Parcels Post. pp. 8-11.
S. C. Smith.
In Foreign Countries
The sentiment in favor of this new governmental service has been built up in this country chiefly by holding up to view more or less highly painted pictures of what is being done along a similar line in the countries of Europe. Any fair comparison of the postal service in those countries and in ours must take into consideration density of population, expanse of country or length of transportation routes, and the ownership of the means of transportation. The density of population and the relative size of the United States and of the principal countries of Europe having a cheap parcels post are shown by the following table:
| Country. | Area. | Ratio of size. | Population. | Population per square mile. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sq. miles. | ||||
| United States | 3,602,990 | 100 | 84,154,009 | 23.35 |
| Great Britain | 121,391 | 3.36 | 41,976,827 | 345.79 |
| Germany | 208,860 | 5.79 | 60,641,278 | 290.34 |
| France | 207,054 | 5.74 | 38,961,945 | 139.87 |
| Belgium | 11,373 | .31 | 7,074,970 | 622.08 |
| Italy | 110,550 | 3.06 | 32,475,253 | 293.76 |
| Switzerland | 15,976 | .44 | 3,315,443 | 207.73 |
These figures are extremely interesting and important in connection with this subject. We constantly lose sight of the immensity of this country and its “magnificent distances,” as compared with the nations of Europe; but in considering a question of transportation, distances and density of population stand in the foreground. Let it be observed, for instance, that while our country is over 300 times as large as Belgium, the latter has a population of 622 people to the square mile, while we have but a fraction over 23. Yet we will hear it argued that “Belgium carries 132-pound parcels by mail; why can not we?” or, “If Switzerland can carry 110 pound parcels, why not the United States?” entirely ignoring or forgetting the fact that our country is 250 times as large as Switzerland and has about one-tenth the population in a given area. Postal authorities have estimated that the average distance traveled by a piece of mail, including letters, papers, and parcels, is 40 miles in Great Britain, 42 miles in Germany, and 540 miles in the United States. Of course it is still less in the smaller countries of Europe. The admission of paper mail to this calculation greatly reduces the average, since newspapers circulate chiefly in the vicinity of the city of their publication. Parcels of merchandise or produce would certainly move much farther on an average, because they would chiefly flow to and from the great cities. If one is going to trade by mail, and the cost of delivery is the same, why not go to “headquarters,” which, in the popular mind, means one of the larger cities in the country?
The maximum parcel carried by the principal nations is as follows:
| Pounds. | |
|---|---|
| United States | 4 |
| Great Britain | 11 |
| Germany | 110 |
| France | 22 |
| Belgium | 132 |
| Switzerland | 110 |
| Italy | 11 |
| Austria | 110 |
Railroad Ownership
Another factor of equal importance is the nature of ownership of the means of transportation. In this country all routes are privately owned and operated. The railroads—the chief means of transporting the mails—have been constructed for the most part by private capital, without the aid of the government, and the government, like individuals, must pay a rate for its service which will yield a fair return to the owners. The roads in the foreign countries used in this comparison are largely owned by the governments, in which case it matters little whether merchandise and produce move by mail or by freight. In some of the countries, as in France, the government guarantees the interest on the capital invested in the roads, and in return has its mails carried free or at a nominal rate.
The English writer above referred to says of the mail-carrying situation in Germany:
The German post has no occasion to enforce heavy rates. It can impose its own terms on the railway companies. By law these have to carry free all parcels under eleven pounds in weight. Thus the mistake which has crippled the activity of the British parcels post has been avoided.
Of course there can be no just comparison between a service carried on under such conditions and ours, for the basic conditions are so fundamentally dissimilar.
The matter of railroad ownership lies at the very foundation of this question. If this government owned the roads and operated them, it would matter little what went forward as mail and what under another designation. But that is not the case now and it is to be hoped never will be. From this standpoint, as well as from those hereinbefore mentioned, it is manifestly unfair to argue that because other countries do so and so in their mail service, therefore we should do the same.
It is significant that no country giving a large service of the kind under consideration undertakes to say that its receipts equal the cost of the service. I have not been able to find any report showing the cost of the parcels department. It is stated by some pretty high authority that the general belief among these nations is that they are rendering it at a loss. It is hard to reconcile that condition of the business with any idea of fairness. We may properly carry on the educational feature of the mail service, in part, out of the general revenue of the government; but who will say that we may fairly carry the individual’s produce to market or his merchandise home for him at public expense in whole or in part? Why should all the people be taxed to pay a postal deficit created by moving freight for the people at less than cost of service? Is there any reason why this branch of pure business should be conducted at public expense which would not justify the performance by the government of any other department of business?