F

OR the advertiser whose business has been helped by the Parcel Post, or is likely to be, once he has reached his maximum consumer public by this new vehi cle, the outlook grows more and more rosy. The month of July saw the inauguration of the C. O. D. feature, which will mean so much to many firms engaged in direct merchandising, and a simplification of the arrangement for the insurance. Now, close upon the heels of these boons and the retirement of the special Parcel Post stamps that caused so much inconvenience, comes a yet more radical innovation.

On and after August 15 the weight limit for Parcel Post packages is to be increased,-made almost twice its present figure,-and the carrying charges will be reduced for short hauls. These changes are the result of orders recently issued by A. S. Burleson, the Postmaster-General. Since that official took the step there has been some discussion as to his right to revise rates and weight limitations without specific authorization by Congress. However, the upshot of the matter has been that the Postmaster-General has been sustained in his action, although it is understood he will not make any further changes in the rates without express sanction from the national legislature.

Easily the most important feature of the revision which takes place this month is the raising of the weight limit for fourth-class mail for delivery within the first and second Parcel Post zones from eleven to twenty pounds. Since this greater weight, which amounts to a reduction in the carrying charges, will be applicable only to the first and second zones, it might appear that the benefit of the new order of things would be conferred only on mercantile houses selling goods within radii of 150 miles of their respective locations. But it is evident from a moment's reflection that all general advertisers, manufacturers and distributers can take advantage of the new opportunities through the medium of their agencies or branch houses or via the retailers who handle their goods.

Presumably, to be sure, a mail-order house doing a country-wide business from one base can benefit by the new rates and weight limit only in the case of its shipments to points within a radius of 150 miles (although even that should help some). But the average firm which has national distribution through the medium of branches, agencies, jobbers or retailers should have an outlet within 150 miles of almost every prospect that general advertising could produce and thus be enabled to indirectly benefit by the improved conditions. The fact that the statistics compiled by the Postoffice Department indicate that one-third of all the packages mailed are for destinations in the first and second zones shows to what an extent distribution by Parcel Post is being localized.

It will be interesting to watch the outcome of these forthcoming price and weight concessions in the Parcel Post to ascertain whether the special advantages thus afforded for closerange merchandising will tend to increase the number and further the development of mail order houses doing business, primarily, within a restricted area.

For years past we have had in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and certain other American cities, a number of department stores or out-and-out mail order houses that have carried on an immense business with farmers and residents of the small towns within a radius of say 100 miles. These houses have advertised by means of catalogues and samples, but principally by advertising in local weeklies and farm journals in the territory covered. Usually it has been feasible for such a house to use space advantageously in the State farm periodical and even in national farm papers of large circulation in the territory to be cultivated.

With the possibility of sending, for instance, a 10-pound package a distance of 150 miles for 14 cents, as compared with a charge of 42 cents which has heretofore been the fee under the Parcel Post, it can be realized that a distinct impetus will be given to mail order business

within distances of 150 miles from the mailing point. It will be strange indeed if this does not tend to develop mail order business of the class above indicated, and possibly also to influence the breaking up of national mail order business into State units.

Even more significant than the present reduction in rates and increase of weight limit is the declaration of the Postmaster-General in connection with the announcement of the present move, that eventually the postal service will handle practically all of the small package transportation business in the United States, and that he expects to see the weight limit increased to 100 pounds. The head of the postoffice department says that it is necessary for him to feel his way in making changes in the Parcel Post, but he is confident that ultimately it will be possible to handle the package business at lower rates than those now obtaining in each zone.

Conclusive evidence has lately been afforded that our manufacturers of agricultural equipment and supplies are more keen in the quest for foreign business than almost any other class of American exporters. The Bureau of Domestic and Foreign Commerce in the United States Department of Commerce has been compiling a new card index of American manufacturers who wish to keep informed as to foreign trade opportunities. It has been found that from no other trade field have so many requests come as from the agricultural firms to be "put on the mailing list." In the agricultural implement industry alone scores of firms have applied for enrollment.

In this connection it may be explained that it is for no ordinary "intelligence service" that the Division of Domestic and Foreign Commerce has compiled this list of 20,000 manufacturers. The institution in question publishes the daily consular reports which are consulted for trade "tips" by so many advertisers. It will continue in the future as in the past to scatter broadcast, as it were, these printed reports from our consuls on trade conditions.

But the agricultural and other advertisers who have gained place on the special mailing list will receive "inside information" aside from what goes into the published reports. In a sense this information will supplement the printed reports but it will be of a more intimate character and so confidential that every manufacturer or advertiser who would receive it must agree beforehand that he will not divulge

any of the knowledge that is imparted to him. Letters of advice is perhaps not an inappropriate designation for the typewritten communications that are sent to manufacturers. These epistles concern trade opportunities and business openings which might be of interest to the recipients. The reason Uncle Sam imposes the seal of secrecy regarding this information is that he does not want to "tip off" the foreign firms that are in competition with our American business interests. That is the reason this news is not published in the consular daily. If it were the representatives in Washington of various foreign governments would get hold of it and cable it to their "home offices" in order that their own manufacturers might go after the new business.

