New-York tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1841-1842, 1842-02-22
together
Post Office Reform.

General; we have good opinion Of the gentlemen
composing the Post Office Committees of the two
Houses Of Congress respectively; and vet wc fear
that another Session win glide away and witness
nothing effected toward the renovation Of the Post
Office service OF the Union. This must not be
yariou, and urgent considerations Of Public Inter
es, forbid it. /, shall not be, at least without .
strenuous effort on our part to prevent it. Once
more therefore. we ask the earnest attention Of
our readers to Il specification Of the Reform ALSO
lutey required
/. an Mcreass Of Inc Rerem2e. This is no.s
clearly Inadequate The Department is III debt.
and falling tehndhand. Mr.. Wicilifie has been
obliged 10 deduct ten per cent. from the compen.
sation allowed TO Poslmosters, meagre as it
already was in most. cases. We lave been
gently appealed to to censu1s this curtailment, and
TO demand restoration Blu, how shall this be
effected Our friend says, Congress must make
a liberal appropriation for the relief of the Depart
rnent But how shall Congress exercise this lib
crafty when there is 10 money in the Treasury
an insufficient Revenue heavy debts due, and hard
work to raise funds for other purposes This re-
sort. except temporary cXpcdicnt, Is clearly
ou, of the question What then?
II. Congress RAY and must increase the Reu-
caac ofhe Department By reducing and equ4l-
l1tng The Rates Of Posture md restricting The
Frauhing Privilege. This is easy; it is Just;
1t is necessary. We have no doubt that the pres
ent extent Of Mail Service may be made to paw
Half Million more per anntm while its opera
ton will be farlcs burdensomc and more bcnef-
cial TO the country For instance letter seut
from New-Yorkto Philadelphia. Albany, or Hart
ford is charged d cents: ito Providence Bos
ton Baltimore, Troy, or Washing;on l83 CENTS
being three tourthS as much as if conveyed to
Galena Dubuque. Na,chitoches, or the Yellow
Stone. There is no justice in this, and it i.
wretchcd policy. This high postage for short dis
t,,nccs fills every travclors pocket with letters
that tariff of cents on each letter carried less
than 200 miles. 10 cents under 800 Is cents ul-
der 1000, 20 cents under , 900. and % cents for
still greater distances, would produce more annual
Revenue thar the present rates. There mi gllt be
Il falling off for year; but there need not if the
to the People TO send their letters by the Mails,
and ,husproyc their disposition to have the lo,.
rates maintained.
Then as to Newspapers, there exists n wrctchcd
anarchy in the laws of Congress. The smallest
sheet and the 'Quadruplc Nation or Jonathan,
as big German Principally, are charged Just
alike; and NewYork paper pays just the same
if carried to Maryland as 10 Iowa. Then paper
forwarded regularly to a subscriber pays Just the
same as ono cent casually to apprsc some distant
relative Of adcalh or marriage. This is all wrong.
Some discrimination based on size is manfcStly
Just and necessary; forthere haze been single cdi-
tons of Mammoth Quadrliplc issued in this CITY
on which the loss TO the Department must have
been 81 900. So of the chance papers ,hrownin,
the Ma!-each one is special bother to the Posi-
Offices, and great part of them are never taken
out by those 10 whom they are addressed, and so
are a dead loss. They ought clearly to par twice
rs much as those regularly transmitted
Ill. Great abuses exist also in the charging Of
double and higher postage on letters. We haze
known ono letter pass for single. while another.
much smaller and lighter. was charged treble
we have inownt two small pieces Of paper connect
cd by thread charged treble, though weighing
less than common sheet These discrepancies
should be corrected
w But after ell. the abuses Of the frankin.
Privilege, il they do not swallow up. certainly
cvershadow all the rest. The Government first
taxes the letter-wr,ing public with the cost of all
mitted to. Butwhcn such u multitude of public
functionaries and cX-filnctionarics are permitted
to frank their OWL private and business Cores
pondcncc. the Joke IS carried out of the window.
1t is monsr"us. Bushels of letters are Cor have
bees, sent to Washington to be fra,.ked all owe,
the Country. Business mon often solicit and OBJ
tain the office Of Postmaster simply in order IL
ssyc the postage OF their letters, which amounts IL
as much all the receipts of their several Offices
Werecouectthat thcmoStcxtcnsivc merchant. spec
culator, Nc in Vermont Obtained from Gen. ] lack
son the ohcc OF Postmos,cr a, place where he
did not usually reside; whereby the correspond
ence OF his eight or ten stores was carried on II,
the costot the pubhc--hc being in BoSto, nncl,ot
his nne, and very seldom in his Pos, Office. This
* sing instance OF avery common abuse. Il
it be policy to allow the Franking Privilege 10
Posrmasters at al. Lit should be restricted io-l.
Their necessary official correspondence 4 per
mission 10 franl,lctters of business or friendship
10 an amount not exceeding one tenth Of the ac
cruing revenue Of their respective Offices, with
in some other rigid Limitations. in return for which
they should be required TO mail and deliver all
Free Letters withou, charge Then the Ftzsiikis:s
of Documents. Speeches, &c. should be brought
under some similar regulation
We have only opened this subject. and willsr-
cur 10 II. Friends Of tbs People in Congress do