APPENDIX G 



401 



HOW TO SAVE MONEY IN SHIPPING 

 SQUABS, by Elmer C. Rice. Having a well- 

 settled belief, formed while handling hundreds 

 of inquiries on the subject, that not one-tenth 

 of the squab breeders on this continent are 

 shipping killed squabs at the lowest express 

 rate to which they are entitled by the rules of 

 the express companies, I am going to give thsi 

 facts in detail. These remarks apply to all 

 express companies operating between points in 

 the United States and between any point in 

 the United States and any point in Canada, also 

 within the United States on business to or from 

 other countries. They also apply to minor 

 express companies or individuals, some of them 

 too small to have any rules or regulations, but 

 who take their cues from the big ones, and who 

 are governed, if they are doing 9,n interstate 

 business, by the rules of the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission at Washington, which has 

 put its O. K. on what I write here. 



Most shipments of killed squabs are now 

 made, on account of the ignorance both of the 

 breeder and of the express agent to whom he is 

 giving the packages, at the regular rate charged 

 for ordinary merchandise. For example, the 

 rate from certain points in Virginia, Kentucky, 

 Illinois, Michigan, and Canada to New York 

 City is two dollars per one hundred pounds for 

 ordinary merchandise. Under this rate a box 

 of squabs weighing for example, twenty pounds, 

 would have a charge of eighty-five cents as- 

 sessed against it. For carrying a box of squabs 

 weighing one hundred pounds, two dollars 

 would be charged. These charges and all 

 similar charges based on_ the rate made for 

 ordinMy merchandise are in error, being much 

 too high. - . . 



The express companies classification has 

 what is known as " General Specials." Thirty 

 commodities, from beef-fai to zwieback, are 

 these general specials. In S, between smilax 

 and stearine, is SQUABS, dressed, with accom- 

 panying language as follows: 



" SQ UA BS, dressed. Charge upon the actual 

 gross weight, except thai an allowance of twenty- 

 five per cent from the gross weight may he made 

 when it is necessary to use ice for preservation 

 and it is used for that purpose only. The charge 

 on a shipment packed with ice must not be less 

 than the charge on the net weight, with twenty-five 

 per cent added, unless the gross weight at time of 

 shipment is less." 



Any general special commodity goes at a 

 specially low rate. For example, when the 

 merchandise rate is two dollars per one hundred 

 pounds, the general special rate is only $1^50 

 per hundred pounds. This applies to sguabs. 



Some of my Texas friends have been shmpmg 

 squabs to New York profitably as ordinary- 

 merchandise, paying six dollars for a box weigh- 

 ing one hundred pounds. Correctly made, the 

 rale should have been S3.90 (the general special 

 on six dollars) with twenty-five pounds of ice 

 out, making a correct charge of three doUars. 

 otjust half what they have been paying. 



I have said it many times, and I repeat it 

 now, that anybody living anywhere can ship 

 squabs to a highly profitable market, even 



hundreds of miles distant, provided he will 

 follow plain directions such as I am giving here. 



Always prepay express charges so as to be 

 able to talk and pay at your end. Do not 

 imagine that anybody at the other end will 

 look out for your interests in the matter of 

 express charges. If you have been paying the 

 regular merdiandise rate, do not go to your 

 express agent and make a fuss. You might as 

 well throw a_ dollar into the ocean from the 

 shore and wait for the tide to bring it to your 

 feet. Above all, remember that if, you are 

 going to succeed in the squab business, you 

 need the regard, friendship and good fellow- 

 ship of your express agent, same as everybody 

 with whom you come in contact in a business 

 way. 



If you areshipping either live squabs or cull 

 live pigeons to market, the express companies 

 have a special rate for you known as Scale O. 

 This is practically a twenty-five per cent de- 

 duction. For example, when the regular rice 

 is two dollars per hundred pounds, the Scale O 

 rate is $1.50. 



I think the amount of excess express chargep 

 being ignorantly assessed amounts every yeai 

 to $100,000, which I regard as a low estimate, as 

 it allows only a dollar a month overcharge 

 against ten thousand squab shippers. There 

 are more than ten thousand squab shippers and 

 most of them I believe are paying out more 

 than a dollar a month illegally. The purpose 

 of this article is to put an end to this illegal tax 

 on the squab industry and it will be effective if 

 you will start the conversation with your express 

 agent when you ship your next lot of squabs. 



MORE LIGHT ON SQUAB EXPRESS 

 CHARGES, by Gerald E. Swihart. I am a 



squab breeder and have given the matter of 

 express rates and charges a lot of study and 

 time and I think I have it, down to the lowest 

 figure. At the head of "General Specials" 

 in the Official Express Classification No. 21, 

 article 5, page 17, will be found this paragraph: 



" Pound rates must be charged on General 

 Special Matter with a minimum of thirty-five 

 cents (except where a lower minimum is speci- 

 fically named for any particular commodity) 

 unless the graduate under the merchandise rate 

 is less; when carried by more than one company 

 and shipping point or destination is an exclusive 

 office, minimum twenty-five cents for each com- 

 pany carrying." . . 



Now as per Mr. Rice's article (see page 401) 

 when the regular rate is $2. the general .special 

 rate is $1.50, as per Scale "N", and ^oing farther 

 and taking a box of squabs weighing forty 

 pounds, and allowing twenty-five per cent for 

 ice, making a net weight of thirty pounds — 

 now take your graduate charges scale and 

 thirty pounds is eighty cents, correct; but 

 under general specials as per article quoted 

 above, pound rates must be charged. Now as 

 that is the,case, then if one hundred pounds cost 

 $1.50 to New York, then one pound would cost 

 one and one-half cents and thirty pounds would 

 cost 30 X 1 J^ , or forty-five cents. 



