572 



HORTICULTURE 



November 2, 1907 



PARCELS POST IN PROSPECT 



A NOTABLE EVENT AT PHILADELPHIA. 



Undei tlie hospitable root of the Uu- 

 ioii League of Philaclelphia. on invita- 

 tiou of and under the inspiration of 

 that master-mind of tiie seed trade, W. 

 Atleo F'.urpee, there took place on Sat- 

 urday evening, October 2(j, a most not- 

 able gathering of the business men of 

 Philadelphia with a numbei- of othei- 

 invited guests from other cities to 

 meet the honorable George von L. 

 Meyer, postmaster General of th3 

 United States, for discussion of parcels 

 post, postal savings banks and other 

 subjects In the line of postal advance. 

 The dinner was held in the main 

 baniiueting hall and the tables were 

 arranged as they were at the famous 

 banquet in honor of Prince Henry of 

 Prussia. Autumn leaves, chrysanthe- 

 mums, roses and palms were blended 

 in the decorations, while electric chan- 

 deliers on the tables and in special 

 wall designs add^d to the brilliant • 

 scene. Screened by palms, an orches- 

 tra played throughout the evening, and 

 in every detail the dinner and service 

 upheld the traditions of the Union 

 League. 



Mr. Burpee, who has for many years 

 been an enthusiastic advocate of pos- 

 tal progress fat at the centre cf the 

 long table. The Postmaster General 

 was at his left and Senator Penrose, 

 chairman of the Senate Ccmmittee on 

 PostolBces and of the Joint Commit- 

 tee of Congress for Investigating the 

 B.isiness Methods of the Postoffice De- 

 partment, was at the right. Sitting 

 next to General Meyer was W. 

 \V. Potter, former Minister to Italy, 

 a post since held by Mr. Meyer, 

 the two being intimate friends. Two 

 seats away sat !ohn Wanamaker, a 

 former Postmaster General and him- 

 self an advocate of parcels post and 

 many other reforms in the postal ser- 

 vice. A letter of regret had been re- 

 ceived from still another f.jrmer Post- 

 master General, Charles Emory Smith. 

 Philadelphia having furnished two 

 holders ol this portfolio within recent 

 administrations. Representatives Moon 

 and McCreary sat side by side at the 

 left of Senator Penrose. 



Mr. Burpee, m introducing Postmas- 

 ter General Aleyer, referred to the need 

 of postal reforms and declared that 

 one law, at least, under which the de- 

 partment was conducting business dat- 

 ed from 3792. 



"That is too far back even for con- 

 servative Philadelphia," he declared, 

 amid laughter. 



Before presenting the guest of the 

 evening, the chairman proposed a 

 toast to the President of the United 

 States, which aroused great enthusi- 

 asm. The band struck up the "Star 

 Spangled Banner," and all hands 

 joined in the chorus. After emphasi7,- 

 ing the great importance of the topics 

 chosen for the evening's discussion, 

 Mr. Burpee presented Postmaster Gen- 

 eral Meyer, who was received with 

 rousing cheers. 



In beginning his remarks the Post- 

 master General indicated that his ad- 

 dress would be in the nature of a fore- 

 cast of his forthcoiuing report to Con- 

 gress. He said- 



"ihree matters of gr,?at importance 

 are the extension of the )u-esent parcel 



\V. Ati.kk Burpkic 



post, the installation of a special par- 

 cel post on rural routes and the estab- 

 lishment of postal savings banks. 



"What I am attempting to do is to 

 abolish an injustice and one might 

 even say an un-American practice. I 

 refer to the policy of charging our own 

 people 1<, cents a pound, with a weight 

 limit of 4 pounds, while giving a rate 

 of 1;' cents a pound, and a limit of il 

 pounds on packages destined out of 

 the country to 22 foreign countries. 

 Consequently 1 shall recommend the 

 same rate and the same limit of weight 

 for parcels, whether intended for 

 points in this country or abroad, which 

 means a reduction of 4 cents a pound 

 uaA an increase in the maximum 

 weight to 11 pounds. This certainly 

 is only equitable." 



The Postmaster General explained 

 that the parcels post is already here, 

 and what he proposed was merely an 

 extension. 



