington_.

Exhibit 1.

Parcel Post Rates in the Domestic Service of the Countries Named.

Great Britain.--Postage rates for the first pound, 3 pence (6 cents), and for each additional pound, 1 penny (2 cents); maximum weight, 11 pounds; greatest length, 3 feet 6 inches; greatest length and girth combined, 6 feet.

New Zealand and the States Composing the Commonwealth for Australia.--Limits of weight and size, same as in Great Britain. Postage rates, 6 pence (12 cents) for the first pound, and 3 pence (6 cents) for each additional pound.

Germany.--Greatest weight, 50 kilograms (about 110 pounds); no limit of size. Postage rates: For all parcels conveyed not more than 10 geographic miles, 25 pfennig (6 cents), and 50 pfennig (13 cents) for greater distance; if a parcel weighs more than 5 kilograms (11 pounds av.), it is charged for each additional kilogram (2 pounds) carried 10 miles, 5 pfennig (1 cent); 20 miles, 10 pfennig (3 cents); 50 miles, 20 pfennig (5 cents); 100 miles, 30 pfennig (8 cents); 150 miles, 40 pfennig (10 cents); and more than 150 miles, 50 pfennig (13 cents). Unwieldy parcels are charged in addition 50 per cent of the above rates.

Austria.--Greatest weight, 50 kilograms (110 pounds); except that parcels containing gold or silver coin may weigh up to 65 kilograms (143 pounds). Postage rates: Parcels up to 5 kilograms (11 pounds) in weight are charged 30 heller (6 cents) for the first 10 miles, and 60 heller (12 cents) for greater distances. A parcel weighing more than 5 kilograms (11 pounds) is charged for each kilogram (2 pounds) in addition to the above rates, for the first 10 miles, 6 heller (1 cent); 20 miles, 12 heller (2 cents); 50 miles, 24 heller (5 cents); 100 miles, 36 heller (7 cents); 150 miles, 48 heller (10 cents), and more than 150 miles, 60 heller (12 cents).

France.--Greatest weight 10 kilograms (about 22 pounds); no limit of size. Postage rates: Up to 3 kilograms (7 pounds), 60 centimes (12 cents) delivered at the railway station, and 85 centimes (17 cents) delivered at a residence; from 3 to 5 kilograms (7 to 11 pounds), 80 centimes (16 cents) at a station, and 1 franc 5 centimes (21 cents) at residence; from 5 to 10 kilograms (11 to 22 pounds), 1 franc 25 centimes (25 cents) at a station, and 1 franc 50 centimes (30 cents) at a residence.

Belgium.--Greatest weight 60 kilograms (about 132 pounds); no limit of size, but unwieldy parcels are charged 50 per cent in addition to the following rates for any distance: Parcels up to 5 kilograms (11 pounds), 50 centimes (10 cents)--or if by express trains, 80 centimes (16 cents); up to 10 kilograms (22 pounds), 60 centimes (12 cents)--or if by express trains, 1 franc (20 cents); for each additional 10 kilograms (22 pounds), 10 centimes (2 cents)--or if sent by express trains, 50 centimes (10 cents) additional. Fee for delivering at residences, 30 centimes (6 cents).

Italy.--Greatest weight, 5 kilograms (11 pounds). For ordinary parcels, greatest size in any direction, 60 centimeters (2 feet), except rolls which may measure 1 meter (40 inches--3 feet 4 inches) in length by 20 centimeters (8 inches) in thickness. Postage rates for a parcel not exceeding 3 kilograms (7 pounds), 60 centimes (12 cents); and 1 franc (20 cents) for a parcel exceeding that weight. A parcel which exceeds 60 centimeters (2 feet) in any direction, but does not exceed 1½ meters (5 feet), is admitted to the mails as an “unwieldy” parcel and is charged, in addition to the above rates, 30 centimes (6 cents) if it does not weigh more than 3 kilograms (7 pounds), and 50 centimes (10 cents) if it exceeds that weight.

