Exhibit 1.Parcel Post Rates in the Domestic Service of the Countries Named.Great Britain.—Postage rates for the first pound, 3 pence (6 cents), and for each additional pound, 1 penny (2 cents); maximum weight, 11 pounds; greatest length, 3 feet 6 inches; greatest length and girth combined, 6 feet.New Zealand and the States Composing the Commonwealth for Australia.—Limits of weight and size, same as in Great Britain. Postage rates, 6 pence (12 cents) for the first pound, and 3 pence (6 cents) for each additional pound.Germany.—Greatest weight, 50 kilograms (about 110 pounds); no limit of size. Postage rates: For all parcels conveyed not more than 10 geographic miles, 25 pfennig (6 cents), and 50 pfennig (13 cents) for greater distance; if a parcel weighs more than 5 kilograms (11 pounds av.), it is charged for each additional kilogram (2 pounds) carried 10 miles, 5 pfennig (1 cent); 20 miles, 10 pfennig (3 cents); 50 miles, 20 pfennig (5 cents); 100 miles, 30 pfennig (8 cents); 150 miles, 40 pfennig (10 cents); and more than 150 miles, 50 pfennig (13 cents). Unwieldy parcels are charged in addition 50 per cent of the above rates.Austria.—Greatest weight, 50 kilograms (110 pounds); except that parcels containing gold or silver coin may weigh up to 65 kilograms (143 pounds). Postage rates: Parcels up to 5 kilograms (11 pounds) in weight are charged 30 heller (6 cents) for the first 10 miles, and 60 heller (12 cents) for greater distances. A parcel weighing more than 5 kilograms (11 pounds) is charged for eachkilogram (2 pounds) in addition to the above rates, for the first 10 miles, 6 heller (1 cent); 20 miles, 12 heller (2 cents); 50 miles, 24 heller (5 cents); 100 miles, 36 heller (7 cents); 150 miles, 48 heller (10 cents), and more than 150 miles, 60 heller (12 cents).France.—Greatest weight 10 kilograms (about 22 pounds); no limit of size. Postage rates: Up to 3 kilograms (7 pounds), 60 centimes (12 cents) delivered at the railway station, and 85 centimes (17 cents) delivered at a residence; from 3 to 5 kilograms (7 to 11 pounds), 80 centimes (16 cents) at a station, and 1 franc 5 centimes (21 cents) at residence; from 5 to 10 kilograms (11 to 22 pounds), 1 franc 25 centimes (25 cents) at a station, and 1 franc 50 centimes (30 cents) at a residence.Belgium.—Greatest weight 60 kilograms (about 132 pounds); no limit of size, but unwieldy parcels are charged 50 per cent in addition to the following rates for any distance: Parcels up to 5 kilograms (11 pounds), 50 centimes (10 cents)—or if by express trains, 80 centimes (16 cents); up to 10 kilograms (22 pounds), 60 centimes (12 cents)—or if by express trains, 1 franc (20 cents); for each additional 10 kilograms (22 pounds), 10 centimes (2 cents)—or if sent by express trains, 50 centimes (10 cents) additional. Fee for delivering at residences, 30 centimes (6 cents).Italy.—Greatest weight, 5 kilograms (11 pounds). For ordinary parcels, greatest size in any direction, 60 centimeters (2 feet), except rolls which may measure 1 meter (40 inches—3 feet 4 inches) in length by 20 centimeters (8 inches) in thickness. Postage rates for a parcel not exceeding 3 kilograms (7 pounds), 60 centimes (12 cents); and 1 franc (20 cents) for a parcel exceeding that weight. A parcel which exceeds 60 centimeters (2 feet) in any direction, but does not exceed 1½ meters (5 feet), is admitted to the mails as an “unwieldy” parcel and is charged, in addition to the above rates, 30 centimes (6 cents) if it does not weigh more than 3 kilograms (7 pounds), and 50 centimes (10 cents) if it exceeds that weight.The Netherlands.—Greatest weight, 5 kilograms (11 pounds); greatest size, 25 cubic decimeters (1,525 cubic inches), or 1 meter (3 feet 4 inches) in any direction. Postage rates: 15 (6) cents (Dutch) up to 1 kilogram (2 pounds); 20 (8) cents from 1 to 3 kilograms (2 to 7 pounds); 25 cents (10) from 3 to 5 kilograms (7 to 11 pounds).Chile.—Greatest weight, 5 kilograms (11 pounds); must not measure more than 60 centimeters (2 feet) in any direction. Postage rates: 30 centavos (10 cents) if a parcel does not weigh more than 3 kilograms (7 pounds); 50 centavos (17 cents) if it weighs more.Cuba.—Greatest weight, 11 pounds; greatest size, 3 feet 6 inches in length by 2 feet 6 inches in width. Postage rates: 10 centavos (10 cents) a pound up to 5 pounds; and 6 centavos (6 cents) for each additional pound.Exhibit 2.Rates recommended by the Postmaster-General in his annual report (year ended June 30, 1907) for packages forwarded through the mails to post-offices in the United States and its possessions, subject to the regulations which exist at the present time, with the exception of increasing the weight limit to 11 pounds.Cents.One ounce1Over 1 ounce and not exceeding 3 ounces2Over 3 ounces and not exceeding 4 ounces3Over 4 ounces and not exceeding 5 ounces4Over 5 ounces and not exceeding 6 ounces5Over 6 ounces and not exceeding 8 ounces6Over 8 ounces and not exceeding 12 ounces9Over 12 ounces and not exceeding 16 ounces12Exhibit 3.Rates recommended by the Postmaster-General in his annual report (fiscal year ended June 30, 1907) for packages covered by the special local parcel post on rural delivery routes.Cents.For the first pound5For each additional pound, up to 11 pounds2For fractional parts of a pound:Two ounces or less1Over 2 ounces and up to 4 ounces2Over 4 and up to 8 ounces3Over 8 and up to 12 ounces4Over 12 ounces and up to 1 pound5
Parcel Post Rates in the Domestic Service of the Countries Named.
