HARDWOOD RECORD 



Surely Sober Second Thought 

 Will Prevent Any Such Blunder 



given on the oc- 

 casion of the for- 

 mer effort to in- 

 crease radically 

 the postal rate on 



sections of maga- 

 zines. Woodrow 

 Wilson, then Gov- 



Said: 



"It must be that those who arc \no- 

 posing this change of rates [magazine 

 postal rate increase] do not comprehend 

 the effect it would have. A tax upon the 

 business of the more widely circulated 

 magazines and periodicals would be a tax 

 upon their means of living and perform- 

 ing their functions. 



"They obtain their circulation by their 

 direct appeal to the popular thought. 

 Their circulation attracts advertisers. 

 Their advertisements enable them to pay 

 their writers and to enlarge their enter- 

 prise and influence. 



"This proposed new postal rate would 

 be a direct tax, and a very serious one, 

 upon the formation and expression of 

 opinion — its more deliberate formation 

 and expression just at a time when opinion 

 is concerning itself actively and effectively 

 with the deepest problems of our politics 

 and our social life. 



"To make such a change now, whatever 

 its intentions in the minds of those who 

 propose it, would be to attack and em- 

 barrass the free processes of opinion. 



"Surely sober second thought will pre- 

 vent any such mischievous blunder." 



irb the growing spirit of independence among 

 tes on the newspapers and periodicals of that 



When the British in 1774 dcsi 

 our forefathers, they raised the | 

 day to a prohibitive cosV 



Now, one hundred and forty-two years later, a Congress of the United States nisi-d 

 rh'."i*^^"'fh°"», "'"'/'•"'■'" »"d periodicals by increases of from 50 to «i) per ""tl 

 h,^^. r^'.t "Lnn^^nT' " 'nev.table-reading will be decreased. The econom^c'^law that 

 hv^^„?^^! ? decreased consumption is quite inevitable whether it is put in action 



by autocratic royalty or by the hasty thoughtlessness of our republic. 



.„!, This .restriction by huge postal increases on such reading matter is made at a time 

 when th.s country is passing through the greatest crisis in its history; when the 

 " ••= •" be desired for information as to the great problems we 

 :very stimulus to patriotism and self-sacrifice is vital to 



lest possible readii „ , 



dealing with; and when 

 idealism. 



iA?,5;r',J",f"hV "■"" ^."f ■""<'" such circumstances Congress passed a law that 

 '■"•• through huge postal increases, the circulation of periodicals and periodical 



by tens of thousands of readers. 



Means Committee, who is 



second-class" (magazino.^; 



nf a tax." And, continuin, 



the war terminates." It is, therefoi 



IcgisLition that never emanated from the Postal Committee ot'Cone 



upon by itl 



For Congressman Claude Kitchm, Chairman of the Ways and 



Its champion, stated "the provisions increasing the rates on 



and periodicals) 'mall matter proposed Is not in the nature 



he added: "We propose for this provision to continue after 



-^-'tted^y postal legislation— and yet postal 



* '^ vas passed 



A .1 .u zj ■ ^f'l" "'""Kh !' ™=>s embedded as a "rider" in the War 

 Act by the House of Representatives and the country compelled to take the 



\,\ ar Revenues Act held up— after the United States Senate had 

 in that same session after full hearings and discussion were 



and Means Committee. 



the 

 wice rejected it-ai, 

 cfused by the Way 



the periodical publishers offered the entire profits 

 3 a tax revenue to Congres.s In place of this destructi 

 ion of reading as well as of publishing. 



r cent postage increase on the 

 shed by enacting a postage 

 of publication are penalized by 

 nt of the remoteness of their h 

 lished by President Abraham Lli 

 investigating postal affairs i 

 mposed. 



periodical reading 



Leei 



This is the law— the most dis 

 of postal legislation! Huge post: 

 for periodical reading today just 

 despotic authority deliberately r: 

 ing matter and its accessibility. 



The proponents of this destn 

 postal deficit. The United Stat< 

 exceeded all expenses I 



istrous and destructive law ever passed in the history 

 ge increases will destroy reading and the opportunities 

 as certainly as it did in 1774, when the old royal and 

 ised postage rates for the purpose of destroying read- 



by 



e postal legislation have claimed that the 

 'ost Office Department showed that the 

 J,8,16,2n.90 (Report of Postmaster General) 



The proponents of this disastrous postal law cla 

 millions of dollars a year in the magazine postal s. 

 The Postmaster General's report for last year si 

 pprlodlcals by freight" during the year 1917 consisi 

 298,781 pounds at a cost of $686,608.75— or a shade 

 receive one cent a pound. And Canada sends all 

 where in Canada at one-quarter of a cent a pound, 

 be given less progressive legislation than Canada 



that the Post Office lose 

 ice to the readers of this 

 vs that the "total shipn 



The 



" figures advanced by the proponents of this disastrous law 

 ;ssman Steenerson of Minnesota in Congress, when he showed 

 es were correct that the Government must have spent $590.- 

 when, as a matter of fact, the Department spent only $306,000,000! 



■re shattered by Coi 

 at if such "cost" fi 

 1,000 for periodical m 



The words of Woodrow Wilson are noteworthy. They 

 sterday, so apt is the description and so pointed and sti 

 s dull folly and destructlveness of this postal legislation. 



"Surely sober second thought will prevent any such mis< 



Will you help to repeal this unjust and disastrous law? 



Write to your Congressman at once. If you don't kno 



who your Congr 



ing these facts to the attention of yi 

 ch you belong; adopt resolutions de 

 copy to me. 





All Three of Us Will Be Benefited if You Mention HARDWOOD RECORD 



