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 and work out direct connection between producer and consumer."

"Hear, hear!" cried Teresa Moore. "You'll be talking before the Federated Clubs next!"

"Well, if I do," said Mr. Larry, "I will first tell them what a clever wife I have.

"The parcel-post system is democratic. It was designed largely to meet the needs of the farmer or producer. To ship by freight or express, he must go to the nearest town. For parcel-post shipment, Uncle Sam, in the form of rural free delivery, passes his door each day, sometimes twice a day.

"But the government soon discovered that it must educate both the producer and consumer if the value of parcel post was to be raised to the nth power.

"So, in March, 1914, the Post-Office Department at Washington started a campaign of farm-to-table investigation and education. It selected certain cities for its experiment—Washington, St. Louis, Boston, Baltimore, Atlanta, Birmingham, San Francisco, Rock Island (Illinois), Lynn (Massachusetts), La-