Great Britain.—Postage rates for the first pound, 3 pence (6 cents), and for each additional pound, 1 penny (2 cents); maximum weight, 11 pounds; greatest length, 3 feet 6 inches; greatest length and girth combined, 6 feet.
New Zealand and the States Composing the Commonwealth for Australia.—Limits of weight and size, same as in Great Britain. Postage rates, 6 pence (12 cents) for the first pound, and 3 pence (6 cents) for each additional pound.
Germany.—Greatest weight, 50 kilograms (about 110 pounds); no limit of size. Postage rates: For all parcels conveyed not more than 10 geographic miles, 25 pfennig (6 cents), and 50 pfennig (13 cents) for greater distance; if a parcel weighs more than 5 kilograms (11 pounds av.), it is charged for each additional kilogram (2 pounds) carried 10 miles, 5 pfennig (1 cent); 20 miles, 10 pfennig (3 cents); 50 miles, 20 pfennig (5 cents); 100 miles, 30 pfennig (8 cents); 150 miles, 40 pfennig (10 cents); and more than 150 miles, 50 pfennig (13 cents). Unwieldy parcels are charged in addition 50 per cent of the above rates.
Austria.—Greatest weight, 50 kilograms (110 pounds); except that parcels containing gold or silver coin may weigh up to 65 kilograms (143 pounds). Postage rates: Parcels up to 5 kilograms (11 pounds) in weight are charged 30 heller (6 cents) for the first 10 miles, and 60 heller (12 cents) for greater distances. A parcel weighing more than 5 kilograms (11 pounds) is charged for eachkilogram (2 pounds) in addition to the above rates, for the first 10 miles, 6 heller (1 cent); 20 miles, 12 heller (2 cents); 50 miles, 24 heller (5 cents); 100 miles, 36 heller (7 cents); 150 miles, 48 heller (10 cents), and more than 150 miles, 60 heller (12 cents).
France.—Greatest weight 10 kilograms (about 22 pounds); no limit of size. Postage rates: Up to 3 kilograms (7 pounds), 60 centimes (12 cents) delivered at the railway station, and 85 centimes (17 cents) delivered at a residence; from 3 to 5 kilograms (7 to 11 pounds), 80 centimes (16 cents) at a station, and 1 franc 5 centimes (21 cents) at residence; from 5 to 10 kilograms (11 to 22 pounds), 1 franc 25 centimes (25 cents) at a station, and 1 franc 50 centimes (30 cents) at a residence.
Belgium.—Greatest weight 60 kilograms (about 132 pounds); no limit of size, but unwieldy parcels are charged 50 per cent in addition to the following rates for any distance: Parcels up to 5 kilograms (11 pounds), 50 centimes (10 cents)—or if by express trains, 80 centimes (16 cents); up to 10 kilograms (22 pounds), 60 centimes (12 cents)—or if by express trains, 1 franc (20 cents); for each additional 10 kilograms (22 pounds), 10 centimes (2 cents)—or if sent by express trains, 50 centimes (10 cents) additional. Fee for delivering at residences, 30 centimes (6 cents).
Italy.—Greatest weight, 5 kilograms (11 pounds). For ordinary parcels, greatest size in any direction, 60 centimeters (2 feet), except rolls which may measure 1 meter (40 inches—3 feet 4 inches) in length by 20 centimeters (8 inches) in thickness. Postage rates for a parcel not exceeding 3 kilograms (7 pounds), 60 centimes (12 cents); and 1 franc (20 cents) for a parcel exceeding that weight. A parcel which exceeds 60 centimeters (2 feet) in any direction, but does not exceed 1½ meters (5 feet), is admitted to the mails as an “unwieldy” parcel and is charged, in addition to the above rates, 30 centimes (6 cents) if it does not weigh more than 3 kilograms (7 pounds), and 50 centimes (10 cents) if it exceeds that weight.
The Netherlands.—Greatest weight, 5 kilograms (11 pounds); greatest size, 25 cubic decimeters (1,525 cubic inches), or 1 meter (3 feet 4 inches) in any direction. Postage rates: 15 (6) cents (Dutch) up to 1 kilogram (2 pounds); 20 (8) cents from 1 to 3 kilograms (2 to 7 pounds); 25 cents (10) from 3 to 5 kilograms (7 to 11 pounds).
Chile.—Greatest weight, 5 kilograms (11 pounds); must not measure more than 60 centimeters (2 feet) in any direction. Postage rates: 30 centavos (10 cents) if a parcel does not weigh more than 3 kilograms (7 pounds); 50 centavos (17 cents) if it weighs more.
Cuba.—Greatest weight, 11 pounds; greatest size, 3 feet 6 inches in length by 2 feet 6 inches in width. Postage rates: 10 centavos (10 cents) a pound up to 5 pounds; and 6 centavos (6 cents) for each additional pound.
Rates recommended by the Postmaster-General in his annual report (year ended June 30, 1907) for packages forwarded through the mails to post-offices in the United States and its possessions, subject to the regulations which exist at the present time, with the exception of increasing the weight limit to 11 pounds.
Rates recommended by the Postmaster-General in his annual report (fiscal year ended June 30, 1907) for packages covered by the special local parcel post on rural delivery routes.
James L. Cowles.
The United States post-office has always been an express service, although Congress long confined the business to sealed parcels of very small weights—not over 3 pounds—and at very high rates graduated according to distance, with no insurance whatever against loss or damage in the mails. In 1874, however, the business was extended over all kinds of merchandise in unsealed parcels at a common rate of one cent each two ounces, regardless at once of distance and of the volume of a patron’s business. This placed the humblest citizen in the most out of the way postal district of the country on a par with the biggest corporation in our greatest metropolis as to the cost of the transportation of his produce and of his supplies in parcels up to four pounds, and, though still with no insurance against loss or damage, the new postal express immediately became a dangerous competitor to the private express company with its distance rates based on what the subject will bear and always discriminating in favor of the big town against the little town, the big corporation against the ordinary citizen.
The private express interests got quickly to work, therefore, and Congress soon checked up the growing postal express business by increasing the postal rate one hundred per cent—from eight to sixteen cents a pound. Later Congress bowed to the powerful book and seed interests of the country and reducedthe rate on their merchandise to the old rate of 1874, and now, for many years, the post-office and the public have been subjected to two sets of rates on matter indistinguishable both in character and as to the cost of their transportation.
The evil of this absurd postal classification, continued these twenty years by Congress, becomes decidedly evident when our domestic service is compared with the foreign parcels post services established by President Taft and Postmaster-General Hitchcock, with their common 11 pound weight limit at 12 cents a pound, on all merchandise posted from the United States to foreign countries and from those countries to the United States:
Under the English post-American express arrangement English postal parcels now come to New York three pounds for sixty cents; seven pounds for 84c; eleven pounds for $1.08, and these parcels are forwarded by the American express company throughout the country at a common rate of twenty-four cents a parcel, eight cents a pound on a three-pound parcel; about three and a half cents a pound on a seven-pound parcel, and less than two and a half cents a pound on an eleven-pound parcel. Meantime the express company taxes domestic merchandise of the same weights from 25 cents to $3.20, according to the distance traversed, while Congress taxes the public for a similar domestic postal service, three pounds, forty-eight cents; seven pounds, 2 parcels, $1.12; eleven pounds, 3 parcels, $1.76.
From The Boston Herald.
Ernest G. Walker.
Postmaster-General Wanamaker first actively urged the establishment of a parcels post on a large scale. He summed up the situation epigrammatically in his 100 reasons for it and only 4 reasons against it—those 4 being the express companies. Others after him, especially the late Postmaster-General Bissell, made like recommendations. But Mr. Meyer now has an advantage in his campaign which none of his predecessors had in the rural delivery routes. Every one of the many thousands of routes would be a little parcels service in itself, aside from being a line of communication, by which small packages could be conveyed from all parts of the country or to any part of the country. Mr. Meyer is building much upon that fact. The local service at cheaper rates will also protect the local store-keepers, to which the big department stores and mail-order establishments are bogeys.
Ever since he announced his intention of urging a better parcels post service for the United States, the Postmaster-General has been the recipient of many letters. These come from various classes of people. Most of them commend his plan, but the retail associations, such as the associations of hardware men and grocers, come out in bold opposition. It is such people as these that the Postmaster-General hopes to convert when they are brought to understand the details of what he wants to do. Some of these critics, besides claiming that the legislation would favor the catalogue houses, argue that the government should not go into a general freight business and that if the express companies are charging exorbitant rates, the Interstate Commerce Commission, which now has authority over them, should step in and require that the rates be lowered.
The operations of parcels post in other countries make avery interesting transportation chapter. They are conducted on a gigantic scale and, apart from what J. Henniker Heaton, long an English member of Parliament from Canterbury, and a great advocate of postal reforms, calls “grandmotherly regulations,” have worked with practically world-wide success. Shopping by mail is made easy, whether one in the country would trade with the local draper or the big metropolitan merchant.
Great Britain’s conservative enactments will likely be a model for any extension of the parcels post service by Congress. The service is almost twenty-five years old over there. It has become one of the most important and highly appreciated postal features. Its growth has been continuous and phenomenal. The scope has frequently been broadened. There was an early clamor for an agricultural parcels post. The owners of small farms in remote localities wanted it. The growers of spring flowers in Kerry said it would enable them to compete with the south of France and the Scilly Isles. Eventually the agricultural parcels post was authorized and also spacious dimensions for packages. Flower growers can now send full length orchid spikes and long-stemmed roses by post, where formerly only simple blooms were admissable.
The produce of the culturists goes forward to London and other big English cities in tremendous volume. Fresh fish, dispatched from seaport towns to the large hotels, are delivered with celerity. Meats, cheese, fruits, vegetables, and freshly laid eggs in mail packages under the 11-pound limit form a very considerable factor in the commerce of the Kingdom.
