Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1845-01-10
From the New York Evening Post.
Cheap Postage,

in letter to the Post Office Committee.
makes the following cogent objections to
the bill reported to the House of Repre-
sentatlves to reduce the rates of postage.
When the other day we penned an article
on the subject, we had not seen the bill or
any minute abstract of it. and were not a.
ware of many of its provisions. Some of
these are so Objectionable that we would
almost prefer leaving the matter as 1t is, to
accepting the bill as it now stands. We
hope that Congress will materially amend
the bill before allowing it to receive the
vote of the majority
"One of the provisions of your bill requires
that the postage on letters should be pre- paid,
and 1t not, then they are to be charged double
the original rates.
"This provision l consider both burden
some and unjust. 1t is burdensome because
1t by neglect or the want of means a letter is
sent to me unpaid, AN obliged to pay one
hundred per cent. for the neglect or the power
tty of my correspondent. Suppose friend
IN distress writes to me for advice or pecunia.
ry aid, and he has no money to pre- pay the
postage, am to be taxed an excess of one
hundred per cent. in consequence of his pow
erty. This is inflicting a burden which |
ought not to bear. But it is unjust as we'll as
| burdensome, because in many instances it is
impossible to prepay the postage. For ex-
| ample, hundreds of thousands of letters from
England, Ireland, France, Germany. and 9TH
er parts of the world, are annually brought by
ships and steamers. How can the postage on
these letters be prepaid! There is no way
W mh ohi ho %Lo
letters double postage will be charged,
simply because the writer's are unable to
pre- pay. Can any thing be more unjust than
such provision? A single letter over five
hundred miles will be rated twent cents, near
Iy the same that is now charged, consequent
ly the proposed reduction is merely nominal.
If the Committee insist upon the postage be-
| ing prepaid, let an exception be made in fa-
vor of all letters received by ships or steam
| efs.
| Again, | object to the same rate being char
ged on short distance, as well as the long
distance of 500 miles, because it is not right
in itself, but more especially because it will
| initiate against the revenue of the post office
department. The present rate is six cents
for 80 miles, and the consequence is tn t few
letters are received through the post Office
from the towns and villages surrounding our
large cities. For example, the letters receiv-
ed at our post Office from Brooklyn, Williams
burgh, Jersey City, Newark, &c. &c., are en-
ceedingly few in number; probably not one in
fifty of those written are sent by the United
States mail. If a letter is sent to Brooklyn it
will cost cents-6 cents postage, and cts
to the letter carrier: but by the penny post a
letter is now carried and delivered for 3 cents.
Who will send letters through the mail at 8
cents, when they can be sent as safe and more
expedtiously by the penny post for cents!
The same remarks are applicable to the post
office at Boston. Few letters, comparatively,
ale receved.-at that Office from Lynn. Salem,
Danvers, Beverly, Marblehead, Lowell, Nash
ia, PaWtucket, Providence, and other large
manufacturing towns within circle of 40
miles. Why? Because the intercourse is so
constant and frequent, either by private con-
veyance or expresses, that they can be sent
for third of the sum which is charged by the
post office. To bring the correspondence OF
these places through the post office, let there
be a rate of 2 cents for any distance within so
miles, and then nearly every letter will pass
through the post office, for it will no longer be
a sufficient object to send them by any other
conveyance. Besides the pecuniary advan-
tage to the department, there will be another
which ought not to be overlooked by the COM
mittee; it will habituate the people to use the
post Office in preference to any other mode OF
conveyance, and it will induce them to exert
themselves to sustain it. Who will ask an
other to do it. or take the trouble of carrying
letters, when they can be regularly and safely
sent through the post Office for this small sum?
The whole community would feel it a duty to
frown upon every attempt to impair the use
funess ofths invaluble institution, and this
would do more than any fines or penalties to
discourage any competition with the post of.
fee department.
| The bill provides that letters shall be rated
according to the number of pieces they con.
tain and not by weight, which ! consider We
~ Objectionable. The only decent and secure
mode of making up letter is to enclose it IL
an envelope, but your Bill utterly precludes
this without being subjected to double post
age. In England letters pay by weight, and
why should we not adopt the same simple ane
easy practice here? Let quarter ofan ounce
be charged single postage-half an ounce
double, three quarters triple. and an ounce
quadruple-which amounts to the same rate
you propose for an ounce. The advantage:
of rating letters by weight are that it is less
trouble to the post Office in rating them-pre
vents the necessity of prying into letters to as
certain their contents-secures them from be
ing overcharged, and thereby obviates thu
trouble which is frequently experienced at thu
! post Office on account of letters being over
charged. There is now temptation to elud
. the vigilance of the post Office by secretlnl
: enclosures, and thus avoid additional postage
. but if letters are rated by weight all these e
Wis would be avoided. ...a.. .
: The practice of rating letters and papers b,
fractional parts of cent has been source O
much trouble and vexation, and it was hope
: that your bill would have regulated the rate
4 so as to avoid this nuisance. But | perceiv
: that you propose that half and quarter cts ar
. to be charged on the postage of newspapers
= There is no way by which these fractions ca
: be paid. as our post Office does not receive tn