Postal Riders and Raiders

create an impression that the government was losing millions annually because of th

and dependably, that the excess of expenditure over receipts in the Postoffice Department would be two to four times greater than it now

n their "Exhibit F," I desire to make a few remarks about the point under

eir counting-rooms-the inside testimony.

way, but I have a conceit that the

mmendable virtues-meritorious qualities and qualifications. Likewise, she has some faults. The latter I cannot, if the dove of peace is to continue perching

had "the run" of the house, but they took possession of it. I stuck to my "den" until it was invaded and th

as the

1

nes and weeklies about my work-shop. They also annexed me. I "just had to go downstairs and have a cup of tea with them." Although I am not entrancingly fond of tea, I did exactly what you would have d

k. I wish to speak of it because it fits like a glove to the po

the six took, either by subscription or news-stand purchase, one or two monthly magazines "regularly." Whether the ladies read them or not was not made clear to me. One of them did make mention of two "splendid stories"-"The Ne'er do

ion made of the "literary" features of the magazines they had read or to such features of those

well written, each teaching a lesson-have, in short, all the essential elements of "currency and periodicity"-yet that commission, in the anxious interest it disp

s strictures on current fiction as run in our standard monthlies and weeklies. The lady's expressed opinion of the two stories is another reason for differing from that expressed by the commission. In my judgment

ely little talk or comment about the body-matter of the periodicals. But those women-all married, five of them mothers,

son. It developed that the lady seated next to her had a son Charles whom it was desired to start in some preparatory school in the fall. Another matron had a daughter she desired to have take a course at some school for girls. Both of the ladies with candidates for pr

ing splendidly at the--, Wisconsin. He has been there two terms now. If you don't want to send Charles to a military school, there are

hree or four of the magazines for the names and locations of

1

other information. That's what I did before deciding where to send Thomas. I wrote twenty-two different military schools in the country and got a prompt reply from each of them. In fa

paper. I relieved them of the immediate labor of writing out their lists, by gallantly inviting them to take home with them such of the magazines as they thought would serve their

n the point!" Eh? Well

any rate we have her own statement of the course she pursued, and there can be advanced no valid reason for doubting her word. Besides, as she is our "next-door" neighbor, I have made, within the month, special inquiry of her as to wh

of them, she wrote four times. To the Wisconsin school to which she fina

und actually received from this one mother in he

1

y-five letters. On these the Postof

eceived from the twenty-two schools written to, a total

rates, I think would range from two to six cents or more. Putting the average at only thre

ulated or thinking she might have other boys "comin' on" to preparatory sch

evenue from the efforts of Thomas' mother to select a school for him-a school that would gi

d entirely by the school adverti

nes I do not know. There must, however, have been many, I take it, otherwise the schools and preparatory colleges would not per

t-that it cost the government 18 cents to deliver those two magazines to that mother-a rate of $180.00 per ton. Of course, no man could so suppose unless he stood on his head in one corner of a room and figured results as the square of the distance at which things appeared to him, or chanced to be one of thos

our high-class periodicals will count 250 or more pages. Four pages of

vernment of carrying those four pages of school advertisements in each of two m

grasp t

bting public that it is the advertising pages of periodicals which over-burde

l later give my reasons for so saying-shall show that this much talked of deficit in the Postof

ing public of this Nation. Especially are we considering the transaction between the government and the mother

of school advertisement to Thomas' mother. Even the delivery of the complete magazines which printed those advertising pages would, at Mr. Hitchcock's own figures, cost the government only about 18 cents. Let's admit it

1

er those two magazines to Thomas' mother. Well, let it go at that. The government is out, then, 16

to a canvass of the schools by correspondence. The result of that canvass, as previously shown, turned into the gov

rned, and it is ahead that sum, in the specific transaction under consideration, solely an

a fair-a jus

at $5.21 was all for stamps, then those eight pages of advertisements and Thomas' mother must have t

prove the statement made on a previous page, namely: It is the advertising pages of our peri

agazine or weekly in hand. There was as much talking as eating in progress, or more. I presume that is

of which she had found in the magazine she was scanning-a cloth smoother she had had in use for some three months. Three of the other matrons were wired-that is, their

rty desired to write for "full parti

s business transaction was both simple and secondary. The boss ordered me

id

on "ad." What further revenue was gleaned from the correspondence

informed me when I got back. They did it politely, kindly, but very plainly. Not wishing to scarify their feelings by admitting that I had purposely loitered because of an inherent or pre-natal dislike of teas, I did what I thought

a sample of these new biscuits. We have to enclose ten cents in stamps and the letters will have to