"Heretofore the opposition to the ex- 

 tension of the parcels post has come in 

 the first instance from the express 

 companies, and then from, the retail 

 merchant and the country storekeep- 

 er, the fear in his case being that the 

 mail order house would derive a bene- 

 fit to his own disadvantage. .\'ow, I 

 can disarm the criticism of the retail 

 country merchant and storel(ee|)er by 

 the fact that I shall recommend a par- 

 cels post system on the rural delivery 

 routes, a special rate to be charged on 

 riackages for delivery from the distrib- 

 uting office of the rural route, or if 

 mailed by a patron of any rural route 

 for delivei y to a patron on the same 

 loute or at the distributing office of 

 said route. The rate would be 5 cents 

 for the first pound and 2 cents for 

 each additional pound up to eleven 

 pounds. This will be a great boon to 

 the farmers and others on the rural 

 routes because when they are able to 

 order their goods by telephone or pos- 

 tal card, it will relieve them of the iir- 

 convenience of going to town to obtain 

 the necessaries of life." 



Mr. Meyer spoke at length in favor 

 of the establishment of postal sav- 

 ings banks and displayed an insight 

 into large national mo\ements which 

 was a convincing evidence that the 

 post ofiice department under his man- 

 agement will surely "get a move on." 



Ex-Postmastcr General .John Wana- 

 maker was the next speaker. 



"The footprint of the mail carrier,'" 

 yaid Mr. Wanamaker, "is the sign of 

 rivilizatlon. The Postollice Department 

 of the future, I believe, will have more 

 10 do with the election of our presi- 

 dents and Congresses than all the na- 

 tional, state and city committees. The 

 l))g majority of President Roosevelt 

 was brought about by the rural free 

 delivery. The country people reading 

 and thinking in the silence of their 

 own homes made up their minds what 

 was the right thing tc do. 



"Regarding parcels post, I urge it, 

 believing that the interests of 85,000,- 

 000 of people are greater than those 

 of only 5,000,001) storekeepers. I speak 

 with full knowledge when I say that 

 the large department stores which 

 have mail order departments, of whiclt 

 the country storekeepers are afraid, 

 are not profitable departments. Those 

 establishments which do no other bus- 

 iness do, 1 admit, conduct the mail 

 order business with a profit. But they 

 se.Tid no samples, as do the department 

 stores; the merchandise is selected 

 from a catalogue picture. But the mail 

 order depai'tnient of the retail store, 

 feared so much by country store keep- 

 ers, is not a paying investment. 



"I'o my mind the unfairest thing in 

 the world is the refusal to increase 

 the Post Office appropriation because 

 of tlie Post Office deficit. The cost of 

 the ship Post Office subsidies is charged 

 to the Post Office, whereas, it does not 

 belong to it. It is an encouragement 

 to the merchant marine Why should 

 the Post Office Department be bur- 

 dened with it? Why should the Post 

 Office Department encourage the mer- 

 chant marine? It is a wrong system 

 of bookkeeping. 



"It seems tc me reorganization is 

 needed in the bookkeeping department. 

 Why should a defcit of this character 

 be charged io the Post Office Depart- 

 ment any more than to the navy or to 

 the seed department of the Bureau of 

 Agriculture?" 



Senator Boies Penrose, Postmaster 

 Ashhurst of Philadelphia. Hon. Wm. 

 Potter, late ambassador to Rome, Fin- 

 lay Acker and J. Horace McFarland, 

 each made interesting speeches, all on 

 progressive lines excepting Mr. Ack- 

 er's repetition of the long-discredited 

 assertion that the present second-class 

 mail rates are responsible for the ap- 

 parent annual deficit in the post-office 

 department. Mr. McFarland made a 

 forcible presentation of the needs of 

 the commercial interests of the coun- 

 try who u.se third-class mail, for 

 straight pound weight rates. Follow- 

 ing is the list of guests. 



E. AV. Alexander, Robert Buist, 

 Ralph Blum, Gabriel Blum, Isaac 

 Blum. Rudolph P.lankenburg. A. R. 

 Brown, William Findlay Brown, Cyrus 

 H. K. Cunis. .John G. Croxton. William 