The Netherlands.--Greatest weight, 5 kilograms (11 pounds); greatest size, 25 cubic decimeters (1,525 cubic inches), or 1 meter (3 feet 4 inches) in any direction. Postage rates: 15 (6) cents (Dutch) up to 1 kilogram (2 pounds); 20 (8) cents from 1 to 3 kilograms (2 to 7 pounds); 25 cents (10) from 3 to 5 kilograms (7 to 11 pounds).

Chile.--Greatest weight, 5 kilograms (11 pounds); must not measure more than 60 centimeters (2 feet) in any direction. Postage rates: 30 centavos (10 cents) if a parcel does not weigh more than 3 kilograms (7 pounds); 50 centavos (17 cents) if it weighs more.

Cuba.--Greatest weight, 11 pounds; greatest size, 3 feet 6 inches in length by 2 feet 6 inches in width. Postage rates: 10 centavos (10 cents) a pound up to 5 pounds; and 6 centavos (6 cents) for each additional pound.

Exhibit 2.

Rates recommended by the Postmaster-General in his annual report (year ended June 30, 1907) for packages forwarded through the mails to post-offices in the United States and its possessions, subject to the regulations which exist at the present time, with the exception of increasing the weight limit to 11 pounds.

Cents.

One ounce 1
Over 1 ounce and not exceeding 3 ounces 2
Over 3 ounces and not exceeding 4 ounces 3
Over 4 ounces and not exceeding 5 ounces 4
Over 5 ounces and not exceeding 6 ounces 5
Over 6 ounces and not exceeding 8 ounces 6
Over 8 ounces and not exceeding 12 ounces 9
Over 12 ounces and not exceeding 16 ounces 12

Exhibit 3.

Rates recommended by the Postmaster-General in his annual report (fiscal year ended June 30, 1907) for packages covered by the special local parcel post on rural delivery routes.

Cents.
For the first pound 5
For each additional pound, up to 11 pounds 2
For fractional parts of a pound:
Two ounces or less 1
Over 2 ounces and up to 4 ounces 2
Over 4 and up to 8 ounces 3
Over 8 and up to 12 ounces 4
Over 12 ounces and up to 1 pound 5

Our Postal Express.

James L. Cowles.

The United States post-office has always been an express service, although Congress long confined the business to sealed parcels of very small weights--not over 3 pounds--and at very high rates graduated according to distance, with no insurance whatever against loss or damage in the mails. In 1874, however, the business was extended over all kinds of merchandise in unsealed parcels at a common rate of one cent each two ounces, regardless at once of distance and of the volume of a patron’s business. This placed the humblest citizen in the most out of the way postal district of the country on a par with the biggest corporation in our greatest metropolis as to the cost of the transportation of his produce and of his supplies in parcels up to four pounds, and, though still with no insurance against loss or damage, the new postal express immediately became a dangerous competitor to the private express company with its distance rates based on what the subject will bear and always discriminating in favor of the big town against the little town, the big corporation against the ordinary citizen.

The private express interests got quickly to work, therefore, and Congress soon checked up the growing postal express business by increasing the postal rate one hundred per cent--from eight to sixteen cents a pound. Later Congress bowed to the powerful book and seed interests of the country and reduced the rate on their merchandise to the old rate of 1874, and now, for many years, the post-office and the public have been subjected to two sets of rates on matter indistinguishable both in character and as to the cost of their transportation.

The evil of this absurd postal classification, continued these twenty years by Congress, becomes decidedly evident when our domestic service is compared with the foreign parcels post services established by President Taft and Postmaster-General Hitchcock, with their common 11 pound weight limit at 12 cents a pound, on all merchandise posted from the United States to foreign countries and from those countries to the United States:

From Austria:
4½ pounds .35
11 pounds .86

From Italy:
7 pounds .39
11 pounds .79

From Norway:
2½ pounds .16
11 pounds .96

From Germany:
4½ pounds .33
11 pounds .81

From Belgium:
4½ pounds .35
11 pounds 1.10

U. S. Foreign Rates:
2¼ pounds .36
7 pounds .84
11 pounds 1.32

U. S. Domestic Service:
2¼ pounds .36
4½ pounds (2 parcels) .72
7 pounds (2 parcels) 1.12
11 pounds (3 parcels) 1.76

Under the English post-American express arrangement English postal parcels now come to New York three pounds for sixty cents; seven pounds for 84c; eleven pounds for $1.08, and these parcels are forwarded by the American express company throughout the country at a common rate of twenty-four cents a parcel, eight cents a pound on a three-pound parcel; about three and a half cents a pound on a seven-pound parcel, and less than two and a half cents a pound on an eleven-pound parcel. Meantime the express company taxes domestic merchandise of the same weights from 25 cents to $3.20, according to the distance traversed, while Congress taxes the public for a similar domestic postal service, three pounds, forty-eight cents; seven pounds, 2 parcels, $1.12; eleven pounds, 3 parcels, $1.76.

