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| Summary: United States of America - 1847 annual
report of the Postmaster General - Containing statistics and description
of the current state of the United States of America postal system for the
year 1847. |
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Annual Report to Congress of the Post Master General The United States Democratic Review Annual Report to Congress of the Post Master General Volume 22, Issue 115, January 1848, pages 18-26 Published by: J. and H.G. Langley THE POST OFFICE* * Annual Report to Congress of the Post Master General. THE cheap postage system has now been in operation two years, ending with the fiscal year, June 30, 1847, and the report of the Post-Master for the last year, shows the experiment to have been eminently successful. The current revenues of the department for the year were nearly equal to the expenditure, falling short only $33,677. In the first year of the operation of the cheap system, the deficit was $597,098, and for the preceding eight years under the old rates, the aggregate deficit was $1,222,249, averaging $152,781 per annum. The amount of revenues was, however, much affected by the state of general business, which, when very active and generally prosperous, promotes an enlarged correspondence, not only in relation to mere business, the multiplication of exchange transactions necessarily following enhanced sales of produce, and multifarious modes by which business correspondence is increased, but pleasure travelling is greater, and social correspondence, of course, more extensive. The high rates of postage which ruled from the formation of the government down to the act of 1844, gradually began to operate against the revenues of the government. When the country was new, and steamboats and railroads had as yet neither opened new channels of communication, nor made old ones more facile, few private enterprises could compete with the conveyances from city to city, which contracted to carry the government mail, and the rate charged by the government could not be successfully underbid. A stage coach which could carry a letter from New-York to Boston in several days journey for 18 3/4 cents, could not be successfully rivalled by private enterprise. When, however, the two cities were, through the operation of steam, brought within a few hours of each other, and the government mail carrier continued to claim 18 3/4 cents for the transportation of a letter, which a private express in the same conveyance took for 5 cents, the era of reform was reached. Notwithstanding the vast increase of population, travel and business, that each succeeding decade presented, the affairs of the post-office department seemed rather to deteriorate than improve. Up to the year 1819, the department had always been a source of revenue to the government, but from that time to 1845, it ceased to be so. In the years 1835, 1836, 1837, when all speculative business presented great activity, the department yielded large revenues, because the receipts multiplied faster than the expenses were enhanced. From that time, the reverse has been the case, until the last two years. In fact, the department seems to have been the prey of extortionate contractors, who demanded from the government sums very much larger than they would require from individuals for performing the same service. When railroad and steamboat lines came to he established, the superior facility which they offered in delivering letters promptly, seemed to impose a sort of necessity upon the government to employ them in that service. These lines did not fail to take advantage of that apparent necessity, in charging the government ten times the amount for carrying 1000 pounds of mail matter, for which they would be glad to carry 1000 pounds of merchandise. In fact, the carrying of the mail was looked upon as a kind of bonus always urged upon the public by projectors of railroad or steamboat enterprise. This difficulty appears now to be in some degree removed, inasmuch as in the same manner that competition of private expresses forced upon the department a reduction of rates, so has the multiplication of railroads and steamboats reduced their charges for the mail service in some localities. The whole department was overrun with abuses; the contractors seemed to act under the impression that they had a sort of pre-emption right to the government business, arid that the department was under obligations to pay them a large bonus if any change was made. These abuses became intolerable, and have in a manner wrought out their own cure. One of the objects in conferring upon government the monopoly of post routes, is to have the business done with regularity, precision, and at least as cheaply as it can be done by private enterprise. It is self-evident, that to perform the service as cheaply as private individuals, the government must have its work done on as favorable terms. As long as the department was looked upon as a source of plunder, by which contractors could get much pay for little labor, it is evident that, to preserve the rule of making the department pay for itself, the public must pay exorbitant postages in order to supply the means of feeding the rapacity of the contractors. When, however, cheap postage was insisted on by the public, one of two things must take place, either that a reform in the patronage of the department should be effected so as to bring the expenses within such reasonable limit that low charges would cover the aggregate, or that