But the hardest blow to the express companies had been delivered on August 24, 1912. On that day, after years of agitation, a bill providing for a parcel-post in the United States became the law of the land; and the parcel-post system went into effect on January 1, 1913. Congressman David J. Lewis conducted a staunch campaign to have a postal express provision included in the new law, but unsuccessfully; and the weight limit of the parcels which could be sent through the post office was fixed at eleven pounds. Nevertheless, the United States Express Company saw the handwriting on the wall, and in that year decided to wind up its business, ceasing operations on June 30, 1914. The detailed history of the development of the parcel-post in the United States, closely related as are the parcel-post and express problems, is not pertinent to this study. It is sufficient to point out that more and more the parcel-post has been broadened so as to include much of what was the express companies' field. At the present time, the weight limit is 70 lbs. for a distance up to 300 miles and 50 lbs. for greater distances. Packages may be sent collect on delivery up to $100, and they may be insured up to $100. There are separate fees for those two latter services up to ten cents, which amount covers both a collection on delivery of $100 and insurance of $100. A receipt is given for the uninsured pre-paid parcel for a fee of one cent. So that by January 1, 1918, the business of transporting goods too small or too valuable to be transported as freight was divided between two agencies in competition with each other--one of them governmental, one of them private. _THE PRESENT ACTIVITIES OF EXPRESS COMPANIES_ Before considering the problem thus presented to the mind--nor would it be inexact to add, to the conscience of every keenly-scrutinizing student of political and industrial phenomena in the United States--a resumé of the practically contemporaneous activities of the private express companies will be helpful. In the twelve months preceding January 1, 1918, the statistics of the eight express companies doing interstate business in the United States--the Adams, American, Canadian, Great Northern, Northern, Southern, Wells-Fargo and Western--were as follows: Total Mileage 307,400 Railroad 257,408 Electric Line 8,802 Steamboat 39,995 Stage Line 1,195 Total Mileage 307,400 Adams Express Company 48,602 American Express Company 73,289 Southern Express Company 34,918 Wells-Fargo and Company 115,521 All others 35,070