New-York daily tribune., 1843-10-30
Post Office Reform.


advocacy of thorough Reform in our Post Oi-
Ace system. The facts they embody cover the
whole ground-they exhaust the subject and
cannet be gainsaycd. Our General Post Office
must accommodate the public better and cheap
er, or it win be deserted by the public, and left to
perish by bankruptcy and insnltlon
There never was a clearer case The Mails
are nearly deserted on the great Routes because
the public will not consent or cannot afford TO
submit to their enormous charges. barrel of
Flour is brought here from Troy for l24 cents; ;
letter by Mail costs l83. The consequence is,
that not one letter in ten passing between these
two Cities goes by Mail, nor will it until the
Postage is essentially reduced. Probably of the
Immense mass Of letters daily passing between
this City and Albany and Troy, not one-third
would be written at all if they could only be sent
on the payment of Postage. The same state of
facts exists every where.
Can any considerate man doubt as to the true
course, with the example of Great Britain before
hi1n2 There the reduction of Postage by three
fourths 10 nine.tenths has been followed by an
inconsdcrable reduction of the Receipts, which
five years will entirely replace. There not one
fourth of the People habitually read or write;
here three fourths do So Is it not clear that a
reduction of our Rates of Postage two-thlrds
would increase the Post Office Revenue ;? How
can the Postmaster General hesitate
And vet that functionary, disregarding the
course that should be taken and must be taken,
ia strangely bent on coercing the TRANSMISSION OF
intelligence through tho Mails alone! He looks
TO penalties, forfeitures and obstruc tons, to re-
store his diminishing income! The great diff
Guilty is, in his opinion, that men have found out
that they can accommodate each other in this
matter cheaper and better than his machinery
accommodates them: so the thing to be done is
10 punish them for their offence and drive them
back to his shop! This is precisely the idea of
the oldtime monopolies, now SO generally explo-
ded. A kings mistress or pander would be paid
Off with the exclusive privilege of selling SALT &C.
at her or his own price-with penalty denoun-
ced against the hardened wretch who bought or
sold the article in derogation of the monopoly
But, this did not always effect the purpose, it
was improved in France before the Revolution so
that every man must not only buy his salt of the
Government monopolist, but must buy so much
per annum, whether he wanted it or not Here
is q hint not to be lost by Mr.. Wickliffe. A law
compelling every man to send OFT one letter per
week, or at least to pay the postage one, would
6i bis Golfers very scnsibiy,
But look at the oppression of the monopoly as
it is. We have hosts of readers in Newark, Pat
erson, and the other cities and villages around
us, who want their Tribune with their breakfast
Mr. Wicklife will not send it to them at the early
hour ct which alone they have time to read it;
he will not stand out of the way and let us send
1t to suit them: he insists that no paper shall go
til he is ready to carry it, when it is no longer
wanted; and for thus affecting every party to
the transaction he charges ten times the cost Of
doing the business satisfactorily, or S3.l2 per
year. The reader can have our paper served at
his door for $3.50 year, but Mr. WicNife in
ssts that 1t shall only be carried some hours later
at nearly double cost, and left mile off, where it
Is worth twice the present cost To obtain it And
selves or we to serve them we are held guilty of
crime.
Take another case: Oar great Southern Mail
oones n at midnight: and we have the news in
our paper, ready to send off al . A. NJ. Boats
start up the River Of :. A. NJ, and the people in
the several large villages this side of Albany ma
turally want the news brought up by them. But
Mr. Wicklitfe will neither send it himself nor let
US. he sends up no Mail TO these places by The
day.boat; and if We send the news without his
help we are to be dealt with as offenders. The
Hudson River, he tells US, is a Mail Route, and
to carry letter paper thereon out of the Mails
is violation of the law.
We are sure this is not merely an oppression,
but misconception. Congress never meant TO
enact tina, a newsboy in Newburgh or Hudson
might not buy bundle of papers in NewYork
and sell them where he lives any more than 10
prohibi. the Transmission and sale Of candies or
caiicoes. It would be monstrous and utterly
wanton invasion of the simplest night 10 enact
any such prohibition. And we have just as clear
right to serve or sell our paper in Newark as in
the upper Wards of this City. Why not compel
US to deliver our paper in this City by pennypost
at midday? The principle is exactly the same
the necessity equally urgent.
But, says Mr.. Wickliffe, if people arc allow
ed 70 serve themselves IN the matter of news.car-
rying, they will not come to mo, and the Mails
must stop. Absurd Who can carry letters
cheaper than the Mail, If it viii only try Think
Of its vast facilities, as compared with those of
any competitor. When issays it can only be sus
tained by suppressing all rivalry, it confesses
itself 3 burden and nuisance. Suppose Ma
s;nnal Ran wara eet sblishsd to facilitate the sr