THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
lOI 
Note and Comment 
THE PARCEL POST SITUATION AT WASHINGTON 
Early in January, I spent some time in Washington, 
attending hearings on Parcel Post before the Senate Commit¬ 
tee on Post Offices and Post Roads, Jonathan Bourne, Chair¬ 
man. I soon saw that great interests, well organized, were 
bringing powerful pressure to bear against a General Parcel 
Post law. The Chicago Tribune of December 21, 1911, 
reports that out of the 25,000 petitions received by Congress, 
over 99% oppose Parcel Post. Congressmen do not read 
agricultural papers; few farmers have appeared before the 
Committee and not many of them are writing letters favoring 
Parcel Post. The only well organized support steadily at 
work is the Postal Progress League of New York and Boston, 
James L. Cowles, Secretary, and the National Grange, Oliver 
Wilson, Master, Peoria, Illinois. 
I believe the only way to get a general Parcel Post Law 
from the present Congress- is to have the fanners from this 
time on pour in a steady flood of letters pleading for the 
measure. 
Ten fanner-letters arc worth a thousand petition-signa¬ 
tures; and if only two or three in a hundred write letters we 
will win, because of numbers. Let the agricultural papers 
keep on publishing Parcel Post matter, but always with the 
admonition that the farmers write letters to their Congressmen. 
It is my opinion that Senator Bourne’s committee will 
soon report out a new and most satisfactory General Parcel 
Post bill. 
I have conferred with a number of agricultural editors 
who are personal friends, and they back up the plan of setting 
some day in March or A]3ril, to be called Farmers’ Parcel Post 
Letter Day, on which day farmers will write letters to their 
representatives in Congress pleading for a General Parcel 
Post. With a steady injjOuring of letters for the next couple 
of months, and then a great final broadside, we will win. 
A word of personal explanation. A year of outdoor life on 
our Connecticut farm with my son had given back somewhat 
of old-time health and energy. I had planned to winter in 
the tropics. Witnessing the strenuous efforts of Senator 
Bourne and others in behalf of a General Parcel Post, I be¬ 
lieved it my duty to join the movement and devote to it the 
money the trip would have cost. 
W. A. Henry, 
College of Agriculture, Emer.Prof. of Agriculture. . 
Madison, Wisconsin, Feb., 1912. 
THE PARCEL POST SYSTEMS OF SEVEN COUNTRIES 
By W. A. Henry, Emeritus Professor of Agriculture, Madison, Wis. 
Practically every nation has a Parcel Post system. 
flffie United States has the lowest weight limit for parcels 
carried by mail and the highest charge per pound of any coun¬ 
try in the list. Our government makes a flat charge of 16 
cents per pound for anything carried by Parcel Post, and 
limits the package to four pounds in weight. 
Russia will carry packages up to 120 pounds, charging 
thirteen cents for two pounds and twenty-three cents for 
seven pounds. China, with a territory nearly one-half larger 
than ours, carries four pounds for thirty cents and twenty- 
two pounds in one i)ackage for a dollar. To mail twenty-two 
pounds in this country we would have to put the material in 
six packages and pay S3.52 postage. 
Germany has the zone system, by which charges vary 
according to distance and weight. That country will carry an 
11 pound parcel ten miles for six cents and to any post office 
in the empire for twelve cents. 
More than a score of other nations could be added to the 
table, but enough has been given to show how antiquated our 
postal system is in the matter of transporting parcels for the 
people. 
If you, reader, want a General Parcel Post write letters at 
once to your members of Congress telling them so. Oppose 
one cent letter postage until we have a General Parcel Post. 
Should your members of Congress, not hearing from you, vote 
against Parcel Post, do not find fault; for you have not done 
your part. 
Remember, that March 18, 1912, is Farmers’ Parcel Post 
Letter Day. 
E. A. CHASE HONORED ON HIS EIGHTIETH 
BIRTHDAY 
Riverside, California, now claims Mr. Ethan Allen Chase, 
formerly of Rochester, New York, as its citizen, and his face 
and name are well known to Southern Californians who are 
interested in the nursery and fruit industries. Thus, there 
was a large acceptance of invitations issued by Mr. Chase’s 
sons to come to Riverside on January 18, for a joyous gather¬ 
ing on the occasion of the eightieth birthday of this respected 
citizen. Besides local friends, many guests from other cities 
in the southern part of the state were entertained. A ban¬ 
quet followed by a flag raising occupied the afternoon hours. 
The toastmaster was Harry Chase, who has recently returned 
from studying the orange industry in Spain. The first 
speaker introduced was Mayor Peters of Riverside, who 
spoke of, Mr. Chase from an acquaintance of nearly twenty 
years. Many were the tributes paid by the speakers who 
followed to this octogenarian who has done so much for River¬ 
side, though his residence there did not begin till he was more 
than sixty years old. Business men and personal friends 
alike gave voice to the fact that Mr. Chase is always willing 
to give of his time or his facilities for a worthy cause. As an 
instance of this, the opportunities which he provided for 
studying the problem of fertilization of orange groves were 
cited. Mr. Frost, a personal friend near Mr. Chase’s own 
age, spoke in part as follows: “We have been congratulating 
Mr. Chase on this anniversary occasion, but the congratula¬ 
tions are really due to us. The congratulations are due the 
community that he has lived and worked here. We honor 
the man who makes two blades of grass grow where only one 
grew before; what then shall we say of the man who has 
made thousands of the most beautiful trees in the world grow 
where not one grew before?” 
National Nurseryman, 
We take pleasure in handing you herewith draft covering our 
subscription to the National Nurseryman to Feb., 1913. We con¬ 
sider the Nurseryman very helpful. Yours very truly, 
Pa. Penna. Nur. Co. 
