Our League president forwards the following letter from a Washington
correspondent who is evidently perfectly familiar with the subject:
"I am in receipt of your letter of May 17th, asking me whether
there is any hope of getting a library post, and in reply will
say that if you mean a special act providing for a library post,
separate and distinct from other postal service, I do not think
that there is any hope of getting it in the near future.
"I do think, however, that the parcels post bill which Senator
Bourne has proposed, if passed at this Congress, will very rapidly
develop into a law which will be entirely satisfactory for library
purposes. The average library book weighs slightly over a pound,
but will come easily within two pounds. Under Senator Bourne's
bill the rate on rural routes would be 5 cents for the first
pound and 1 cent additional for each additional pound; within
the fifty mile zone, 6 cents for the first pound and 2 cents for
each additional pound; within the two hundred mile zone, 7 cents
for the first pound and 3 cents for each additional pound. These
rates were decided upon with a certain margin of profit to the
government so that there would be no possibility of the government
sustaining loss. It was believed that it would be disastrous to
the parcels post movement to have any loss at the beginning. Such
a loss would serve as an excuse for the abandoning of a parcels
post. I am very certain that if this bill should be passed one
year's experience would demonstrate that the rural rate could be
reduced to 4 and 1 cent, making 5 cents for a two pound package;
the 50 mile zone could be abolished and the rate for the 200 mile
zone fixed at 5 cents for the first pound and 1 cent for each
additional pound. The 200 mile zone, at that rate, ought to give
you as good a library post service as you can expect to have
within a number of years. I do not think that you can expect to
get a law enacted which will provide for the carrying of library
books at less than cost. It is no argument to say that the
government is now carrying newspapers at less than cost. It made a
mistake in establishing such a rate, but having made it, it cannot
easily increase the rate.
"You ask whether there is anything the library people can do to
forward this matter. My opinion is that the one thing you could
do would be to help get sentiment back of a general parcels post
so that a bill on a zone basis with rates varying according to
distance, will be passed by this Congress. When we once get a law
of that kind, its development will be very rapid. The trouble will
be to get the first law on the statute books."
=Senator Bourne's Bill=
The bill introduced by Senator Bourne seems to be all that we can hope
for at present. A summary of it follows:
Postal rates on parcels vary with distance, thus protecting local
merchants and competing with express companies.
Third and fourth classes of matter are combined.
A special rate of one cent an ounce up to four ounces is provided for
circulars and small packages of goods.
Rates are as follows:
Local, city and rural delivery only, 5cts for the first pound and one
cent for each additional pound.
Within 50 miles zone, 6cts for the first pound and 2cts for each
additional pound.
Within 200 miles zone, 7cts for the first pound and 3cts for each
additional pound.
Within 500 miles zone, 8cts for the first pound and 5cts for each
additional pound.
Within 1,000 miles zone, 9cts for the first pound and 5cts for each
additional pound.
Outside 2,000 miles zone, 12cts for the first pound and 10cts for each
additional pound.
These rates are based on a careful computation of the actual cost of
collecting, distributing and delivering packages, plus the actual cost
of transportation.
Weight limit, 11 pounds and maximum charge 12cts, the international
limit and rate.
=Committee Progress and Recommendations=
The committee has canvassed the situation carefully and corresponded
at some length with many persons. It has also suggested that the
various commissions take up and follow the matter with their respective
congressmen. Many commissions have done this. South Dakota, at its
annual library association meeting adopted a formal resolution to be
forwarded to senators and congressmen for the state.
The committee recommends:
1. That the secretary of each commission which has not already done so
immediately communicate in a personal letter as already suggested with
each senator and congressman from his state.
2. That each state commission at its next annual meeting adopt a
resolution endorsing a parcels post law similar to Senator Bourne's
measure, urging low rates on rural routes, and a zone system and
send such resolutions, signed if possible by all the members of the
commission, to each senator and congressman in the state.