The object of the card index that has been installed is to make sure that each individual firm receives warning of all opportunities in its line but in that line only. In other words, specialization without duplication is the aim, and all agricultural houses will do well to tell Uncle Sam of the exact scope of their quest for business.

Advertisers who make use of catalogues, pamphlets, circulars, leaflets, hangers, show cards, form letters and any of the other mediums of the "follow up," find some of their most puzzling problems bound up in the technical properties of paper. To select paper that will combine in desired proportion the attributes of attractive appearance, wearing quality and that light weight that is essential if postal bills are to be kept down, is manifestly no easy task. Evidently comparatively few of the advertisers who are called upon to solve such knotty problems realize that Uncle Sam stands ready to help them if they will but ask his aid or advice.

The National Bureau of Standards has lately been devoting especial attention to tests and experiments with paper of all kinds and under all conditions of service and the digest of what it has learned is available to any advertiser, publisher or printer who will ask for it. Moreover this Federal institution will make special tests of pulp or paper for any interested firm provided the latter will bear the small expense involved.

That the Standards Bureau is qualified by every day practice to tackle the paper proposition may be surmised when it is explained that the institution tests all the papers used in the publications and printing of the national government. Experts now furnish the data neces

sary to eliminate undesirable papers and quality is determined by scientific tests rather than by inspectors' judgment.

For Uncle Sam or for the private consumer of paper, as the case may be, the experts at the Bureau of Standards determine the fiber composition of paper by the microscope; the folding endurance by the Schopper folder; the weight by special balances; the bursting strength on standard paper testers carefully calibrated in advance; and the tensile strength and thickness by special devices.

Also the Bureau has installed a paper-making machine for producing experimental papers under all sorts of conditions. Recent researches by the Federal paper sharps have also included the effect of different climatic conditions upon paper and the deterioration of paper by coloring matter, loading, sizing, etc.-the latter, considerations which particularly affect advertisers making use of color work, etc.

Inquiries in considerable number continue to come into Washington from persons in various branches of our agricultural interests as to whether or not there has been any diminution in the migration of American farmers to Canada. The United States government does not, on its own hook, compile at first hand any statistics covering this movement but an effort is made to keep tab on the railroad records bearing on the subject and Uncle Sam also has access to the figures gathered by the immigration department of the Canadian government.

As a result of a close study of all the information received from such sources the American officials are inclined to believe that there are few signs of a let-up in the movement northward. Within the past year various public speakers and writers have ventured the opinion that this current to Canada has spent its force and that not only will this country lose few farmers to the Dominion in future but that many of those who have changed flags will return as some have, indeed, already done.

The cold figures at hand thus far fail to indicate any such satisfactory status. Farmers, particularly in the north and northwest, continue to sell out their farms at good prices and to move to western Canada where they are usually able to buy good land at a much lower price than they sold for. What will be the situation when all the cheap land in Canada has been exhausted is another question.

Speaking of cheap land brings to mind the fact that the officials of the United States Land Office and the field workers of the Agricultural

Department all declare that the price of farm land has a direct relation to the distribution of our rural population and to the tastes, spending power, etc., of the ultimate consumers in the country districts. This being so, many farsighted students of the situation,-inside as well as outside government circles,—are asking what will be the effect produced when all the so-called "free land" in the United States is exhausted.

The time is in sight when Uncle Sam will have parceled out all the public domain not needed for national parks, forest reserves, etc., and with no more cheap farms available to the homesteaders, the law of supply and demand would seem to promise a steady advance in the value of all farm land. The average advertiser and manufacturer prefers to sell on a "rising market" and theoretically the farmers whose holdings increase in value ought to develop in spending power, but certainly the transition is one which should be watched closely by all business interests that cater to the farmer.

The so-called "window" or transparent envelopes which are used by so many advertisers have never been regarded very favorably by the postal authorities and recently the Postoffice Department has decided to stiffen materially the regulations governing the admission to the mails of these "outlook" envelopes.

However it is realized that many business houses have quantities of the envelopes on hand and in order to give an opportunity for the working off of these stocks of stationery the rather radical limitations imposed by the new regulations will not go into effect until January 1, 1914.

After the first of next year, in order that there shall be ample space for postmarking, no envelope will be admitted to the mails the window or transparent panel of which is not at least 1% inches from the top and at least % of an inch from the bottom and ends of the envelope. Moreover no window shall be more than 51⁄2 inches in length nor more than 1%1⁄2 inches in depth. Henceforth also it is stipulated that windows shall not be colored and shall be made or treated so as to be as transparent as possible. Finally, all window envel opes must bear the return card of the sender.

When issuing the new prohibitions with reference to window envelopes the postal officials took occasion to suggest to all users of these envelopes that the best results will be had if the stationery used in the envelope is white. Black ink is suggested for the address and it

is urged that nothing appear on the communication bearing the mailing address which will tend to cause confusion or interfere with the reading of the mailing address.

