It is curious to see how bogies which have been
apparently slaughtered. repeatedly continue to rise up again like Antaeus after each knock-down blow. Besides, the ways of trade are mysterious. The small shopkeepers used to complain that they were being strangled by the great stores. But all statistical evidence proves that small shops now flourish chiefly in the neighbourhood of the great stores, which are not Upas trees after all. The reason seems to be that a. prosperous store gives a reputation to a whole street as a shopping quarter. C.O.D, ought to be the charter of the small-holder who will be able to send his vegetables, his eggs, his fruit and his honey direct to purchasers instead of committing these things to the vague mercy of the open market. There might be a great national gain in this way, even if the Post Office failed to get a revenue from the service as a whole. * *
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