Data Relative to Proposed Extension of Parcel Post. pp. 8-14.

From The Boston Herald.

Ernest G. Walker.

Postmaster-General Wanamaker first actively urged the establishment of a parcels post on a large scale. He summed up the situation epigrammatically in his 100 reasons for it and only 4 reasons against it--those 4 being the express companies. Others after him, especially the late Postmaster-General Bissell, made like recommendations. But Mr. Meyer now has an advantage in his campaign which none of his predecessors had in the rural delivery routes. Every one of the many thousands of routes would be a little parcels service in itself, aside from being a line of communication, by which small packages could be conveyed from all parts of the country or to any part of the country. Mr. Meyer is building much upon that fact. The local service at cheaper rates will also protect the local store-keepers, to which the big department stores and mail-order establishments are bogeys.

Ever since he announced his intention of urging a better parcels post service for the United States, the Postmaster-General has been the recipient of many letters. These come from various classes of people. Most of them commend his plan, but the retail associations, such as the associations of hardware men and grocers, come out in bold opposition. It is such people as these that the Postmaster-General hopes to convert when they are brought to understand the details of what he wants to do. Some of these critics, besides claiming that the legislation would favor the catalogue houses, argue that the government should not go into a general freight business and that if the express companies are charging exorbitant rates, the Interstate Commerce Commission, which now has authority over them, should step in and require that the rates be lowered.

The operations of parcels post in other countries make a very interesting transportation chapter. They are conducted on a gigantic scale and, apart from what J. Henniker Heaton, long an English member of Parliament from Canterbury, and a great advocate of postal reforms, calls “grandmotherly regulations,” have worked with practically world-wide success. Shopping by mail is made easy, whether one in the country would trade with the local draper or the big metropolitan merchant.

Great Britain’s conservative enactments will likely be a model for any extension of the parcels post service by Congress. The service is almost twenty-five years old over there. It has become one of the most important and highly appreciated postal features. Its growth has been continuous and phenomenal. The scope has frequently been broadened. There was an early clamor for an agricultural parcels post. The owners of small farms in remote localities wanted it. The growers of spring flowers in Kerry said it would enable them to compete with the south of France and the Scilly Isles. Eventually the agricultural parcels post was authorized and also spacious dimensions for packages. Flower growers can now send full length orchid spikes and long-stemmed roses by post, where formerly only simple blooms were admissable.

_Send Fish, Eggs and Fruit_

The produce of the culturists goes forward to London and other big English cities in tremendous volume. Fresh fish, dispatched from seaport towns to the large hotels, are delivered with celerity. Meats, cheese, fruits, vegetables, and freshly laid eggs in mail packages under the 11-pound limit form a very considerable factor in the commerce of the Kingdom.

The general rates are low. A 1-pound parcel takes a three-penny stamp. That is 6 cents in our money. For 2 pounds an 8-cent stamp is required; for three pounds, a 10-cent stamp; for 5 pounds, 12 cents; for 7 pounds, 14 cents; 8 pounds, 16 cents; 9 pounds, 18 cents; 10 pounds, 20 cents, and 11 pounds, 22 cents. Four-pound parcels cost as much as five pounds, and 6 pounds cost as much as 7 pounds. For inland parcels 3 feet 6 inches is the maximum length; 6 feet the maximum measurement for length and girth. These have been adopted as standard dimensions in the services of numerous other countries. Parcels should not be posted at a letter box, but presented at the counter of a postoffice. The government virtually guarantees the sender against loss up to $10. Payment of a registry fee of 4 cents, in addition to the regular postage, insures the parcel for $25; a 25-cent registry stamp carries an insurance of $1,000. There have been demands, not yet conceded, for the cash on delivery system that several European countries have adopted.