Although the periodicals and other publications issued by the Department of Agriculture do not carry advertisements, they exert such an influence and occupy so prominent a place in the field of agricultural current literature that there will be widespread interest in a radical change just made in the publication work of this Department. The explanation of it all is found in the ambition of the new Secretary of Agriculture to provide the public with more popular practical matter, within the understanding of the average citizen, instead of the technical and scientific lore which has heretofore predominated in the publications of the "farm annex" of the United States Government.

One important result of the upheaval will be the discontinuance of the Monthly Crop Re

porter. Henceforth the crop statistics such as have appeared in the Monthly Reporter will be issued through the press. As a partial substitute for the Reporter a weekly news letter to crop correspondents will be issued in typewritten form. The series of Farmers' Bulletins will be continued, but the object will be to tell people in a practical, concise, specific way how to do things bearing upon farming, stock raising and fruit growing. All the highly scientific matter that heretofore found its way into the Bulletins will be published henceforth only in the newly established Journal of Research which will have a very limited circulation.

And in this day and age when the whole tendency is toward specialization in the agricultural field it is worth while for advertisers (and even publishers) to note that hereafter the farmers' bulletins issued by the government will deal particularly with conditions in restricted sections instead of attempting as heretofore to cover the entire country.

W

EATHER conditions have not affected northwestern states. In fact, at this time the crop prospect in the Northwest is better that it has been at any time this season. With the exception of limited districts in central and western South Dakota, there has been no really serious marked crop loss anywhere. The quite general rainfall which was experienced over the spring wheat country at the end of June, and which was repeated early in July, brought relief from threatened drouth losses, and most crops have progressed remarkably well since that time.

It is now evident that the spring wheat crop, with the exception of the limited territory referred to in South Dakota, will fully reach an average yield, according to the reporting bureau of Orange Judd Northwest Farmstead. In portions of North Dakota and of Minnesota, as well as eastern South Dakota, yields will be decidedly above normal.

In Montana and on the Pacific coast in Oregon and Washington, conditions entirely favorable have prevailed and large yields are assured.

Harvest is well under way, and there is practically nothing which can now interfere

with the reaping of a satisfactory spring wheat crop.

The same holds good for oats and barley. The northwestern hay crop is large everywhere. Never in the history of Northwest farming has there been a better promise for a corn crop at this date than now exists. This crop is well advanced, is tasseled and eared heavily, has ample supply of reserve moisture, and should make a record-breaking yield.

OPTIMISM IN WISCONSIN Wisconsin has had one of the most successful years, agriculturally speaking, that the state has known.

Crops have been excellent-the summer has been even and not too warm-plenty of rain has supplied the necessary moisture.

Wisconsin will be an excellent market for advertised articles this Fall and Winter. With Milwaukee and Chicago as shipping centers, the state offers an excellent field for trial campaigns. Manufacturers who are desirous of learning the methods of the farm trade can very profitably choose Wisconsin as their trial state.

W

HEN in doubt-feature the ball players."

That seems to be a pretty general rule with advertisers who would appeal to men. There is no doubt that the heroes of the diamond are popular with a large portion of the male population. But enough is too much. Muggsy McGraw, Rube Marquard, Frank Chance, Walter Johnson and Ed. Walsh all have a tremendous following. (And a fine lot they are, too-except when they essay vaudeville.)

However, when one or two good-sized campaigns have appeared introducing the leaders of the National Game as chief sources of interest and attraction, it would seem to be time to let them drop.

But no. Ball players in street clothes and in playing positions continue to haunt us from the advertising pages. Cigars, cigarettes, smoking tobacco, beer, underwearall have been presented to the public by the enthusiastic testimony of base ball stars.

the center of the slab becomes as sawdust to his taste.

Most of this base ball copy carries with it fervent testimonials signed with the players own names shown in facsimile, which, we suppose, should be convincing. But isn't.

Even when we have double pages bordered by ball players who, as one man, assert their life-long love for a certain brand of tobacco, we take this evidence only with a liberal application from the salt shaker.

The very latest is a prominent firm of tailors to the trade just starting a series which plays up the well-tailored ball players and shows illustrations of them clad as citizens, and as athletes.

Over the same path again!

However enthusiastic a fan may be, this, if kept up, is bound to pall on him.

And the ever-recurring picture of Christie Mathewson wound up ready to slam one over

And finally when the leading brewery of Ping Bodie's native town upon the Coast comes out with the assertion, over Ping's own signature, that their beer is responsible for that athlete's strength, prowess and ball playing ability, still we are not persuaded.

Everybody knows that many good-natured ball players and actors are approachable on this matter of testimonials partic ularly when the testimonial carries with it a large amount of publicity beneficial to the headliner.

Even our prima donnas are not loth to praise various face creams and new-fangled petticoats because they, too, appreciate the incidental advertising it gives them.

But for real conviction-selling strength-the optimistic testimonials of footlight favorites and red sox clouters register pretty close to zero.

"Zing Dooey!"

One cannot tell whether the words are used