Proposal to Raise Postal Rates
THE North American, one of the strongest as well as the oldest daily newspaper in America, in its issue of January 13 has a tremendous editorial on the proposal of Postmaster-general Hitchcock to raise the price of postage on the weekly newspapers and monthly magazines of the country. It has been said by some that it would benefit the daily papers to raise the prices on the weeklies, but it would result doubtless in killing many of the weeklies. The North American repudiates this. It does not believe that the daily press of the country will sustain such a recommendation as the head of the Post-office Department has suggested. It believes that it would be an utterly wrong thing to do to crowd out some of our best publications, or to place upon them a greater burden in the way of postage. It believes that this could be more than met by the installation of a parcels post, by a little more careful economy in rural free delivery, by limiting to some extent the franking privilege, and by cutting out a class of magazines that are wholly for advertising purposes. It is a tremendously vigorous article, and, aside from its strictures on Postmaster-general Hitchcock, states some truths which it seems to me the daily papers could well afford to ponder. Right upon this matter of cheap postage we wish to refer to another stanch Philadelphian in addition to the editor of The North American, and that is Mr. Wilmer Atkinson, the editor of the Farm Journal. He has done yeoman service in behalf of reasonable postage. His articles are clear, incisive, instructive, and convincing. He recommends that those who are questioning over the matter would send to the Wilmer Atkinson Company, Farm Journal, Philadelphia, for the document which answers the question, "Does the Government Lose Sixty-three Million a Year on Second-class Matter? The Question Answered from Official Documents."