The big retail stores of London avail themselves extensively of the parcels service for delivery of goods. The rates, ranging from 6 to 22 cents, are not prohibitive. In many cases the government service is cheaper and quicker. Laundries return washing by parcels post. In Germany, where the rates are even cheaper, lads away at school send their soiled linen home by mail to be washed and it is returned to them by the same conveyance.

Sidney Buxton, the postmaster-general of Great Britain, in his last report, statistically demonstrates the continuous growth, and consequently the popularity, of the parcels post in the United Kingdom. The number of parcels delivered in the country districts of England and Wales in 1896-97 was 41,512,000, and increased annually by from 3 to 6 per cent, till in 1905-6 the number was 66,277,000. In the London district for the same ten-year period the increase was from 11,229,000 parcels to 18,167,000. A similar increase was shown for Scotland from 6,802,000 to 10,725,000 parcels, and for Ireland, where the increase was from 4,172,000 in 1896-97 to 6,513,000 in 1905-6.

The gross amount of revenue the government collected increased from £1,445,126 for 63,715,000 parcels in the United Kingdom for the first year of the decade to £2,138,673 for 101,682,000 parcels in the last year of the decade. The post-office’s share of these collections increased from £763,307 to £1,142,224. The average postage per parcel decreased during the period from about 11 cents to 10 cents. The postmaster-general undertakes to deliver both letters and parcels at every house in the Kingdom. They are delivered by the same postman, except in the large towns, where there is a special staff for parcel work.

_Call Swiss Service Best_

Because of competition from private agencies, that have charges graduated on a basis of distance, there is a tendency for an unduly high proportion of long distance parcels and parcels for delivery in rural districts, which are the least remunerative. The post-office has met this competition by establishing, for comparatively short distances, a large number of horse and motor parcel van services, as road conveyance for these distances makes possible an economy as compared with conveyance by railway at the charge of 55 per cent of the receipts.

The Swiss is cited much as one of the most efficient and satisfactory in Europe. The mountain villages and resorts of that industrious little country receive a large portion of their supplies by post, as a maximum weight of 110 pounds is carried within a radius of 62 miles. The conditions there are somewhat the same as with the dwellers in the Appalachian and Blue Ridge mountains, to whom it has been declared that a parcels post would be a great boon because there is no prospect that either the railroads or the express companies will ever approach their hamlets and villages.

This Swiss law includes an agricultural parcels post and likewise a passenger post, agitation for both of which has generally followed the establishment of parcels post in most countries. The passenger post of Switzerland is something like the mail coaches in the United States before the coming of railroads, except that the coaches are owned by the state and the fees are prescribed by the same authority. A very large business is done in sending parcels through the mails. A treasury official, who was traveling in Switzerland during the past summer, saw at one railroad station several enormous baskets filled with hams and provisions. They were samples of mail parcels under the 110-pound limit.

_Cash on Delivery Plan_

The general rates are more liberal than in any other country. A parcel weighing 1 pound is carried anywhere within the boundaries of the Federation for 3 cents, a 5-pound parcel for 5 cents, a 11-pound parcel for 8 cents, a 22-pound parcel for 17 cents, a 33-pound parcel for 23 cents, and a 44-pound parcel for 33 cents. Parcels weighing as much as 110 pounds are carried within a radius of 62 miles for 60 cents, which enables many of the peasants to market much of their light produce by mail. The rates are so adjustable that housewives can secure anything by post from a paper of pins to a bag of flour. The V. P., or value payable, system is a part of the Swiss postal arrangements, so that purchaser can pay for his goods on delivery, and there is but one financial transaction connected with the purchase as far as he is concerned. A provision for delivery makes the service all the more attractive.

Belgium’s parcels post has even a higher weight limit than Switzerland, for it accepts articles of 62 kilograms, or about 132 pounds, in one package, and puts no limit upon the size, except that unwieldy packages are subject to an extra charge of 50 per cent. But up to 5 kilograms, which is the conventional 11-pound limit of a majority of the parcels post countries, the charge is 50 centimes, or 10 cents; for 10 kilograms 12 cents, and two cents extra for every additional 10 kilograms (22 pounds). A higher charge is made in Belgium, as in several other European countries, if the parcel is to be carried on an express train. It amounts to six cents for five kilograms. The fee for delivering at residence is six cents additional.