the deficit should be made good from the federal treasury. There never yet existed any system of corruption, but the reformers were vilified in every possible way, and for the obvious reason, that no very active party interests itself in a reform, from which it derives no special benefit. Thus the public insisted upon cheap postage and then stopped, all other parties cried out cheap postage also; but when cheap postage involved economy in expenditure, the most inveterate opposition was conjured up by the contractors and mail carriers. These parties would not lightly forego the plunder to which they had been accustomed, and they were joined by protectionists and that class of the old Federal party who favored large government expenditure. These united favored cheap postage, and wished to have the deficit paid out of the federal treasury, because it would enhance the annual expenditure, and, as was openly asserted by influential men in New-England, make high duties necessary to supply the outgo. By these means a vast engine of corruption would have been created that ultimately would have defeated the object wished for by the people in cheap postage. The abuses in contracts, and consequent increased burdens upon the treasury, would at least have prevented a further reduction in rates. The only way in which the reform of rates could be placed on a sure footing, was to commence with the expense of transportation, and as soon as that should he brought within reasonable limits, the department would be on a sound foundation, and its future movements be influenced by the increasing revenue, which diminished charges on letters would inevitably bring about. This, however, as we have intimated, was a Herculean task the whole rotten system was to be changed, and the enmity of the contractor and carrier deprived of accustomed plunder, was to he encountered as well as adverse public opinion, poisoned through the influence of an unprincipled and venal press in the interests of speculators. The practice seems to have been, under the old law for the contractors to enjoy a sort of monopoly, and in putting in their bids, it was under the pledge of the department, that should any new contractor underbid them, he should be compelled to purchase of the old or superseded contractor the stock necessary to transport the mail, or in other words, to pay the incumbent an exorbitant bonus for the good will, under the pretence of buying his stock. To this abuse the new law, passed March 3, 1845, applied a remedy; its 18th section declaring, that “in all future lettings for the transportation of the mail,” the Post-Master, “in every case, should let to the lowest bidder,” without reference to the old contractor. It appears that the Union was divided into four post districts, in one of which the lettings fall due every year, as thus the contracts being for four years, the eastern lettings fell due in the spring of 1845, the western in 1846, the southern in 1847, and the middle in 1848; consequently the eastern lettings came round a few weeks after the law passed, and all the contractors met at Washington, claiming, that as the new law did not take effect until July, that they were entitled to enter into new contracts for four years more under the old system. These contractors drew up a memorial of their grievance, which is certainly a curiosity. They complained that they suffered injury, because the new contractors were admitted to bid against them without being obliged to buy their old carts and horses, and went on as follows: “Another result of the Post-Master General’s circular, which must operate injuriously upon contractors, and which cannot now be averted, arises from the increased competition it has called forth among a class of men that otherwise would not have embarked in the business of mail contractors. The effect of this unusual competition will inevitably be to reduce the price of coach service below what it would have been under the usual advertisement for mail proposals.” This certainly is as cool a statement of “grievance” as could well be desired. They complained that their exorbitant overcharges would be reduced, by admitting the public to open competition. The Post-Master, however, was vigilant and firm, and the result Was, that those lettings took place at a reduction of $252,732, or 35 per cent. under the prices previously paid; and it is not a little remarkable that these low bids were in some cases made by the same men who had so long been enjoying the higher prices under the old law. Under the lettings of the western routes, $220,000 was saved, and this year on the southern routes, $108,697. The falling in and reletting of all the sections will produce a saving of $1,000,000 in the annual expenditures. As an instance of the extent to which the new contractors were oppressed by the requirement of buying out the stock of those they superseded, it may be stated that the department required from contractors a statement of the value of the stock employed. Only 60 per cent of the contractors made replies. The results, with an estimate of the remaining 40 per cent. were as follows: Persons Value Value Annual Annual No. Carriages. Horses. Employed. Carriages. Horses. Expense. Wages. Returns 2,429 .... 13,869 .... 4,636 ... $640,527 .... 1,104,789 .. $2,238,577 .. $669,747 Estimated ... 848 .... 4,955 .... 1,672 ... 226,005 .... 395,349 ... 798,829 ... 234,072 _____ ______ _____ ________ _________ __________ ________ Total 3,277 .... 18,824 .... 6,308 .. $866,532 ... 