The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1845-12-26

y $500 ~''''fp~1
l drafts, receipts, and small parcels
. of money, the letter alone paying
, the postage. Itrenders the postage
) tax more unequal on the different
classes of society than the former
t mode of rating by the single sheet.
These divices to evade the law may
r be esily suppressed, or rendered
much less injurious to the revenue,
| by establishing one-quarter of an
ounce in stead of the half-ouncc, or
, by directing the letters to be rated,
: as formerly, by the single sheet
which is decidedly better for the
, revenues for the department, and
more convenient in practice for the
deputy postmastcrs.
4 The practice of sending packages
oflctters through the mails to agents,
for distribution, has not entirely
suppressed the transmission Of let
tiers, over post roads, out of the
mails, by the expresses. The char
acter of this Office is such as to rem
der detection very uncertain, full
proof almost impossible, conviction
rare. The penalties ale seldom re-
covered after conviction, and the
department rarely secures enough
to meet the expences of prosecution.
If the officers Of the department
were authorized in proper cases to
have the persons engaged in these
violations of the law arrested, their
packages, trunks, or boxes, seized
and examined before proper judi
cial officer, aud when detected in
violating the law, retained for the
examination of the court and Jury,
it is believed that tie practice could
be at once suppressed. There
seems no just reason why individu-
ais engaged in smuggling letters and
robbing the department Of its legiti-
mate revenue should not be punish
ed, in the same way and to the same
extent as persons guilty of snug
ling goods; nor why the same means
of detection should not be given
the post Office department which
are now given TO the treasury.
Weight and bulk of the mails add
much to the cost of transportation,
which constitutes near -fourths
of the whole expenditures of the de-
partment; and if it is to be sustain
ed on its own revenues, it is but
just and proper that all matter pass
ing through the mails should be
compelled to pay fair proportion
of the cost incurred in its transport
tation and delivery. A discrimina-
ton has usually been made in be-
half of newspapers and other printed
matter, because they are supposed
to advance the policy of the govern
ment, by contributing TO the general
DIFFUSION of intelligence among the
people, upon which depend the
maintenance and perpetuation Of
our free institutions. There was,
under the old law too great differ
ence between the tax upon letters
and printed matter. The tax upon
the former was unnecessarily high,
and became oppressive upon the CT
tizens; the tax upon the latter was
not so high as materially to interfere
with their general circulation.
There are no regular returns made
to the department, of the weight Of
the different kinds Of matter passing
through the mails, upon which an
opinion might be formed of the &C
tual cost of the different kinds, and
the proportion which each should
pay.
One of my predecessors, in 1888,
had an account kept, for one week,
of the weight Of the mails, distin-
gushing between the weight of let
tiers, and newspapers and pamphlets,
in the cities of New York, Philadel-
phia, Baltimore, Washington, and
Richmond-from which it appeared
that the whole weight of the mails
was 55,24l pounds; of which, the
news papers weighed 44,S6Slbs.
The periodicals 1857 "
Letters, free and taxable = l,9l6 "
1t is confidently believed that the
difference in weight between the
printed matter and written commu-
nications passing through the mails
is greater since the passage of the
law than before-that nine-tenths
of the whole weight of the mails,
and greater inequality in bulk, is
composed of printed matter, paying
about one-ninth of the expences.
This great inequality in the cost of
transportation did not warrant the
difference in hostages under the
former law, and was most unjust to
the friendly and business correspon-
dence of the country. The reduc-
ton of the letter postage by the late
law was but an act of Justice to that
class of our citizens who had been
so long and so oppressively taxed
! l. 4 A