." Mother baked all the biscuits we then ate, or somebody else's mother baked them. Of course, sometimes Mary, Susie, Annie, Jane or another of the dear girls learned the trick and could "bak

1

"ad." The advertiser offered to send a regular-size package of the "biscuits" to anyone on receipt of ten cents in stamps-"enough to cover the postage"-and the name of the grocer with whom the sender of the stamps traded. That, in

nizing look-a censorious look-a look that said, "I know where you h

ou can go to some other drug store and get the stamps. Put ten ce

speech th

one nature as that of the writer. The boss' speech reached the limit. My patriotism was set all awry. Even

awer of my desk, found the stamps, made the enclosures, stamped and sealed the envelopes, and then came down and passed out on my assigned errand. I got back just as the "party" was donni

that tea-party, and more than my d

too, of[157] those occurrences, as nearly as I can recall them after an interval of less than three months. I introduce the de facto happenings at our "tea party" here because they apply-because

fter our "biscuits

s went to cancellation on the letters they mailed. The other 70 cents went to cancellation on the cracker packages which the

It is only the first link in a

of those seven ladies a neat letter of thanks, and neatly giving a further boost to th

nts more in postage st

times. Their grocers probably had not put the cracker

nts more in postage st

a sample package of the "biscuits" and a letter naming the local grocery job

nts more in postage st

before he "stocked." If the grocers named by the other six ladies were similarly honored then the builder of those biscui

1

nts more in postage st

the working or "worked" member, so am not to be counted in),

than three-fiftieths of one ounce. To carry and deliver that one "ad" page the cost to the government, then

e our Postmaster General the whole "hullin' uv beans." Let us credit the government wi

hat "ad" page credit for producing sta

wing of the ledger on this account of the Postoffice Departm

ide-from the field-in support of the facts which the publisher

icits with increases in second-class mail is square up against the Postmaster General's statements that the department

better understood than that, under orders, he is using all the figures and the infinite opportunities of such a complex mass of figures as those of the postoffice, to make the case for the magazines as bad as possible. Of course, it does not cost the department 9.23

publishers to extend the circulation of their periodicals by sending out tens of millions of circulars, each making for a 2-cent reply, and the great and complex business that has been built up around the originating and handling of advertising have made this national market for r

ments, and it is obviously impossible physically to tabulate complete results. But let us nail down certain specific examples of advertisements inserted in ma

specially, the first instance-the complete bookkeeping transaction of o

T IN ACCOUNT WITH THE U

er 26, 1910, was published a 224-line

were received, 1,776 of them inclosin

d weighed 0.132815 ounce. The half of it printed

ounds of this advertisement. At 9.23 cents per pound-the pound cost of transporting and handling second-class matter given by the Postoffice Department-

AND NET GAIN FROM FIRST

received by the Rev

tamps for inqu

ments under 2-ce

00 inquiries under 2-

sent 10 cents in

ing 12 bills and 12 remittances

ee times a year for five years, under 2-cent stamps (a pract

of 2-cent stamps from a

to profit percentage of Postmaster Gen

g advertisement, cost figured at 9.23 c

postoffice in having carried

PROFITABLE POSTAGE ORIGINA

Publishers' Association, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. These are only a few samples of hundreds that have come, and are printed to suggest the details

zen, Advertis

We shipped during the year 1910, 1,717,514 packages. Of these 809,781 were sent by mail and 907,733 by express. All of these would have been sent by parc

ement of the number of pieces of mail matter which we receive would be approximate, but we can safely state

rtisers-a company which sells excellent clothing to women who can not come to t

directly, from our magazine advertising. During the year 1909 we paid the Postoffice Dep

azine did for another women's "wearing appare

rtion in the magazine, also to send the merchandise required by 2,000 of t

ng this advertisement through th

de the several hundred dollars spent o

lassics, etc., investigated the relations with the postoffice of a recent page of h

d by the publishing company, as the result of the 4,00

toffice to carry that page,

unfortunate for the department's business if that page advertisement had not appeared. A good business man would be willing to

any popular magazine. They are just as good customers to the post

5,492 STAM

from that cause is $5,132. Adding the approximate postage on the 1,500 letters a month sent to the company,