1,590,138 .. $3,037,406 .. $903,719 The aggregate value of stock at these returns and estimates, was $2,366,670, and much under the rates charged to new contractors. The law also regulated the maximum rates at which rail road and steamboat lines should be paid for mail services. This elicited great opposition, many lines refusing the rates, and thus compelling other means of transportation to be resorted to; the lines hoping through public clamor to coerce the government into their terms; and there have not been wanting venal prints to aid in this indirect robbery. It is no doubt the case, that the government might advantageously pay a little more, rather than have the public interest suffer; but the public will suffer more by perpetuating corruption than by submitting for a few months to inconvenience in the conveyance on some portion of the mail routes. The great object is, first, to purge the department of the corruptions that have overrun it. Under all these circumstances, the leading features for the last two years compare with those of former ones as follows: NUMBER OF POST MASTERS — LENGTH OF POST ROUTES — NO. OF MILES OF TRANSPORTATION — COST OF TRANSPORTATION AND RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES, DURING NINE YEARS UNDER THE OLD LAW, AND TWO YEARS UNDER THE NEW. Post-Masters. Post Routes. Miles. Cost. Receipts. Expenditure. 1837....12,099 .... 141,242 .... 32,597,006...$2,895,622...$4,100,605...$3,303,428 1838....12,519 .... 134,818 .... 34,582,202....3,131,308....4,235,077....4,621,836 1839....12,680 .... 133,999 .... 34,496,878....3.285,622....4,477,619....4,654,718 1840....13,488 .... 155,739 .... 36,370,776....3,296,876....4,539,265....4,759,110 1841....13,682 .... 155,026 .... 34,996,225....3,159,375....4,379,317....4,567,238 1842....13,733 .... 149,732 .... 34,835,991....3,087,796....4,546,246....4,627,716 1843....13,814 .... 142,245 .... 35,252,805....2,947,319....4,295,925....4,374,713 1844....14,103 .... 144,687 .... 35,409,624....2,938,551....4,237,285....4,296,867 1845....14,183 .... 143,940 .... 35,634,269....2,905,504....4,289,841....4,320,731 New Law. 1846....14,980 .... 149,679 .... 37,398,414....2,363,905....3,487,199....4,084,297 1847....15,146 .... 153,818 .... 38,887,899....2,406,848....3,945,893....3,979,570 In inspecting these figures, we are struck with the general fact, that although the cost of transportation has been lower than under the old law, the number of miles travelled is much greater than ever. In 1837, the cost of 32,597,006 of transportation was $2,895,622, or 8 3/4 cts. per mile average; in 1847, the cost of 38,887,899 miles has been 2,406,848, or 6 1/2 cts. per mile average. The length of post routes has increased 10,000 miles since 1840, the number of post masters 1,000, and the miles of transportation 3,253,630 miles, while the expenses are $341,141 less. The Post-Master who has produced such results, is surely not an inefficient one. The following table will show the change in the different modes of transportation: On Horse. Coaches. Rail-Road & Steamboat. Miles. cost. Miles. Cost. Miles. Cost. 1837.... 11,999,282...$86l,578 .... 18,804,700...$1,726,600 .... 1,793,024...$307,444 1838.... 11,573,918....831,023 .... 30,651,432....1,896,157 .... 2,356,852....404,123 1839.... 11,447,147....864,569 .... 19,653,676....1,900,457 .... 3,396,055....520,602 1810.... 12,182,445....739,668 .... 20,229,278....1,911,855 .... 3,889,053....595,353 1841.... 12,088,862....781,897 .... 18,961,213....1,791,635 .... 3,946,450....585,843 1842.... 11,644,693....737,605 .... 18,767,036....l,700,510 .... 4,424,262....649,681 1843.... ll,146,229....602,064 .... 18,414,174....1,611,568 .... 5,692,402....733,687 1844.... 11,373,952....577,703 .... 18,288,317....1,558,842 .... 5,747,355....802,006 1845.... 11,225,631....543,482 .... 17,914,046....1,476,079 .... 6,484.592....843,430 1846.... 14,079,553....629,918 .... 15,537,033....1,164,590 .... 7,981,828....870,570 1847.... 15,593,972....650,166 .... 15,209,005.... 912,462 .... 8,084,922....844,220 These are no trifling results. The average cost of steam per mile in 1847 was 10 cts. against 14 cts. in 1844, and the other modes of conveyance are reduced in proportion. The length and cost of routes in the several states were as follows: 1843. 1845. 1847. 1847 Length of Post Routes.........Total annual States...............Cost......Cost...........Miles....................rate of cost. Maine.............$71,447......$69,654..........3,980......................$41,964 New-Hampshire......43,998.......46,538..........2,267.......................25,560 Vermont............46,009.......46,939..........2,486.......................26,563 Massachusetts.....131,749......128,545..........3,478......................107,392 Rhode Island.......10,115.......10,515............383........................9,187 Connecticut........51,371.......55,308..........1,820.......................45,797 New-York..........352,329......360,665.........13,292......................229,307 New-Jersey.........62,330.......58,194..........1,980.......................58,930 Pennsylvania......187,437......152,917.........10,226......................155,412 Delaware............8,303........7,931............549........................7,862 Maryland..........147,235......131,770..........2,359......................133,751 Virginia..........199,753......198,162.........10,782......................192,615 North Carolina....151,495......174,617..........7,423......................172,520 South Carolina....122,378......115,945..........4,718......................118,157 