THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
i53 
THE PARCELS POST: NEEDED LEGISLATION. 
There are two reasons why a parcels post system is not 
in operation in the United States, the first is that the people 
have not asked for it and the second that the Express com¬ 
panies throttle agitation of the subject. All doubt as 
to the practicability of the system as far as the Goverment 
is concerned is dispelled by the present. Postmaster General. 
The objections of the small merchants have been overcome. 
In short all that is now needed is for the people to ask,—and 
ask in a way that takes no refusal,—for the establishment of 
parcels post. 
For 60 cents the German farmer can send no pounds 
of produce by mail to any part of Germany or Austria, and 
it will reach its destination as promptly as a letter. Ameri¬ 
can Express companies have established for the British 
public a flat or postage stamp rate of 24 cents on 11 pounds 
parcels, anywhere between New York and San Francisco, 
or other express offices in the Union. Meanwhile the 
American public is paying excessive rates to the same com¬ 
panies. The cost of eleven pounds from Chicago, or from 
the Pacific coast to New York, is $2.35. Now for $2.65 it 
is possible to ship 100 pounds by freight the same distance. 
It is time for Americans to wake to the situation. It is 
fortunate that at present the man best able to do so with 
most effect is doing so, that is, the Postmaster General. 
Postmaster General George V. L. Meyer is advocating 
the adoption by the United States of a parcel post system. 
Before taking the matter to Congress he is going to 
explain fully to the People the advantages of the system. 
He wants both to arouse and to educate public sentiment. 
Mr. Meyer plans to draw a bill and introduce it into 
Congress early in December. This bill will provide for the 
admission to the mails of parcels of a maximum weight 
of 11 pounds at 12 cents a pound (four pounds is now the 
maximum weight at 16 cents a pound); and a local service 
on rural delivery routes at five cents a pound, with two 
cents for every additional pound up to 11. 
This local service will be confined to each rural route, 
and can not be extended beyond it. Mr. Meyer believes that 
this if adopted, will make the rural delivery of mail self- 
sustaining and that the postal service as a whole would pro¬ 
bably yield a surplus. 
Mr. Meyer has carefully estimated all costs connected 
with the operation of the proposed system briefly out¬ 
lined above and finds that it can be managed so that no 
deficit will result. He has some things to say about the 
effect of the plan upon different classes of merchants. We 
quote from his words on the subject. 
“That a local parcel post would be of material advantage 
to the retail merchant in competition with mail-order 
houses is seen at once when it is pointed out that the latter, 
at the proposed general parcel post rate of 12 cents a pound, 
would be obliged to pay $1.32 for sending an 11 pound 
package to a rural route patron, a difference in favor of the 
local storekeeper of about 10 cents a pound, or $1.07 on 
an 11-pound package. 
“Letters and petitions for the extension of the parcel 
post are being received from all sections of the country. 
Many commercial bodies formerly opposed to any action 
of this kind are on record as being heartily in favor of it. 
“On the other hand, objections have been raised to the 
measures the Department is advocating. Although no 
sound argument has been advanced in opposition, the con¬ 
tentions which have been made are not without interest. 
“It has been stated that the Department is not equipped 
to deliver 11-pound parcels received in the general mails. 
The present postal regulations provide that when a package 
is of undue size or weight a formal notice shall be sent the 
addressee requesting him to call for it. This practice would 
continue were the weight limit increased to 11 pounds, 
in the case of offices having free delivery. Nor would it 
work a hardship, for under the present limit of 4 pounds 
the average weight of parcels sent through the mails is but 
one-third of a pound. Increasing the weight limit would 
not have nearly as great an effect on the average weight 
of parcels mailed as seems to be commonly supposed. 
When packages were addressed to persons living on rural 
routes they would, of course, be delivered to the boxes of the 
patrons by rural carriers, who would not thereby be incon¬ 
venienced. 
“Others have said that large mail-order houses would 
under the proposed law, utilize the special parcel post or 
rural routes through agents to the great disadvantage of 
the country merchant, first assembling their orders and 
dispatching them by express or freight to suitable dis¬ 
tributing points. The Department has recommended pro¬ 
visions which will prevent any such use of the routes. It 
should be remembered, too, that even in the absence of a 
specific prohibition of this nature, any systematic attempt 
upon the part of a mail-order house to thus distribute its 
wares would necessitate the employment of many thousands 
of local representatives. The catalogues of these con¬ 
cerns indicate in no uncertain way that they attribute 
their success, in large measure, to their low selling expense, 
and that the absence of any sort of agents is the principal 
feature of their argument in accounting for the supposedly 
low prices of their goods. 
“The cry of ‘class legislation’ has been raised. There 
is, of course, no discrimination involved, for all who can be 
reached by rural carriers will be accommodated. It would 
be as reasonable to decry the laws which permit the de¬ 
livery of mail to patrons living on rural routes, while per¬ 
sons differently situated are obliged to make a trip to a 
near-by post-office to obtain their letters. 
“Those who claim that an increase in the weight limit 
would work an injury to country merchants appear to have 
the impression that mail-orde'r houses now deliver their 
goods extensively through the postal service, and that 
this practice would largely increase if the recommendations 
which have been made become law. Upon a moment's 
reflection it will be perceived that the present rate of 16 