The general rates are low. A 1-pound parcel takes a three-penny stamp. That is 6 cents in our money. For 2 pounds an 8-cent stamp is required; for three pounds, a 10-cent stamp; for 5 pounds, 12 cents; for 7 pounds, 14 cents; 8 pounds, 16 cents; 9 pounds, 18 cents; 10 pounds, 20 cents, and 11 pounds, 22 cents. Four-pound parcels cost as much as five pounds, and 6 pounds cost as much as 7 pounds. For inland parcels 3 feet 6 inches is the maximum length; 6 feet the maximum measurement for length and girth. These have been adopted as standarddimensions in the services of numerous other countries. Parcels should not be posted at a letter box, but presented at the counter of a postoffice. The government virtually guarantees the sender against loss up to $10. Payment of a registry fee of 4 cents, in addition to the regular postage, insures the parcel for $25; a 25-cent registry stamp carries an insurance of $1,000. There have been demands, not yet conceded, for the cash on delivery system that several European countries have adopted.
The big retail stores of London avail themselves extensively of the parcels service for delivery of goods. The rates, ranging from 6 to 22 cents, are not prohibitive. In many cases the government service is cheaper and quicker. Laundries return washing by parcels post. In Germany, where the rates are even cheaper, lads away at school send their soiled linen home by mail to be washed and it is returned to them by the same conveyance.
Sidney Buxton, the postmaster-general of Great Britain, in his last report, statistically demonstrates the continuous growth, and consequently the popularity, of the parcels post in the United Kingdom. The number of parcels delivered in the country districts of England and Wales in 1896-97 was 41,512,000, and increased annually by from 3 to 6 per cent, till in 1905-6 the number was 66,277,000. In the London district for the same ten-year period the increase was from 11,229,000 parcels to 18,167,000. A similar increase was shown for Scotland from 6,802,000 to 10,725,000 parcels, and for Ireland, where the increase was from 4,172,000 in 1896-97 to 6,513,000 in 1905-6.
The gross amount of revenue the government collected increased from £1,445,126 for 63,715,000 parcels in the United Kingdom for the first year of the decade to £2,138,673 for 101,682,000 parcels in the last year of the decade. The post-office’s share of these collections increased from £763,307 to £1,142,224. The average postage per parcel decreased during the period from about 11 cents to 10 cents. The postmaster-general undertakes to deliver both letters and parcels at every house in the Kingdom. They are delivered by the same postman, except in the large towns, where there is a special staff for parcel work.
Because of competition from private agencies, that have charges graduated on a basis of distance, there is a tendency for an unduly high proportion of long distance parcels and parcels for delivery in rural districts, which are the least remunerative. The post-office has met this competition by establishing, for comparatively short distances, a large number of horse and motor parcel van services, as road conveyance for these distances makes possible an economy as compared with conveyance by railway at the charge of 55 per cent of the receipts.
The Swiss is cited much as one of the most efficient and satisfactory in Europe. The mountain villages and resorts of that industrious little country receive a large portion of their supplies by post, as a maximum weight of 110 pounds is carried within a radius of 62 miles. The conditions there are somewhat the same as with the dwellers in the Appalachian and Blue Ridge mountains, to whom it has been declared that a parcels post would be a great boon because there is no prospect that either the railroads or the express companies will ever approach their hamlets and villages.
This Swiss law includes an agricultural parcels post and likewise a passenger post, agitation for both of which has generally followed the establishment of parcels post in most countries. The passenger post of Switzerland is something like the mail coaches in the United States before the coming of railroads, except that the coaches are owned by the state and the fees are prescribed by the same authority. A very large business is done in sending parcels through the mails. A treasury official, who was traveling in Switzerland during the past summer, saw at one railroad station several enormous baskets filled with hams and provisions. They were samples of mail parcels under the 110-pound limit.
The general rates are more liberal than in any other country. A parcel weighing 1 pound is carried anywhere within the boundaries of the Federation for 3 cents, a 5-pound parcelfor 5 cents, a 11-pound parcel for 8 cents, a 22-pound parcel for 17 cents, a 33-pound parcel for 23 cents, and a 44-pound parcel for 33 cents. Parcels weighing as much as 110 pounds are carried within a radius of 62 miles for 60 cents, which enables many of the peasants to market much of their light produce by mail. The rates are so adjustable that housewives can secure anything by post from a paper of pins to a bag of flour. The V. P., or value payable, system is a part of the Swiss postal arrangements, so that purchaser can pay for his goods on delivery, and there is but one financial transaction connected with the purchase as far as he is concerned. A provision for delivery makes the service all the more attractive.
Belgium’s parcels post has even a higher weight limit than Switzerland, for it accepts articles of 62 kilograms, or about 132 pounds, in one package, and puts no limit upon the size, except that unwieldy packages are subject to an extra charge of 50 per cent. But up to 5 kilograms, which is the conventional 11-pound limit of a majority of the parcels post countries, the charge is 50 centimes, or 10 cents; for 10 kilograms 12 cents, and two cents extra for every additional 10 kilograms (22 pounds). A higher charge is made in Belgium, as in several other European countries, if the parcel is to be carried on an express train. It amounts to six cents for five kilograms. The fee for delivering at residence is six cents additional.
Germany and Austria maintain the 50-kilogram limit. The first named country enforces the 50 per cent extra charge for unwieldy articles. It also has what is called the zone system. For conveyance 10 geographic miles the charge is six cents (25 pfennigs), and 13 cents (50 pfennigs) for greater distances. If the parcel weighs more than 11 pounds there is a charge of one cent (five pfennigs) for each additional kilogram carried 10 miles, 10 pfennigs for 20 miles, 20 pfennigs for 50 miles, 30 pfennigs for 100 miles, 40 pfennigs for 150 miles, and 50 pfennigs, approximately 13 cents, for more than 150 miles. The same rate of charges applies in Austria.