Germany and Austria maintain the 50-kilogram limit. The first named country enforces the 50 per cent extra charge for unwieldy articles. It also has what is called the zone system. For conveyance 10 geographic miles the charge is six cents (25 pfennigs), and 13 cents (50 pfennigs) for greater distances. If the parcel weighs more than 11 pounds there is a charge of one cent (five pfennigs) for each additional kilogram carried 10 miles, 10 pfennigs for 20 miles, 20 pfennigs for 50 miles, 30 pfennigs for 100 miles, 40 pfennigs for 150 miles, and 50 pfennigs, approximately 13 cents, for more than 150 miles. The same rate of charges applies in Austria.

_A Table of Charges_

The French parcels post law requires presentation at the railroad station. Some other European countries, like Great Britain, require it to be delivered at the postoffice. The French maximum weight is 10 kilograms (22 pounds) without any restriction as to size. The postage rates are 12 cents up to 3 kilograms; 16 cents up to 5 kilograms, and 30 cents up to 10 kilograms. These rates are for delivery at a railroad station. An extra fee of 25 centimes (5 cents) is charged for delivering the parcel at the residence of the addressee.

Certain elementary items of cost enter into the service of European countries that would not be identical with the maintenance of a similar service in the United States. In Germany a considerable mileage of the railroads is state owned. They carry certain parcels in the mails without compensation. In large sections of Europe there has never been anything like adequate service by express companies, and in the absence of business enterprises in establishing such transportation the people have been compelled to look to their governments for relief. The cheap rates for parcels post there were originally, in some part, intended as an accommodation for the poorer classes.

The distances for transportation are less and the population is denser. The United States is 225 times larger than Switzerland, 60 times larger than England, 17 times larger than Germany, 12 times larger than the three countries combined. In England the average distance a letter or mail package travels is 40 miles; in Germany it is 42 miles; in the United States it is said to be 542 miles.

_Difficult to Estimate Cost_

No accurate information is available as to whether the European parcels posts are in reality self-supporting. They certainly are nearly so, and in some instances are regarded as profitable government ventures. Everywhere the service is characterized by prompt transmission and prompt delivery. The percentages of loss are very small. The several national constituencies that have a parcels post system would no more relinquish such privileges than American cities would relinquish electric lights or automobiles. One European enthusiast pronounced the establishment of the parcels post “a service to mankind only less splendid than that of the transmission of thought.”

In England it is claimed that the parcels post service would be a source of profit but for the amounts paid to the railroads for transportation, the share of 55 per cent of the receipts being regarded as exorbitant. Generally the parcels post is so joined with the rest of the mail service that its entire cost can not be counted.

The international business has grown to enormous proportions. The figures collected at Berne for 1904, in connection with the Postal Union, show that the parcels mailed across the frontiers of 36 nations and colonies that year numbered something like 38,000,000. The small percentage of that total, where the value was declared, showed an aggregate of about $162,000,000 worth of property. In that list the United States would have stood about eleventh on the showing for the fiscal year of 1906, when 264,438 parcels of an average weight of 2⅔ pounds were sent from this country abroad. Tunis sent more according to the figures than the United States. Germany, leading all other nations both in the dispatch and receipt of parcels in international mails, sent a total of 11,675,385, of which 11,343,516 were classed as “ordinary,” and 331,869 were “with a declared value” of $23,352,378. Austria, enjoying close postal relations with Germany, dispatched 10,659,300 parcels to other countries, of which 1,082,430 had a declared value of $68,396,578.

