196 TRANSPORTATION 



paying a per cent of its gross earnings. While there are now 34 

 express companies operating in the United States, only six of them 

 are large companies. The original investment in this business was 

 small. While" the six large concerns have assets of $85,613,809, 

 only $6,267,184 represents equipment and fixtures used in the 

 express business. The balance of the assets consists largely in the 

 investments purchased out of surplus earnings. These investments 

 are largely in railroads and in other express companies. The six 

 big companies have 90 per cent of the assets of the 34 companies. 



Express rates are graduated according to weight of package 

 and distance carried. Since the enactment of the Federal Parcels 

 Post law the rates have been put on a competitive basis with the 

 post office. 



Parcels Post. Like the express business, the parcels post now 

 operates over transportation routes of all kinds. The Post Office 

 Department is making a campaign of publicity in order to popular- 

 ize and to increase the service now rendered by the parcels post. 

 Exhibits are held at the various State fairs. Thirty-five important 

 cities of the country were selected for a more thorough and inten- 

 sive campaign, the immediate aim of which was to foster direct 

 marketing between farmer and city housekeeper. The postmasters 

 prepare and circulate lists of producers and lists of consumers. 



What service does the parcels post actually render? In one 

 sense it is very much like the express business, except that the 

 weight limit is imposed in the parcels post but not in the express 

 business. Both have a delivery service in cities of a size to justify 

 it. Both transport highly perishable commodities and the cost 

 is very much the same, both using a zone system. The growth 

 of the parcels post has been encouraging, although not up to the 

 high expectations of some of its enthusiastic friends. Containers, 

 strong, light, and cheap, have been developed by private commer- 

 cial concerns, thus overcoming one of the initial weaknesses of 

 the system. Fresh eggs may now be shipped a thousand miles by 

 parcels post with comparative safety. In short, the physical 

 difficulties of parcels post marketing have been overcome. There 

 remain only the business difficulties. But these have proved the 

 hardest to overcome. The first difficulty is the agreement on 

 price. The farmer's wife was selling butter at the country store 

 at 20 cents a pound, but wanted 50 cents a pound when sent by 

 parcels post to the city. Credit arrangements are also difficult 

 to make. The city housewife does not want to pay cash in advance 

 for goods she has not seen and about whose quantity, quality, 



