“Then what do you consider the secret of thrift in food buying?” asked Mr. Moore. Mrs. Larry shook her head. “I can’t tell you that until Larry has reported his interview with the postmaster of Brooklyn, on the parcel-post system.” “All right, Lena, bring on the last course,” said Mr. Larry. And Lena brought from the living-room a great sheaf of pamphlets, newspaper clippings and illustrated circulars, which she placed before the master of the house. “Exhibits A, B and C,” explained their host, as their guests looked with interest at the collection. “All _that_ about parcel post?” inquired Mr. Norton respectfully. “I felt the same way when I left Postmaster Kelley’s office,” said Mr. Larry, as he sorted the collection. “I don’t suppose one-tenth of the practical housekeepers in America realize what Uncle Sam is trying to do to reduce the high cost of living. And it should be most important to the wives of men like ourselves, in moderately prosperous circumstances, who know the importance of good food to family health and who, therefore, deprive themselves of many advantages and pleasures that their families shall have wholesome meals. These are the women who resent most deeply the rise in food prices; they pass resolutions in their clubs; they demand that we men legislate--when they ought to appoint practical committees to investigate and work out direct connection between producer and consumer.” “Hear, hear!” cried Teresa Moore. “You’ll be talking before the Federated Clubs next!” “Well, if I do,” said Mr. Larry, “I will first tell them what a clever wife I have. “The parcel-post system is democratic. It was designed largely to meet the needs of the farmer or producer. To ship by freight or express, he must go to the nearest town. For parcel-post shipment, Uncle Sam, in the form of rural free delivery, passes his door each day, sometimes twice a day. “But the government soon discovered that it must educate both the producer and consumer if the value of parcel post was to be raised to the _nth_ power. “So, in March, 1914, the Post-Office Department at Washington started a campaign of farm-to-table investigation and education. It selected certain cities for its experiment--Washington, St. Louis, Boston, Baltimore, Atlanta, Birmingham, San Francisco, Rock Island (Illinois), Lynn (Massachusetts), La Crosse (Wisconsin). The reports of postmasters in these cities have just been received and present some interesting facts.