_Has Become Great Factor_

The totals of “receipts” and “dispatches” of course balance for the 36 countries in question, but are not the same for each country represented. The rank in parcels dispatched runs: Germany, Austria, France, Hungary, Great Britain, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Tunis, British India, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia, Denmark, Luxemburg, Japan, and Egypt; in parcels received the order is: Germany, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, Russia, Netherlands, Denmark, Roumania, Spain, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sweden, Norway, Luxemburg, Tunis, and so on. Switzerland in 1904 received across her borders 2,788,406 parcels by post, of which 2,635,090 were “ordinary” and 133,316 were declared of a value of $9,863,886. Of 6,352,360 parcels that came over the Austrian frontier, 778,380 had a declared value of $64,788,927. Germany received 7,337,404 parcels in international mails, of which 482,472 had a declared value of $35,901,435. The parcels received by post in the United States during the fiscal year 1906 from abroad were recorded as 131,064, of an average weight of 2.73 pounds. Probably the actual number was much larger, perhaps twice as large.

Sufficient figures have been given to indicate what a great factor the parcels post has become in the trade of the world. The value of the merchandise thus transported can only be roughly estimated, but it will probably exceed half a billion dollars annually.

This business is transacted across frontiers, causing little or no friction with customs officers. Boxes with declared value are subject to the legislation of the country of origin or destination as regards payment of stamp duties on articles exported and as regards the control of stamp and customs duties on articles imported. The stamp duties and charges for examination by customs officers involved in the importation are collected from the addressees when the articles are delivered.

_Provision for Insurance_

Practically the same rules apply for all parcels post. There is provision for insurance and also for “trade charges,” which latter term means that goods can be sent c. o. d., the maximum value being f.1000. The limit of weight is 5 kilograms, or 11 pounds. The cost of conveyance comprises a charge of 10 cents for each country participating in the territorial transit, a graduated distance tax for sea conveyance and extra rates for cumbersome parcels, and may be increased under certain conditions by delivery fees and, in case of declared values, by insurance fees. Weights under 2 pounds, however, are transported for a maximum of 1 franc. Special forms are provided for registering for customs declaration, for certificate of prepayment, when that is desired, and for trade charges.

The United States is not a party to this comprehensive parcels post convention, by which a vast quantity of merchandise is carried to different parts of the world annually, but Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Uruguay, and Venezuela are among the signatories. But the United States has parcels post conventions with 33 different countries on somewhat different but fairly liberal terms. It keeps the postage for parcels it sends to other countries and they in turn retain the postage on parcels sent here. That saves in bookkeeping and has been found economical, whereas the more comprehensive convention, under which most of the European and Asiatic countries operate, divide the postage receipts pro rata. The United States will not transmit through its mails parcels en route from one foreign country to another. Among the latest parcels post conventions the President has ratified under statute authority are those with Sweden, Peru, Denmark, Ecuador, and Bermuda.

_Customs Easily Collected_

The popularity in this country of the parcels post is well demonstrated by the great growth in the use of international facilities. The dispatches from this country for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1905, amounted to 560,228 pounds and for the year ending June 30, 1906, was 721,164 pounds, an increase of 28.73 per cent. Only one-fifth of the dispatches of the last mentioned fiscal year went to Europe, which indicates that a good share of the parcels business was with Mexico and Central South America. Parcels for Germany, Hongkong, Japan, Norway, Belgium, Great Britain, Sweden, and Denmark are accepted only for a maximum weight of 4 pounds and 6 ounces, where the maximum weight for the other countries with which the Postoffice Department now has conventions is 11 pounds.

The customs officials say that the parcels post business with foreign countries is increasing by leaps and bounds. Within recent months better facilities for the collection of customs dues have been inaugurated, with the result it is said, that many packages which hitherto passed without being noted are now being examined and recorded. There are offices of exchange, so called, in several of the larger post-offices of the United States where customs officials are stationed to attend to the collection of duties on these parcels from abroad. In the Washington City post-office this foreign parcels post business is said to have increased 300 per cent within the last twelve months. The Treasury Department keeps about 25 customs employees now on duty at the New York City post-office to attend to the foreign parcels post business which goes through that office. Dutiable packages to minor offices are handled from exchange offices. Such mail addressed to Plymouth, Mass., for instance, would be held till the addressee had forwarded to the postmaster at Boston the amount of duty required.

Post-office, Our Mutual Express Company. pp. 1-3.

William S. Bennet.