The French parcels post law requires presentation at the railroad station. Some other European countries, like GreatBritain, require it to be delivered at the postoffice. The French maximum weight is 10 kilograms (22 pounds) without any restriction as to size. The postage rates are 12 cents up to 3 kilograms; 16 cents up to 5 kilograms, and 30 cents up to 10 kilograms. These rates are for delivery at a railroad station. An extra fee of 25 centimes (5 cents) is charged for delivering the parcel at the residence of the addressee.
Certain elementary items of cost enter into the service of European countries that would not be identical with the maintenance of a similar service in the United States. In Germany a considerable mileage of the railroads is state owned. They carry certain parcels in the mails without compensation. In large sections of Europe there has never been anything like adequate service by express companies, and in the absence of business enterprises in establishing such transportation the people have been compelled to look to their governments for relief. The cheap rates for parcels post there were originally, in some part, intended as an accommodation for the poorer classes.
The distances for transportation are less and the population is denser. The United States is 225 times larger than Switzerland, 60 times larger than England, 17 times larger than Germany, 12 times larger than the three countries combined. In England the average distance a letter or mail package travels is 40 miles; in Germany it is 42 miles; in the United States it is said to be 542 miles.
No accurate information is available as to whether the European parcels posts are in reality self-supporting. They certainly are nearly so, and in some instances are regarded as profitable government ventures. Everywhere the service is characterized by prompt transmission and prompt delivery. The percentages of loss are very small. The several national constituencies that have a parcels post system would no more relinquish such privileges than American cities would relinquish electric lights or automobiles. One European enthusiast pronounced the establishment of the parcels post “a service to mankind only less splendid than that of the transmission of thought.”
In England it is claimed that the parcels post service would be a source of profit but for the amounts paid to the railroads for transportation, the share of 55 per cent of the receipts being regarded as exorbitant. Generally the parcels post is so joined with the rest of the mail service that its entire cost can not be counted.
The international business has grown to enormous proportions. The figures collected at Berne for 1904, in connection with the Postal Union, show that the parcels mailed across the frontiers of 36 nations and colonies that year numbered something like 38,000,000. The small percentage of that total, where the value was declared, showed an aggregate of about $162,000,000 worth of property. In that list the United States would have stood about eleventh on the showing for the fiscal year of 1906, when 264,438 parcels of an average weight of 2⅔ pounds were sent from this country abroad. Tunis sent more according to the figures than the United States. Germany, leading all other nations both in the dispatch and receipt of parcels in international mails, sent a total of 11,675,385, of which 11,343,516 were classed as “ordinary,” and 331,869 were “with a declared value” of $23,352,378. Austria, enjoying close postal relations with Germany, dispatched 10,659,300 parcels to other countries, of which 1,082,430 had a declared value of $68,396,578.
The totals of “receipts” and “dispatches” of course balance for the 36 countries in question, but are not the same for each country represented. The rank in parcels dispatched runs: Germany, Austria, France, Hungary, Great Britain, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Tunis, British India, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia, Denmark, Luxemburg, Japan, and Egypt; in parcels received the order is: Germany, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, Russia, Netherlands, Denmark, Roumania, Spain, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sweden, Norway, Luxemburg, Tunis, and so on. Switzerland in 1904 received across her borders 2,788,406 parcels by post, of which 2,635,090 were “ordinary” and 133,316 were declared of avalue of $9,863,886. Of 6,352,360 parcels that came over the Austrian frontier, 778,380 had a declared value of $64,788,927. Germany received 7,337,404 parcels in international mails, of which 482,472 had a declared value of $35,901,435. The parcels received by post in the United States during the fiscal year 1906 from abroad were recorded as 131,064, of an average weight of 2.73 pounds. Probably the actual number was much larger, perhaps twice as large.
Sufficient figures have been given to indicate what a great factor the parcels post has become in the trade of the world. The value of the merchandise thus transported can only be roughly estimated, but it will probably exceed half a billion dollars annually.
This business is transacted across frontiers, causing little or no friction with customs officers. Boxes with declared value are subject to the legislation of the country of origin or destination as regards payment of stamp duties on articles exported and as regards the control of stamp and customs duties on articles imported. The stamp duties and charges for examination by customs officers involved in the importation are collected from the addressees when the articles are delivered.
Practically the same rules apply for all parcels post. There is provision for insurance and also for “trade charges,” which latter term means that goods can be sent c. o. d., the maximum value being f.1000. The limit of weight is 5 kilograms, or 11 pounds. The cost of conveyance comprises a charge of 10 cents for each country participating in the territorial transit, a graduated distance tax for sea conveyance and extra rates for cumbersome parcels, and may be increased under certain conditions by delivery fees and, in case of declared values, by insurance fees. Weights under 2 pounds, however, are transported for a maximum of 1 franc. Special forms are provided for registering for customs declaration, for certificate of prepayment, when that is desired, and for trade charges.