INCH-$590

company in the Middle West, but its postage records show stamp purchases for a s

ppealing to women, in a single magazine, brought 7,00

artment? These "ads" cost the publishers

appeal to mothers in one issue of the same magazi

ment at second-class rates th

number of retail stores over the country, brought 4,000 inquiries

blisher to mail, at sec

the letter postage on the inquiries from their November advertising and the answers to these inquiries. Seve

1

ust $583 for carrying that portion of the magazi

se firms can trace directly to their magazine advertising, every year, purchases of

or "national" advertisers-who wish the reader to ask for their fine soaps, or mattresses, or silks, or stationery at his local store. These firms do n

CITY" MAGAZINE ADVERTISING C

on their department to fill orders by mail. Thus an enormous correspondence has been built up, of which the average annual increase alone during the last three years has involved 264,000 first-class letters-a mi

r, "following up" inquiries received from his magazine advertising, though

espondence with dealers, etc., which was built

dvertising. It is designed to create a demand for their paper over the stationery store counters. But their "contest" awhile ago, announced exclus

of magazine advertising, the manufacturers incurred postage bills, during the first 11 months of 1909, amounting to $7,979.

89 replies from a single insertion in one magazine, to handle

that page carried through the mail

ught 4,000 letters from inquirers, which, with "

alf page at second-cla

the manufacturers last year, though the controlling purpose of the campaign

nt from these letters was $8,500. And, of course, that does not include the profuse correspon

in a leading weekly magazine brought more than 13,000

ce to carry this advertisement,

xtent of one-quarter page in a single issue of one magazine. The req

m their magazine advertising of it, though that is, of course, for "publicity," first of all. A single in

of November, from which 3,905 letters were received. In this case, the total postage, includi

advertisements in the November and December magazines brought 45,000 requests for catalogues. T

drug stores, etc., asking for certain shaving soaps and the like. Still their postage bill during 1909, as a result of inq

one magazine one time, brought more than 30,000 letters. First-class

t page, at the second-class

OF ENTIRE BUSINESSES DEPEN

time. Just as directly caused are the sales for correspondence[164] between manufacturer, jobbe

ndence with their customers, and through their sending our printed matter, furnished by us, at a postage cost of $100, and such dealer could not

igured by the company at tens of thou

s on for months, and years even, between the advertiser and th

enrolls per month more than 2,200 new scholars-and every scholar, by the time he has received all his numerous "lessons," etc., costs the school about $3.50

d on our mailing list for circulation, etc., costs us several thousand dollars a year

e big magazine houses crippled. The publishers are the largest buyers of lists of names used f

bill amounted to $12,298.57. This was used on circular matter and letters. If the circulation of the magazines should be reduced,

ng pages of our periodicals are their revenue-producing pages, but it cannot

Raiders, it was[165] my original intention to take up generally the raider features or elements as planned for discussion in this volume. I intended to start just here to discuss the Postoffice Department "deficit," of which Mr. Hitchcock has had so much to say-and of which he made voluminous and eloquent use d

s through that "deficit"-twaddle-talk, a little further on. Here I

okedness, by "interests" which hired the official crooks and bought the crookedness, and by department accounting methods

brought forcibly to my attention recently-weeks, some two months, after I climbed up here to take a look over the general situa

was a calculated, a studied, a cold-blooded partisan stab at one of th

for his rider amendment was that the amendment would "affect only a few magazine publishers," or that "only a few magazine publishers, at most, would be a

oint or to the same end, and two Congressmen acquaintances repo

1

ommended in the rider amendment? That is the point I desire here and now to consider.

s requirements and restrictions apply to all periodicals, or at least to all monthly and weekly periodicals. Even then, it is doubtful if any court could be found to sustain such a piece of class or special legislation unl

nt of governing facts, unless we question the honesty of our courts in the discharge of their

ct-a subject which vitally touches and trenches into the vital interests of ninety millions of people-the ninety millions who are the blood and bone and sinew of this nation of o

f the character covered in Mr. Hitchcock's "rider" amendment to the 1911 postoffice appropriation bill, and that eve

a few magazine publishers," says Mr. Hit

effort not warped by political hopes and[167] aspirations nor by personal prejudices

at the second-class mail business of this country-the output of periodical p

in the haulage and delivery cost of its output without sustaining great financial loss. The fair-minded reader will, I believe, agree that the publis

trong) out of business. Likewise hundreds of the smaller newspapers must discontinue issue. Of course, Mr. Hitchcock prattled about the newspapers not being affected by his proposed ame