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342 AfETHODS OF SOCIAL REFORM.
bo saved the enormous cost which some establishments must
bear in maintaining a large staff of delivery carts. The consumers
must, of course, bear all such expenses in t,he long
PW. As to the omploy& of the present companies, they
wodd be taken over ’’ as part of the concerns, and would do
doubt have their salaries advanced at once, as in the case of
the telegraph companies.
One of the most important and difficult points to determine
in connoction with the scheme which I urn advocating is tho
selection of a tariff for tho futuro parcel system. The principles
on which such a tariff must be founded require careful investigation.
As mc havo seen, Mr. Edward J. Page, of the
Post Office, adopts the idea of a uniform parcel rate, as it had
boon proviously upheld by t.he Society of Arts; he would
make tho chnrgo indcpendcnt of distance, and vary it only
wit,h the woight of tho parccl. Tho convenience of such a
tariff, if it can bo adopt.ed, is obvious. With a pair of scalcs
mo can iuftdlibly nsccrtaiu tho weight of the parcel wo are
sonding, and thcn calculato the fare to bc paid. If distance
enters, we llnvc to ascertain also tho position nncl distance of
tho placo to which we are consigning the parccl. For this
purposo we must consult tables which will seldom bo at hand.
Tho greater nutubor of persons will be reduced to simply
nskiugr thc rccciving clerk what is to bc pnid; not only delay,
but uncertainty aud opportunity for fraud thus arise-all the
disndvmtagos, in short, against which tho fixed t,ariff of the
Post Office insures us. There can be no doubt then about the
excellence of n uniform charge irrespective of distance, if it
can be adopted.
But on caroful examination it will be found that Mr. Page’s
proposal must be intended by him to apply only to very small
parcels, or else it betrays an imperfect comprehension of the
subject with which he is dealing. I imagine he must have
chosen a uniform truiff on the ground that it answers very
well in the Post office, and therefore must answer well with
parcels. By such reasoning as this, one might infer that
because a minute dose of prussic acid soothes and benefits the
stomach, therefore a good large dose will be still more beneficial.