MR. CHAIRMAN: In connection with this subject I take pleasure in submitting the following views of the Postal Progress League:

_The Post-Office, Our Mutual Express Company_

From the foundation of our national government, the people of the United States, through their representatives in Congress, have always determined the scope of their postal service, the pay of their mail carriers, their own postal rates; and from the first they seem to have provided for the postal transport of merchandise in very small sealed parcels at very high rates--by the act of 1792, 24 cents an ounce for distances up to 30 miles, higher rates for greater distances. In 1810 they fixed the postal weight limit at 3 pounds, and it so remained for many years. In 1863 the postal rates were made uniform regardless of distance, and since 1863 Congress has definitely provided for the transport of merchandise in unsealed parcels, but still with a weight limit so low and rates so high as to be practically prohibitive.

In the old era of household industries when the peddler, with his pack on his back, or driving his own team, was the chief agency of commercial intercourse, these postal limitations worked little harm, but their continuance in our day, when every industry needs a continent for its development, is no longer endurable. The common welfare demands the widest possible extension, the most efficient and economic administration of our great mutual express company.

In its report of January 28, 1907, the Postal Commission of the Fifty-ninth Congress declared that: “Upon the postal service, more than upon anything else, does the general economic as well as the social and political development of the country depend.” And yet the United States merchandise post of to-day is limited to 4-pound parcels at rates: Sealed parcels 2 cents an ounce, 32 cents a pound, with no insurance against loss or damage unless registered; and unsealed parcels, with no insurance under any conditions, at rates:

_Third-Class Matter_

Some specific kinds of merchandise; printed books; Christmas cards printed on paper; advertisements on ordinary paper; seeds, bulbs, etc., for planting, 1 cent for 2 ounces, 8 cents per pound.

_Fourth-Class Matter_

General merchandise; blank books; Christmas cards of any other substance than paper; advertisements on blotting paper; seeds, bulbs for food, etc., 1 cent per ounce, 16 cents per pound.

In 1874 third-class matter covered all merchandise at one-half the present general merchandise rate.

The Postal Report of 1904, pages 593-595, shows the effect of these limitations on the free rural service. In its daily 24-mile course, visiting over 100 families, the average rural post-wagon handles less than 26 pounds of mail per day, collected and delivered; it collects less than 1 pound. The average rural family posts hardly one merchandise parcel a year. Its total merchandise traffic dispatched and received is less than 10 parcels a year. The postal revenue from its entire merchandise traffic is less than 50 cents a year. The total cancellations of the average carrier in 1904 amounted to only $10.64 a month; to less than $132 a year. With the same limitations in 1909, his postal income must remain practically the same. Meanwhile the 4,000,000 families on the rural routes go to and from their post towns and their homes, carrying their supplies and their produce at a needless expense--estimated at only 50 cents a week per family--of over $100,000,000 a year.

And the postal weighings of 1907 disclose a similar state of things in the general-merchandise traffic of the post-office. Of the general postal business, the merchandise traffic represents:

Per cent.
In number of parcels 1.12
In weight 4.79
In revenue 4.44

The weight of the average merchandise postal parcel is 5.45 ounces; its average haul is 687 miles. The merchandise tax, 1 cent per ounce or fraction thereof, amounts in practice to 17.23 cents per pound. The average family posts less than 9 parcels a year--less than 3 pounds--and pays for the service about 50 cents a year.

The local merchandise mailed in October, 1907, at 17 representative post-offices of Alabama weighed only 65 pounds, at 16 representative post-offices of Arkansas only 14 pounds, at 18 representative post-offices of Iowa only 116 pounds, at 16 representative post-offices of New Hampshire only 27 pounds, at 16 representative post-offices of North Carolina only 30 pounds, at 14 representative post-offices of Oregon only 1 pound, at 14 representative post-offices of Montana only 1 pound, at 14 representative post-offices of Nevada only 4 pounds, at 12 representative post-offices of South Dakota only 15 pounds, and at 14 representative post-offices of Wyoming only 1 pound.

The weight of the parcels posted in October, 1907, by the 4,000,000 people of New York City in their local traffic amounted to only 55,918 pounds, less than 1¼ ounces per family, and in their total traffic to only 469,111 pounds, about 8 ounces per family.