Let it not be forgotten, that publishers pay the government $20 per ton for their papers; doesn’t it seem enough, when the government is so generous toward the railroads that it pays for transporting 1,000 pounds of leather, locks, etc., for every 100 pounds of letters? … It is no unusual thing for the railroads to haul live hogs from Chicago to Philadelphia, a very inconvenient as well as unpleasant kind of freight. The hogs have to be fed and watered on the way, they cannot be stacked one upon another, so require much space. What do the railroads charge for this service? Is it $160 per ton? No. Is it $80 per ton? No. Is it $20 per ton? No. They do it for $6 per ton, and are glad of the job. Professor Parsons wrote a volume a few years ago entitled “The Railways, The Trusts and The People.” Professor Parsons looked into this ton-mile rate of pay for rail haulage most carefully and gave the results of his investigations in his book, from which I take the tabulated rates following. In passing, I may say that the professor is recognized by everybody as a most dependable authority--that is, everybody save the railroad and express raiders and their hired men. They have written and talked at great length to “refute” him, which thoughtful and disinterested people take as mighty strong evidence that Professor Parsons presented the truth and the facts, or so nearly the truth and facts that his statements made the “authorized,” rake-off patriots turn loose on him their high-powered, chain-tired public bubblers. Following are the figures which the Professor published as showing the average _ton mile_ rates the railroads then received for carrying different kinds of shipments: Rate per ton mile, cents. For carrying express generally 3 to 6 For carrying excess baggage 5 to 6 For carrying commutation passengers 6 For carrying dairy freight, as low as 1 For carrying ordinary freight in 1. c. 1 2 For carrying imported goods, N. O. to S. F. 8 For carrying average of all freight 78 For carrying the mails (Adams estimate) 12.5 For carrying the mails (Postoffice Department estimate) 27 THE PARCELS POST. The Postmaster General in his reports for 1908-9 and 1909-10 recommends a trial or “test” of a parcels post service on several rural routes “to be selected by the Postmaster General.”