Parcels Post and Postal Savings Banks, pp. 1-2.
Gilbert N. Haugen.
Mr. Chairman: I want to direct attention to the suggestions made in a very able and interesting address delivered by Mr. Meyer, Postmaster-General, at a banquet of the New England Postmasters’ Association, Boston, Mass., October 12, 1907, a part of which I will read:
To illustrate the incongruities that exist: Any individual entering the post-office here in Boston or in any other city or town in the country, with two parcels, each weighing 4 pounds, can send one parcel to New York for 64 cents, while for the other parcel, which is addressed to some one in a foreign land and goes via New York, he will have to pay but 48 cents, for the reason that the rate to foreign countries is 12 cents a pound, while the rate to our own people is 16 cents a pound.... Therefore I assume that our Representatives in Congress will realize that they can not afford to stand for a policy that compels our own people to pay 4 cents more on packages to people living in the United States.
This statement is indeed misleading: not that I charge the Postmaster-General with any intent to deceive or mislead, for I regard him as a gentleman of integrity, intelligence, ability, and actuated with the highest motives and with a determination to do justice to all, and I am not questioning his motives, but will endeavor to present the facts in the light that I see them. When we have all of the facts, I will venture to assume that Representatives in Congress will realize that they can afford to stand for a policy that compels people living in foreign lands to pay more than people living in our own country. The Postmaster-General’s statement as to the sending of two pieces, each weighing 4 ounces, is correct in some cases, and the domestic rate in some cases is higher than the foreign; but in the majority of cases foreign rates are the highest. In his excellent address to enlighten members of the New England Postmasters’ Association and the country, he might have gone further by saying: “To illustrate the incongruities that exist, any individual entering the post-office here in Boston, or in any other city or town in the country, with two parcels, each weighing 1 ounce, can send one parcel to New York for 1 cent, while for the other parcel, which is addressed to somebody in foreign lands via New York, he will have to pay 12 cents, for the reason that the rate to foreign countries is 12 cents per pound or fraction thereof, while the rate to our own people is only 1 cent per ounce. Therefore the rate on the parcel addressed to somebody in foreign lands is 12 times as great as is the rate on the parcel addressed to New York.” And he might have referred to the report of the Second Assistant for the year ending June 30, 1907, pages 25 and 26:
Or he might have said: “If the two parcels referred to, weighing 4 pounds each, or 64 ounces each, or 128 ounces for the two, had been divided into parcels of 1 ounce each, and one-half of them directed to parties in New York, the rate on the sixty-four parcels would have been 64 cents to New York, and the postage on the sixty-four parcels addressed to London would be $7.68.” According to the Second Assistant’s report, rates on parcels addressed to foreign countries are not uniform. The rate to Bermuda is 12 cents per pound, and the rate to Ecuador is 20 cents per pound. The rate to Sweden, Peru, and Denmark is 20 cents per pound or fraction of a pound for parcels which require the use of the expensive transit across the Isthmus of Panama, and 12 cents per pound or fraction of a pound for parcels which do not use that expensive transit. So we find that rates on parcels weighing 1 ounce addressed to Sweden, Peru, or Denmark which require the use of the expensive transit across the Isthmus of Panama is 20 cents, or twenty times as high as the rate on parcels weighing 1 ounce addressed to New York. Why this incongruity in rates? Rates on mail matter between the United States, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, and Panama are fixed by treaty with each country and with all other countries by conventions of the Universal Postal Union. The last convention was held at Rome, 1906, and took effect October 1, 1907. The acts of these conventions are binding on these countries, but have nothing to do with domestic rates, they being fixed by Congress and the Department. The conventions are simply agreements as to international mail matter. The rate on parcels post is fixed with each country, or in thirty-five parcels-post conventions. The rate is generally 12 cents per pound or fraction thereof, the pound being the unit of weight. The rate is 1 cent per ounce. The rate on 5 ounces to the Philippine Islands is 5 cents and to London 12 cents.