| Per cent. | |
|---|---|
| In number of parcels | 1.12 |
| In weight | 4.79 |
| In revenue | 4.44 |
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 the rate 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 from Philadelphia 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: