TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



27 



morning I told you Great Britain made about $22,500,000 on her 

 postoffice last year and that Germany made 53,000,000 marks. Switz- 

 erland made over 1,000,000 francs profit on her postal service, and 

 France made over 20,000,000 francs profit on her postal service. 



Now there are many reasons why our Government should undertake 

 this business of giving us an up-to-date parcels post. You all know 

 how handy it would be for you fruit-growers to be able to send off your 

 produce with safety and celerity direct to the consumer. The great 

 science of commerce, as I understand it, is to bring the producer and 

 consumer together with as little friction from intermediaries as possible. 

 It enables the producer to get a higher price for his produce, and it enables 

 the consumer to pay a lower price for what he consumes. It helps to 

 dispose of the intermediaries — the commission men, the jobbers, and 

 all that class. Another reason is, it has been found that the postoffice 

 sends things quicker than the express does. In a hundred parcels 

 given to the postoffice and a hundred to the express companies it Avas 

 found that the postoffice used twenty per cent more dispatch in 

 delivering the packages. Another reason is shown on the subjoined 

 chart. There are a great many more postoffices in the country than 

 there are express offices. These figures are taken from the Congres- 

 sional Record of the year 1900, which was the latest information I could 

 get when I made these charts, and the figures are modifiable to a cer- 

 tain extent to bring them up to date, but they are substantially correct 

 to-day. 



states. 



Express 

 Offices. 



Post 

 Offices. 



11 lbs. 

 Express 

 from 

 New York 



German 

 Post Rate 



Saving at 

 (xerman 

 Post Rate 



German P.P. 

 .>Sc: this 



lower than 

 American 

 Express 

 Rates by 



Mexican 

 P.P.r.iic: this 

 lower than 

 Amerifan 

 Express 

 Rates by 





334 



2,445 



$1 33 



$0 12 



n 21 



$0 75 



$0 67 



Alaska 



3 



53 



3 89 



12 



3 77 



3 31 



3 23 



Arizona 



41 



202 



3 89 



12 



3 77 



3 31 



3 23 



California 



586 



1,659 



3 16 



12 



3 04 



2 58 



2 50 



Florida . . 



283 



1,126 



1 66 



12 



1 54 



1 08 



1 00 



Idaho. - - 



49 



424 



2 43 



12 



2 31 



1 85 



1 77 



Michigan 



737 



2,161 



1 22 



12 



1 10 



64 



56 



Nevada 



35 



186 



3 89 



12 



3 77 



3 31 



3 23 



Virginia 



263 



3,468 



1 22 



12 



1 10 



64 



56 



Wyoming 



64 



312 



3 16 



12 



3 04 



2 58 



2 50 



British Domestic Parcels Post. 



Year. 



Number of 

 Parcels. 



Increase. 



Gross 

 Postage. 



Railroads' Share, 

 55 per cent. 



Postoffice 

 Share. 



1884- 5 



1885- 6 



1886- 7 

 1898-9 



22,910,040 

 26,417,397 

 32,860,154 

 71,915,000 



15.3% 

 24.3% 

 119.0% 



$2,475,162 

 2,882,772 

 3,502,075 

 7,295,742 



$1,249,505 

 1,455,876 

 1,757,378 

 3.818,827 



$1,225,657 

 1,426,895 

 1,744,696 

 3.436.914 



Now 10,500,000 parcels are delivered by motor, or horse, vans. 