Georgia...........171,671......149,761..........5,761......................153,001 Florida............44,199.......42,354..........2,957.......................45,193 Ohio..............194,607......162,300.........11,538......................172,295 Michigan...........40,635.......45,363..........4,255.......................38,211 Indiana............68,688.......68,711..........6,760.......................52,439 Illinois..........121,269......120,523..........8,276......................102,485 Wisconsin..........12,234.......69,182..........3,078.......................15,043 Iowa................6,919.......13,382..........1,641........................9,722 Missouri...........69,081........7,381..........7,897.......................49,720 Kentucky..........130,566......125,551..........7,705.......................89,581 Tennessee..........96,065.......89,629..........6,826.......................55,298 Alabama...........218,055......228,266..........6,553......................136,499 Mississippi........95,580.......95,312..........4,217.......................58,451 Arkansas...........53,821.......52,950..........4,637.......................39,966 Louisiana..........57,976.......39,666..........3,208.......................41,795 Texas...........................................2,766.......................24,102 _________________________________________________________________________________ Total..........$2,947,319...$2,867,991........153,808...................$2,406,848 Through the process of general and increasing competition for the government business on fair terms, the great result has been attained of bringing the expenditure within the limit of the reduced revenue in the second year of the operation of the new law, while the general service has been much increased. This is an astonishing result. For the year ending with June, 1848, there will be a surplus of $213,951, a thing which has not occurred before in ten years. From this position of great strength, the department now looks forward to a general farther reduction in the rates of postage through the healthy application of any surplus that may exist to that purpose. In a government like ours, nothing is more important than to preserve its administration from the corruption of patronage, the evils of which will he felt, let the friends of equal rights be ever so vigilant. The condition of France is an instance of what may be effected through official corruption. Normally, under the charter of 1830, a constitutional king, through the influence of corruption, rules with a far more absolute sway than does the autocrat of Russia. Every department of that government is made the means of conveying the corrupting stream of official patronage from an unprincipled executive head down through all those channels by which public opinion can he influenced in favor of the existing order of things, and a corrupt mass of pensioners conspires with an infamous prince to wring from the great body of the people the wealth on which they riot. A large party in our own country have ever sought to centralise the federal government by making it the fountain whence every species of patronage might flow to enrich its adherents, and through community of plunder to unite multifarious interests in support of the source whence great pecuniary advantages to each are to be derived at the expense of the people at large. The great democratic voice of the country has uniformly denounced these insidious schemes, the most prominent of which were, first, a national bank, chartered by the federal government, with sovereign control over the paper currency, and, with its affiliated branches in all the states, forming a vast engine of corruption. The protective system next sought to make the manufacturing interest dependant upon the federal patronage for its support, instead of on its own skill and industry. The distribution of the public lands was intended to employ an army of land agents to collect money into the federal treasury, for the sole purpose of re-distributing it among the several states, for the benefit of political charlatans; a still more stupendous scheme of patronage was to engraft upon the federal treasury the duty of internal improvements, through the operation of which, thousands of trading politicians could project so-called improvements in all sections of the country, and demand millions of dollars annually from the federal treasury for their execution. For this purpose alone, the demands upon government amounted to $200,000,O00, when the plot was crushed by the Maysville road veto of the venerable Jackson. The assumption of the state debts, amounting to $2OO,OOO,OOO by the federal government, was another grand scheme of consolidation happily defeated by the firmness of the democracy. Had these projects all been carried out, the debt of the federal government would now have been equal to that of Great Britain, and the creditors of the government would alone have formed a formidable army indissolubly attached to its interests. The. post office department has not been exempt from this universal attempt at subordination to the centralizing power. It employs fifteen thousand post-masters, and near four thousand contractors scattered over the whole Union. This is a powerful machinery for corruption, which can be avoided only by making the services of those persons yield sufficient to cover the charge. That is, by conducting the post office department on those commercial principles, which alone would govern it, were it in the hands of individuals. It has