Although this graduated scale would appear to be more favorable to the smaller periodical than to the large one, it must be borne in mind that the periodical weighing _less than 1 ounce_ and of necessity paying the initial rate of _one-quarter cent_ would be paying a rate (2 cents per pound), slightly greater than the large periodical. This increase upon the periodical weighing less than 2 ounces finds ample justification in the obvious fact that the expense of handling second class matter is not to be measured simply by gross weight. On the contrary, as was pointed out by the representatives of the publishers in comparing the cost of handling second-class with that of first-class mail, such expense is to be measured by the number of pieces handled and frequency of handling. _A pound of periodicals which is made up of 10 or 12 or, as is sometimes the case, 30 or 40 separate pieces, each one of which requires a separate course of handling and delivery, can not with justice be treated as the equivalent of a pound of matter which requires but two, or, at most, four courses of handling and delivery._ This increase would be offset, moreover, for the _normal_ periodical weighing less than 2 ounces, the country weekly, by the retention of the free county privilege. The foregoing is substantially the commission’s _whole_ argument, save a little more talk about “normal” periodicals, “normal” weeklies, and a statement to the effect that all countries, other than the United States and Canada, increase the piece, or copy, postage rate as the weight of the periodical increases--that is, these other countries do not give a _flat_ pound, gram or other unit of weight rate. Now, I shall briefly state my objections to some points in the above quotation--those points I have italicized. The reader, however, must bear in mind that the scale of increase in mail rates above reprinted applies _only to single copies_--to copies mailed to individual addresses. For copies mailed in _bulk_, in packages weighing not less than ten pounds, to some agent of the publisher or other individual, to be taken up by the agent or individual at train or at central postoffice, the commission recommended the cent-a-pound rate. In adverse criticism of the commission’s argument for penalizing _weight_, because all foreign countries do so, I need but say: 1. There are more high-class newspapers--papers which, necessarily, have weight--published in this country _than is published in all the rest of the world_. 2. There are four times as many of what the 1906-7 commission--also Postmaster General Hitchcock--would class as “periodicals” published in this country _as are published in all the rest of the world_.