PARCEL-POST

But the hardest blow to the express companies had been delivered on August 24, 1912. On that day, after years of agitation, a bill providing for a parcel-post in the United States became the law of the land; and the parcel-post system went into effect on January 1, 1913. Congressman David J. Lewis conducted a staunch campaign to have a postal express provision included in the new law, but unsuccessfully; and the weight limit of the parcels which could be sent through the post office was fixed at eleven pounds. Nevertheless, the United States Express Company saw the handwriting on the wall, and in that year decided to wind up its business, ceasing operations on June 30, 1914.

The detailed history of the development of the parcel-post in the United States, closely related as are the parcel-post and express problems, is not pertinent to this study. It is sufficient to point out that more and more the parcel-post has been broadened so as to include much of what was the express companies' field. At the present time, the weight limit is 70 lbs. for a distance up to 300 miles and 50 lbs. for greater distances. Packages may be sent collect on delivery up to $100, and they may be insured up to $100. There are separate fees for those two latter services up to ten cents, which amount covers both a collection on delivery of $100 and insurance of $100. A receipt is given for the uninsured pre-paid parcel for a fee of one cent. So that by January 1, 1918, the business of transporting goods too small or too valuable to be transported as freight was divided between two agencies in competition with each other—one of them governmental, one of them private.

THE PRESENT ACTIVITIES OF EXPRESS COMPANIES

Before considering the problem thus presented to the mind—nor would it be inexact to add, to the conscience of every keenly-scrutinizing student of political and industrial phenomena in the United States—a resumé of the practically contemporaneous activities of the private express companies will be helpful. In the twelve months preceding January 1, 1918, the statistics of the eight express companies doing interstate business in the United States—the Adams, American, Canadian, Great Northern, Northern, Southern, Wells-Fargo and Western—were as follows:

Total Mileage307,400
Railroad257,408
Electric Line8,802
Steamboat39,995
Stage Line1,195
Total Mileage307,400
Adams Express Company48,602
American Express Company73,289
Southern Express Company34,918
Wells-Fargo and Company115,521
All others35,070
Cost of Land, Buildings and Equipment on January 1, 1918$44,160,773
Land and Buildings20,811,830
Equipment23,348,943
Inventory Value of Equipment owned on January 1, 1918$13,735,058
Total Express Charges$222,860,373
Other Operating Revenue6,594,815
——————
Total$229,455,188
Operating and Other Expense$229,639,493
Deficit from Operating184,305
Other Income4,471,292
Gross Income4,286,987
Deductions from Gross Income1,538,481
——————
Net Income$2,748,406
Dividends2,508,044
Profit and Loss Balance$24,294,792
Total Investment, Including Real Property and Equipment$123,484,515
Capital Stock$59,008,600
Funded Debt Unmatured20,736,500
Money Orders Issued:
Number16,035,002
Amount$145,934,982
C. O. D. Checks Issued:
Number8,612,106
Amount$143,832,226
Limited and Unlimited Checks Issued:
Number236,071
Amount$108,798,279
Telegraph and Cable Transfers:
Number88,146
Amount$136,809,746
Travelers' Checks Issued:
Number1,608,037
Amount$34,923,816
Letters of Credit Issued:[1]
Number1,539
Amount$4,126,154
Revenue from the above six items and other sources, other than Express
Charges$6,594,815
Maintenance Expenses$6,527,766
Traffic Expenses925,033
Transportation Expenses$98,583,724
(Employees' Wages)(55,820,701)
General Expenses7,684,534
(Salaries and Personal Expenses)(4,161,299)

[1] Including 569 Postal remittances to the amount of $39,435, issued by the Canadian Express Company.

Note:—Of the above figures the Adams, American, Southern and Wells-Fargo Companies accounted for 89% of the mileage and for 94% of the total operating revenues.

One feature of the above figures stands out pre-eminent. With a capital stock of $59,000,000 and a funded debt of $21,000,000, the express companies performed express operations bringing in an annual revenue of $223,000,000. (Of this latter sum, one-half went to the railroad, steamship and stage lines for transporting the packages entrusted to their care by the express companies.) On January 1, 1918, the cost of the land and buildings owned by the express companies was slightly more than $20,000,000 and of the equipment slightly more than $23,000,000. It is therefore immediately evident that the most valuable asset of the express companies is to be found, not in their tangible property, but in their contracts with the various railroad companies giving them the exclusive right to have their packages transported by the railroads on passenger trains—in a sense, their charters.