been sought, however, to engraft it upon the federal government as one of its ordinary expenditures, and to allow a host of contractors and railroad interests to depend upon political influence, to turn into their coffers large bounties for small services, and to supply the treasury drain thus created by high duties upon imported goods for the supposed benefit of domestic manufactures. It is in this insiduous mode that one corruption leads to another. The manufacturing interests labored under the notion that their profits were promoted by high taxes upon imported goods; it followed as a necessity in their estimation, that if the taxes were high the revenues would be large; and to make those large revenues apparently necessary, lavish expenditure was unblushingly encouraged, such as a profligate system of internal improvement, assuming state debts to be paid by duties on imports, squandering the land revenues, and countenancing the corruptions of the post office department. The consumers of goods are to pay double for all this extravagance in two modes; first, directly in the money spent, and secondly, in a greater degree in the prices of all goods purchased, enhanced by the duty on the foreign article, as, for instance, the savings in the post office department, by purging it of its corruptions, amount to $1,000,000 per annum. If the Post-Master had consented to become the tool of the employees in extracting that sum from the federal treasury this year, it must have borrowed the sum in a twenty years stock at 6 per cent., and principle and interest, it would have cost the people of this country $2,200,000, and continued yearly, would cost them $50,000,000 in the next twenty years. This $50,000,000 would either have to be raised by taxes on goods or by direct taxation. It is clear that the expense of transportation must be paid by the people of the United States under one form or another. If under a system of economy, $2,500,000 suffices to transport the mails, those who use the mails at 5 cents per letter will pay the amount. If, in the shape of bonuses, allowances, and political rewards, the cost of transportation is raised to $3,500,000, the revenues of the department will no longer pay its expenses; but the extra $1,000,000 must be drawn by taxes on shirts, sugar, and sheetings from the laborer who seldom writes letters, to feed corruption. The mail carriers, who seek through clamor to make every casualty of the mails, that they themselves create, a means of enforcing extortion, are very active in their efforts, and even have the audacity to get up meetings pretending to represent public opinion. At one of these meetings the following resolution was adopted: “Resolved, That the Congress of the United States be respectfully reminded of the fact, that the public faith was pledged by repeated declarations, that while doubting the constitutional power to aid in constructing railroads, by direct subscriptions to the capital stock, ample remuneration would be made to the patriotic stockholders by liberal contracts, and allowances for carrying the mails, transporting troops, munitions of war, &c., &c.” Here is a bold avowal of the intention of making the carrying of mails the medium of government bounty. It is not a little singular that these very rail roads were, by act of Congress, in force from 1832 to 1843, relieved from a duty of near 100 per cent, on iron used for rails, while the tax was borne by all other interests in the country. This was in the nature of a direct bounty to rail roads amounting to many millions of dollars, and should have been conditioned upon their carrying the mails free; instead of this, however, they now came forward and demand "further allowances." The Post-Master proposes several modifications of the existing law with a view farther to decrease expenditure and enhance revenues. The principal of them are to discontinue the privilege of allowing sealed letters “in relation to cargo” to be carried by vessels and vehicles on post routes, inasmuch as that it is a cloak to fraud; also to consider 1/2 oz. or 1/3 oz. as a single letter, instead of 1/2 oz., unless written on single sheet, and require all to be pre-paid or to pay double postage if not pre-paid, and also to reduce the franking privilege to official correspondence. By these means, it is supposed the revenues will be increased, while it is suggested that newspapers should pay by weight; for the reason that under the present regulation, a paper weighing 2 1/2 oz. is charged no more than one weighing 1/2 oz. This is obviously as unequal a tax as to charge letters as indiscriminately. A letter which weighs 1/2 oz pays five cents, and one weighing 2 1/2 oz. pays 25 cts. If this rule is applied to newspapers, it would seem to be more just than as suggested to call a letter on one sheet of paper, weighing 1/2 oz. a single letter, and another weighing 1/3 oz. on two sheets a double letter. The argument of the Post-Master in favor of charging newspapers more than light ones, is that it costs more to transport the former. In applying this reasoning to letters, it surely does not cost more to transport a 1/2 oz. letter on two pieces of paper than on one piece. Nor is there any greater burden thrown upon the department, because a letter enclosing bank notes not exceeding the weight of a single letter, pays only one postage. To reduce the weight of the single letter is simply to raise the postage; and the report shows by far too flourishing a condition of the department under the low rates to make such a step necessary. One of the most gratifying features of the report, is the number of letters passed through the office. In the report of the House committee on the post office in May, 1844, it was stated, that the number of chargeable letters passed through the office in 1845, was 25,015,344, and the Post-Master’s estimate in 1837 was 29,360,992. On these data the Senate committee estimated that at a postage of 7 1/2 cts. there would be 60,000,000 paid letters pass through the mail. The House committee estimated that at a proposed rate of 5 cts. within 220 miles, 10 cts. over 220 and under 600 miles, and 15 cts. over 600 miles, that 60,000,000 letters would be mailed, yielding $3,937,500. Mr. Maclay in the House, estimated the postage for 1842, ($3,953,319,34,) to have been derived as follows, viz. from — 7,021,886 ........ under 30 miles, at 6 cents, ........ $421,313,16 10,532,815 ........ “ 80 “ " 10 ........ 1,053,281,50 7,021,887 ........ " 150 “ " l2 1/2 ........ 877,735,87 5,261,731 ........ “ 400 " " 18 3/4 ........ 986,574,56 2,457,457 ........ over 400 “ " 25 ........ 614,414,25 ______________________________________________________________________ 32,295,976 $3,953,319,34 It was supposed that his bill graduated at 3, 5, 10 and 15 cents, would produce $2,742,337 on an aggregate of 42,389,936 letters, leaving a deficit of $1,200,000. The report of the present year shows the actual results to have been 52,173,480 letters, and the revenue derived from them $3,254,512, exceeding the letter postage of 1846, 372,815, being an increase of 12 1/2 per cent. If the number of letters increased in the same proportion, the excess over last year must have been 5,797,093. The whole number of letters passing through the office is placed at 55,000,000. The average rate of postage was, it appears, 6 1/4 cents. Of the whole number of letters, 36,152,556 were of the single rate of 5 cents; and probably if this should be made the uniform rate, the increase in number would be such as to swell the revenue beyond what it otherwise would be. It is singular that, considering the circumstances of the condition of the United States as compared with Great Britain, the amount of correspondence between individuals should be so much less in America than in England. The population of Great Britain, according to the census of 1841, was 26,711,059, of whom 12,127,405 were over 20 years of age; of these 41 per cent. were unable to read and write, leaving but 7,155,169 persons who enjoy the advantages of a post office. These transmit through the mail 204,000,000 letters per annum, or 28 1/2 letters each. In the United States there are, according to the census, 5,892,806 free white persons over 20 years who can read and write; and these, it appears, in 1844 mailed but 27,831,036 letters, or 4 2/3 each; and this year of all sorts, 55,000,000 letters, or about nine letters each, being one third only of the quantity of letters mailed per capita in Great Britain. If the people of this country should write each as many as those of England, there would be 165,000,000 mailed; and at two cents each, would give a revenue of $3,200,000, equal to the revenue of the present year. One great reason that letters are more numerous in England is, that means of communication are more rapid. This is a kind of paradox; and in fact, when the Manchester rail road was projected, it was supposed that its rapid and cheap communication would supersede letters. Experience showed the reverse; and in 1841 one-fourth of the whole correspondence of the United Kingdom was carried over the Birmingham rail road. The extension of rail roads in England has eminently promoted the increase of correspondence. In the United States similar results must follow the increased facilities of intercourse, and aid the development of the resources of the department. It would seem, however, while the English people write so many more letters, those of the United States read by far the greater number of papers. According to the report of the Committee of the House of Commons, there were 44,500,000 newspapers passed through the post office. The late report of the Post-Master General states the number at 55,000,000 which were mailed in the United States for the past year. It would seem from this, that by reason of the stamp, and the high price of newspapers in Great Britain, that letters are to some extent substituted. In the United States the reverse has been the case, viz., papers have been very cheap and letters very dear. Hence the community have derived the habit of writing on the margin of newspapers, by which means distant friends communicate news and exchange salutations. This is a practice exceedingly difficult to detect, and yet very prevalent, particularly in the New-England States. It is a matter of utter impossibility that any portion of 55,000,000 papers in wrappers can be opened and examined; and if possible, it would be to no purpose. The person who sent it cannot be known, and he to whom it is directed cannot he made liable. To stop the paper is to lose its postage. The government itself has, to some extent, encouraged this practice, by permitting newspaper publishers to inclose their bills in newspapers in order to save letter postage, being a kind of bonus to newspapers not extended to periodicals or any other business. The regulation requiring drop newspapers to be prepaid, has possibly some effect in checking this practice, but it can probably be eradicated only by a still greater reduction in rates. |
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