perhaps not altogether loss to the State, since by this means local
industries are often brought in touch with markets which could not
otherwise be reached, and the rural population is enabled to obtain from
the towns many amenities not otherwise procurable.

Viewed in the light of these considerations, and especially of the fact
that it is open to competition at all points where its rates would prove
profitable, it will not appear extraordinary that the parcel post is
less successful financially than the letter post.[672] The conditions
under which postal business is conducted render it impossible to earmark
the expenses properly chargeable to the parcel post, since expenses are
for the most part incurred jointly. But the parcel post is to a large
extent a secondary service engrafted on the letter post, and is perhaps
not properly chargeable with a mathematical proportion of the total cost
of the two services based on the relative cost of handling individual
letters and individual parcels. Theoretical estimates of the cost of the
parcel post must, therefore, be accepted with reserve. But a proved
moderate loss on the parcel post would not be conclusive against the
propriety of its maintenance. Postal rates are simple, definite, and
generally known; and every post office is a receiving agency. It is
convenient to use the post, which offers the further advantages of quick
transmission, and the greater degree of security attaching to a State
institution. The line on which a postal service for small parcels can
best be justified is that by the utilization of existing machinery for
the disposal of additional traffic, not so large as to overburden or
disorganize the practical arrangements, a useful public advantage can be
secured without inordinate cost. Nevertheless, the parcel post service
is not a true postal service, but rather a commercial undertaking.[673]
The question of the legitimacy of State control, which in the case of
the letter post is of academic interest only, is therefore of real
importance in the case of a parcel service, and those who have a
distrust of all State interference in industry may legitimately argue
that it should stand aside from the parcel business.

* * * * *

APPENDIXES

APPENDIX A

I. RATES OF INLAND LETTER POSTAGE CHARGED IN ENGLAND, 1635-1915

WITHERINGS' RATES, 1635.

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