The United States is not a party to this comprehensive parcels post convention, by which a vast quantity of merchandiseis carried to different parts of the world annually, but Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Uruguay, and Venezuela are among the signatories. But the United States has parcels post conventions with 33 different countries on somewhat different but fairly liberal terms. It keeps the postage for parcels it sends to other countries and they in turn retain the postage on parcels sent here. That saves in bookkeeping and has been found economical, whereas the more comprehensive convention, under which most of the European and Asiatic countries operate, divide the postage receipts pro rata. The United States will not transmit through its mails parcels en route from one foreign country to another. Among the latest parcels post conventions the President has ratified under statute authority are those with Sweden, Peru, Denmark, Ecuador, and Bermuda.
The popularity in this country of the parcels post is well demonstrated by the great growth in the use of international facilities. The dispatches from this country for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1905, amounted to 560,228 pounds and for the year ending June 30, 1906, was 721,164 pounds, an increase of 28.73 per cent. Only one-fifth of the dispatches of the last mentioned fiscal year went to Europe, which indicates that a good share of the parcels business was with Mexico and Central South America. Parcels for Germany, Hongkong, Japan, Norway, Belgium, Great Britain, Sweden, and Denmark are accepted only for a maximum weight of 4 pounds and 6 ounces, where the maximum weight for the other countries with which the Postoffice Department now has conventions is 11 pounds.
The customs officials say that the parcels post business with foreign countries is increasing by leaps and bounds. Within recent months better facilities for the collection of customs dues have been inaugurated, with the result it is said, that many packages which hitherto passed without being noted are now being examined and recorded. There are offices of exchange, so called, in several of the larger post-offices of the United States where customs officials are stationed to attend to thecollection of duties on these parcels from abroad. In the Washington City post-office this foreign parcels post business is said to have increased 300 per cent within the last twelve months. The Treasury Department keeps about 25 customs employees now on duty at the New York City post-office to attend to the foreign parcels post business which goes through that office. Dutiable packages to minor offices are handled from exchange offices. Such mail addressed to Plymouth, Mass., for instance, would be held till the addressee had forwarded to the postmaster at Boston the amount of duty required.
William S. Bennet.
Mr. Chairman: In connection with this subject I take pleasure in submitting the following views of the Postal Progress League:
From the foundation of our national government, the people of the United States, through their representatives in Congress, have always determined the scope of their postal service, the pay of their mail carriers, their own postal rates; and from the first they seem to have provided for the postal transport of merchandise in very small sealed parcels at very high rates—by the act of 1792, 24 cents an ounce for distances up to 30 miles, higher rates for greater distances. In 1810 they fixed the postal weight limit at 3 pounds, and it so remained for many years. In 1863 the postal rates were made uniform regardless of distance, and since 1863 Congress has definitely provided for the transport of merchandise in unsealed parcels, but still with a weight limit so low and rates so high as to be practically prohibitive.
In the old era of household industries when the peddler, with his pack on his back, or driving his own team, was the chief agency of commercial intercourse, these postal limitationsworked little harm, but their continuance in our day, when every industry needs a continent for its development, is no longer endurable. The common welfare demands the widest possible extension, the most efficient and economic administration of our great mutual express company.
In its report of January 28, 1907, the Postal Commission of the Fifty-ninth Congress declared that: “Upon the postal service, more than upon anything else, does the general economic as well as the social and political development of the country depend.” And yet the United States merchandise post of to-day is limited to 4-pound parcels at rates: Sealed parcels 2 cents an ounce, 32 cents a pound, with no insurance against loss or damage unless registered; and unsealed parcels, with no insurance under any conditions, at rates:
Some specific kinds of merchandise; printed books; Christmas cards printed on paper; advertisements on ordinary paper; seeds, bulbs, etc., for planting, 1 cent for 2 ounces, 8 cents per pound.
General merchandise; blank books; Christmas cards of any other substance than paper; advertisements on blotting paper; seeds, bulbs for food, etc., 1 cent per ounce, 16 cents per pound.
In 1874 third-class matter covered all merchandise at one-half the present general merchandise rate.
The Postal Report of 1904, pages 593-595, shows the effect of these limitations on the free rural service. In its daily 24-mile course, visiting over 100 families, the average rural post-wagon handles less than 26 pounds of mail per day, collected and delivered; it collects less than 1 pound. The average rural family posts hardly one merchandise parcel a year. Its total merchandise traffic dispatched and received is less than 10 parcels a year. The postal revenue from its entire merchandise traffic is less than 50 cents a year. The total cancellations of the average carrier in 1904 amounted to only $10.64 a month; to less than $132 a year. With the same limitations in 1909, his postalincome must remain practically the same. Meanwhile the 4,000,000 families on the rural routes go to and from their post towns and their homes, carrying their supplies and their produce at a needless expense—estimated at only 50 cents a week per family—of over $100,000,000 a year.
And the postal weighings of 1907 disclose a similar state of things in the general-merchandise traffic of the post-office. Of the general postal business, the merchandise traffic represents:
The weight of the average merchandise postal parcel is 5.45 ounces; its average haul is 687 miles. The merchandise tax, 1 cent per ounce or fraction thereof, amounts in practice to 17.23 cents per pound. The average family posts less than 9 parcels a year—less than 3 pounds—and pays for the service about 50 cents a year.
