Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1845-03-31

her. ls<S that the receipts ending The Soth June
et29S,935 aud the expense at the department e<,S74
1i3. showing the deficiency Of e1s.77s IL 10 commended
by psper said the department. that
BY adopting Mr.. Meucks plan Of and 10 cents postage
making the u cents tor each letter. instead Of
r S ~ s .sS T., ~srs r.sssS s. Il,
year ist3 s-maed upon de account KEEP, in oeoser OF
that yesr $50 letter. paying % 20 vhieh.
q and 10 rates. proposed in Mr. Mcrr,cks bill would
.l32-msking deficiency Of Q ,s72 $40.
Il contendsd by the paper before alluded to- coming rsm
the Post during the OF Congress-
that taking into consideration tie socis end intellectual
character, taken with e commercial charsc
ter Of the British people, who largely engaged in
meree. while we are an agricultural people 'ha, no such
increase ot correspondence be expected here has
been realized by them. Let IL this be II sp-
pears that in ls4l c every hundred
ried in England and Wales could write thar
names whereas in the United States in ls40, sos
Tree whites, above ct could read add
WRITE In Great Britain and Ireland, there bst L.
l5Si69 persons who could write. In the United Ssabs
more Than third of tho whole population, includtns
blacks, could rad and write. EXCLUDING cooted PEG
pie, three sevenihs could read and write; Wilde in
Great Britrin and Ireland, only little than
one. fourth could do 30.
Great Britain has population OF &C. III oss Of whom
read and withdrawing who can They sen,
and received by mail in lsil hundred snd four millions
letes-aserasng and hall To each indi-
vdusl who could read and write. Total population oil the
United States in $780, i7O6s 666 white population IA
Is9s42; the Of twenty 6.4<2 td9 Of whom 5S9,-
6s3 could not read aud withdrawing S9 SOC that could
Postmaster General. (Scnatc document No SOY ~ $751;.
O36 etter the rate Of four and thirds each nd
vidual who read and write.
we wrote many etters in proportion the number
that read and the people OF Great Britain do
aud they forwarded through the mail should send
l6499s. Sos Al and 10 rates. averaging ~ cents
according TO Mr.. Merscks estiniste, whom he
debed for po,on OF these statistics the postage would
amoant to Sl2,37@S92. IL make n comparison be-
tween the whole population OF Great Britain aud the Uni
Ssics Great Britain with 059. sends 204 900
letters the United States with Il 06S 686 would send
l30SSs2iO letters which, the average rate, would
yield S976s65 o. Of revenue. lis also commended that
the experiment. although successful in England fail
here as they are manufacturing and commercial people.
Bot this Argument is sustained by the facts. Our m
ports in si2 according the report OF the Secretary Of
the Treasury, Slo0,l 6o.6s5
Exports the same year lOl 69l, 53S
Total imports aud exports 904 62l
In Sparkm,ns Statistics Of the British Empire it - stat
ed that the imports into the United Kingdom for the year
lsll. were those OF le%2 being given G6l377, $50
Exports for the year 1912 Si,609, 1853
Total imports and exports Clos 49,, $40
Computing the pound sterling at 81 su. it amounts
TO $500 70, l36
OF which wc-hiths is 209 ass, 65a
Our commerce being equal shout two-fths OF that vi
engand upon which principle should send t~o-hiths
oil S2Oi, 100000 OF letters annually 81 600 900.
TO coNrlSUEpl