The local merchandise mailed in October, 1907, at 17 representative post-offices of Alabama weighed only 65 pounds, at 16 representative post-offices of Arkansas only 14 pounds, at 18 representative post-offices of Iowa only 116 pounds, at 16 representative post-offices of New Hampshire only 27 pounds, at 16 representative post-offices of North Carolina only 30 pounds, at 14 representative post-offices of Oregon only 1 pound, at 14 representative post-offices of Montana only 1 pound, at 14 representative post-offices of Nevada only 4 pounds, at 12 representative post-offices of South Dakota only 15 pounds, and at 14 representative post-offices of Wyoming only 1 pound.
The weight of the parcels posted in October, 1907, by the 4,000,000 people of New York City in their local traffic amounted to only 55,918 pounds, less than 1¼ ounces per family, and in their total traffic to only 469,111 pounds, about 8 ounces per family.
The post-office is the most important department of our national government. Its system of rates—regardless of distance, regardless of the character or volume of the matter transported, rates determined by the representatives of therate payers in Congress assembled on the basis of the cost of the service rendered—its system of uniform rates places our whole country on a plane of the most perfect commercial equality. Up to its limits there can be no possible discriminations either as to persons, places or things. Up to its limits, the humblest citizen on the most out-of-the-way rural route is guaranteed the transport of his supplies and his produce at the same rates as the biggest corporation in our greatest metropolis. These rates moreover, may be steadily reduced with the improvement of our transport machinery and its administration. And yet by our own limitation of this mighty service we deny ourselves its use almost altogether in local traffic, and in through traffic confine it to parcels of less than 6 ounces.
Meantime we pay private express companies what “the traffic will bear” for the transport of our large parcels, and in our local traffic cheerfully carry our small parcels in our pockets or hand bags or dispatch them by private messengers or private vehicles. Such petty work is beneath the notice of our great private express companies. In many small places they have no offices. Even in our great cities they have no regular daily courses, save in a few business districts. If the ordinary city resident would dispatch a parcel by express, he must go after an express wagon on foot or by telephone. The post-man—our public expressman—comes to our doors one, two, three, four times a day, or oftener. We have but to substitute a machine post for our overburdened foot post and, with a perfected system of collection and delivery of insured parcels at reasonable rates, we shall have a postal express at hand, ready and competent to do our bidding on our own terms and conditions.
The possibilities of such a service were illustrated some years ago, when James L. Cowles, of the Postal Progress League, dispatched an 11-pound suit case from New York City to New Haven, Conn. Prepaid as a sealed parcel, with a special-delivery stamp affixed, the suit case was mailed at a branch post-office on Fifth avenue about 5 o’clock in the afternoon; it was delivered at its address in New Haven before 10 o’clock the same evening. On another occasion Mr. Cowles telegraphed fromPhiladelphia about noon for a parcel of stationery to be sent him from his office, 361 Broadway, New York City. The Philadelphia postman delivered the parcel at Mr. Cowles’ hotel before 8 o’clock the same evening.
In his testimony before the congressional committee on railway mail pay, in 1898, Mr. H. S. Julier, of the American Express Company, testified that the weight of the average express parcel is 25 pounds; its average charge is 50 cents; its average haul in the eastern states is 100 to 125 miles; in the central states a little more; in the western states from 175 to 200 miles. In local traffic the ordinary express charge on the smallest merchandise parcel is 15 cents; in general traffic, 25 cents. The private express service is chiefly confined to traffic between cities. To be successful, a business requiring express service must be located in a large city, where the different express companies have their headquarters; otherwise their parcels will often be subjected to two or three express charges before they reach their destination. The private express company, with its rates based on the value of the service rendered and determined according to volume of business, is deadly to the small place and the small dealer.
Under the growing differentiation of industry there is a steadily growing demand for a door-to-door express service of parcels ordered by telephone, telegram, or by mail. The business can not be done by private express companies to the public satisfaction. Their machinery does not reach the rural districts. An extended postal service is the only public choice.
As long ago as December 6, 1898, the Merchants’ Association of New York issued the following statement to the merchants, manufacturers, and shippers of the State of New York:
A very large part of every dollar paid by you for express charges is exorbitant and exacted to pay a monstrous profit to an unrestrained monopoly.Many of you are compelled by present conditions of competition to use the express service on a large part of your shipments, and to pay express charges which are from 300 to over 20,000 per cent of corresponding freight charges. The express charges on many classes of goods average from 5 to 15 per cent of the value of the merchandise transported.These are the charges that you pay. But many of your strongest competitors are favored by discriminating rates and pay much less.The express companies are now uncontrolled by law and you have no recourse against exorbitant charges; you must ship by express and must pay whatever the express companies see fit to charge.
A very large part of every dollar paid by you for express charges is exorbitant and exacted to pay a monstrous profit to an unrestrained monopoly.
Many of you are compelled by present conditions of competition to use the express service on a large part of your shipments, and to pay express charges which are from 300 to over 20,000 per cent of corresponding freight charges. The express charges on many classes of goods average from 5 to 15 per cent of the value of the merchandise transported.
These are the charges that you pay. But many of your strongest competitors are favored by discriminating rates and pay much less.
The express companies are now uncontrolled by law and you have no recourse against exorbitant charges; you must ship by express and must pay whatever the express companies see fit to charge.
On the 10th of February, 1909, the Merchants’ Association of New York again returned to their attack upon the express companies. Note their charges:
Rates so high in the case of the Adams Express Company as to enable them to pay dividends of over 80 per cent a year on the amount actually invested in their business. In 1907 they made a dividend of $24,000,000.
Excessive charges for collection and delivery varying, on 100-pound parcels, from 27 cents to $7.79 for similar services.
Unreasonable restrictions of free delivery service.
Unreasonable regulation as to size of parcels.
Unreasonable regulation as to packing.
Delays in delivery.
Failure to notify shippers of nondelivery.
Delays in settlements of claims.
Delays in returns of undelivered goods.
Marking parcels 1 to 5 pounds over actual weight, and compelling consignees to pay for the fictitious increase.
David J. Lewis.
Mr. Chairman: In December the government issued its first annual report on the statistics of express companies for the year 1909, which developed the fact that the average pay of the express companies to the railways for carrying express matter was about three-quarters (0.74) of a cent a pound, while the postal reports show that the government paid for its letter or mail transportation about 4 (4.06) cents a pound, barring the weight of equipment in both cases. It was apparent to me at once that the parcels function could not be successfully or economicallydischarged by the government on the basis of letter-transportation rates. And then the economic significance of another fact developed: It was that the express companies’ service was at a disadvantage, even greater than that of the post office, in regard to the nonrailway transportation of its parcels. The express companies have no agency and at present rates can not secure an agency to reach nonrailway or rural points. In short, it appeared that the express companies had exclusive control of one of the absolutely essential conditions of fast package transport, the express rate of three-quarters of a cent a pound, while the post office had equally exclusive possession of the other great agency of necessary service—the rural delivery system. Common sense indicated what the solution must be; these two advantages, the railway express transportation rate and the rural delivery system must be made cooperative; must be united under one control. The express railway transportation rate would, if the government parcels amounted to but one-fourth of the express business, save it, if in its control, at least $50,000,000 a year, while the addition of rural delivery to the express business would add to this great service the farming population of our country at practically no cost to them or the country. The bill I have introduced for postal express is the result of these conditions.
As I have said, the idea of the bill is to unite in one service the two great instrumentalities above named, in order that a greatly cheapened and an even more extended service to the public may be had. For this purpose the bill provides for the compulsory purchase by condemnation of the railway-express company contracts and franchises, as well as the equipment and property devoted to the express business per se, and their subsequent employment by the postal department in connection with rural delivery and the postal system. The express-railway transportation privileges are all the subjects of contracts between the railways and express companies. They constitute the primary condition of the express service, and while the equipment and other facilities are only immediately necessary to arunning plant, and their acquisition is provided for, it is the contracts which constitute the conditions sine qua non of the service. Happily, there can be no legal question as to the right of the government to acquire these contracts and other facilities upon providing just compensation.
In addition to those grave needs for such a service, which the majority of national communities have recognized, as commending its adoption domestically and internationally, there exist in the United States supplementary reasons which it is believed render the institution uncommonly necessary.
Briefly summarized, they are:
(a) The greater area over which our population is distributed and correlatively greater transportation distances which consume so much time by freight that a fast or express service needs to be resorted to in a larger number of instances than if the journey were short.
(b) The 100-pound minimum and corresponding charge in railway practice and the inadaptability of railway methods to diminutive consignments.
(c) The prohibitive minimum charge of the express companies in respect to small consignments.
(d) Absence of railway “collect and delivery” service and absence of “collect and delivery” service by express companies as to our farming population and a large portion of our urban population.
(e) Incalculable waste of transportation effort, so far as made, in movement of necessaries of life from the farms to points of consumption, a serious factor in our high cost of living.
Of course, the need for fast service will depend upon the greatness of the distance, when demand is immediate, as much as upon the valuable or perishable character of the shipment. In our country, with an average haul for freight of 251 miles, from three to ten times as long as in Europe, the demand for speed to overcome the obstacle of the time lost in distance, the time-element necessity for an express service is correspondinglyincreased; and so the disadvantages of inadequate or ineconomical express service are vital. The railway organization of America and its system of practices does not seem adapted to meet this great need; while its refusal, upon adequate grounds, to accept a smaller payment than the rate for its minimum shipment of 100 pounds precludes it from this service even if speed were not prerequisite. The minimum charge of 25 cents (average 27 cents) imposes an equally substantial and serious restriction upon the express service as now conducted; so that when it is considered that the farmers or nonurban, about half of our population, are virtually excluded from the service of this great agency, and the express rates by their prohibitive costliness substantially minimize the service for the urban population, it is apparent that instead of possessing an express service commensurate with its needs, the United States has both unexampled necessity for, and unexampled deficiency in, its dispatch or express agencies. Add to this situation the tremendous waste and corresponding costliness of the unorganized country-to-town transportation of our necessaries, and such almost equally wasteful and quite equally costly express service as we have, and have we not put a finger on one of the big leaks which swallow so much of the unprecedented productiveness of our country?
We should expect express charges to be higher per ton here than abroad, as much higher as our freight-per-ton charges. But no necessary economic cause is known which justifies a substantially higher proportion or ratio of the express to the freight charges here as compared with other countries. The average express charge per ton here is shown to be $31.20, while the average freight charge is $1.90 per ton, giving a ratio of the express charge to the freight charge of 16 (16.42) to 1. This express charge includes the cost of such collect and delivery service as is rendered, covering, it is thought, about 90 per cent of the traffic. In the table now inserted this element of the expense of the express companies for collecting and delivering, amounting to 11.50 per cent, is excluded, because manyof the European countries and other data do not include this factor of cost. The table embraces 10 countries, while the specific data upon which the ratios are based are set forth in Appendix B. All countries have been included where the express data is clearly distinguishable from general freight statistics.