The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-09-26

they increased to one hundred and sixty-nine
millions
The number has been annually increasing, and
the last year there passed through the Post Office
in Great Britain upwards ofthTee hundred and 6ty-
SIR millions of Letters! This remarkable increase
has taken place in ten years. What was the rev.
enue derived from the cheap or penny two cents)
postage?
The gross revenue of the Post Office in ls49
was -Sl0,7lS 679
Cost of experimenting the same 7,0l6250
Net revenue s3,702, 429
To this sum should be added $3.50, 430, for the
conveyance of the mails by railways in previous
years, which makes the net revenue in lS49
amount to four millions SIR hundred and eighty-tmO
Honsand eigM huadred md Gty-nne dollars! This
is the financial result of cheap postage in Great
Britain
Perhaps it will be said that we cannot expect
such an increase of letters in our country as in
Great Britain
Will any one give a substantial reason why
they will not increase equally in proportion to our
population Is not education more widely diff
fused among our people7 And is not the proper
ton of those who read and write vastly greater
than in Great Britain? Are not our citize0s as
enterprising, in the pursuits Of industry, trade,
and commerce Are We not as inquisitive, de-
string to derive information from every source,
upon all the subjects connected with the active
business of life b? Are not our people more mi
gratory, extending from Passamaquoddy to the
Gulf of Mexico, and thence to the Pacific ocean,
carrying with them the love of home, and de-
string to hold constant epistolary intercourse
with the friendsleft behind Who will then say,
that if we give them as cheap postage and equal
facilities to those enjoyed by the people of Great
Britain, that we shall not have as great an
increase of letters in proportion to the number of
our population
To prove that this would be the result, we will
again advert to the fact that during the old sys-
tenn the number of letters for several years was
nearly stationary at twenty-four millions and
that under the present partial reduction of post
age they have increased in four years to Sixty-
tmo millions. May We not then, justly conclude
that If our postage were as cheap in Great
Britain, our people would write four-fold what
they now write, and that all the letters would be
sent through the Post Office
at Is believed by some that in consequence of
Gsr large extent Of country sa3%Sr~;s3 ESse.,}ed
population, we cannot afford to carry letters for
two cents Or as cheap as in Great Britain, where
the population is more compact, and the expense
Of Transporting the mails much less D " -,
We will examine the force of this objection
According to the best information, the cost Of
the transportation of the mails in 1913, notwith-
standing the extent of country over which they
are conveyed, exclusive of Territories was
not ten per cent greater than that of Great
Britain the difference for that year amounting
only to S2iS793. One obvious reason for this is
to be found in the fact that in many instances
our mails are conveyed on rivers and lakes, which
are extensively navigsted in commercial pur-
suits, thus affording great facilities for pro-
curing this service at much lower rate than
it can be obtained of railroad companies If
the cost of carrying our mails mere ten per cent
greater, the management Of our Post Office is
much less, as will appear from the following
The cost Of the management of the British Post
Office in 1S49 was -S7,0l6250
Do Of the United States, in lS49 4,479O49
Less than that of Great Britain So, 537, 2ll
These facts are founded on official returns, and
therefore we would ask, what force is there in
the objection that eve cannot sustain the asnw
Office Department phel aw postagheas !
charged in Great Britain
The bill presented by a majority Of the Com
mittee on the Post Office and Post Roads recon-
mends three cents for single letter, weighing
half an ounce, if pre- paid, and five cents if not.
To this provision of the bill, the undersigned
not in accordance with the petitions presented
to Congress and the second that it is not the
rate which will satisfy the people, or promote the
true interests and prosperity of the Post Office
Department lst. The thousands of petitions,
containing bsndreds or thousands OF names of
some Of the most respectable citizens Of the Re-
public, have unanimously asked for a uniform rate
of uco CENTS pre-paid Not petition has asked for
five or three cents. They have asked for tro
II 10 y;,b
respect to refuse their prayer by proposing tro
rates instead of one and neither of those rates as
low as that for which they have petitioned.
Those petitions contain the names of as learned
intelligent and patriotic men as any in the coun-
try. They come from every section of the Union,
East, West, North, and South all unite in this
request II is believed that they understand the
question discussed, and are DESTROYS of promoting
the prosperity of the Post Office Department,
which is essential to their comfort aud interest in
common with the people of the whole country.
Why, then, should their prayer be refused
q They ask for bread-will you give them a ser
pent 2" If there should be deficiency in the
revenue, (which we do not believe probabe,)
would they not pay their proportion Of it2 And
if it should be said that these petitions come
from bankers, brokers, and merchants
(which is not the case) why should not they who
pay the principal portion Of the postage be heard
on a question in which they are more deeply in
terested than others2
Are not these petitions, coming as they do
from all classes in every section Of the country,
and asking for what they believe reasonable
practicable and right, entitled to the respectful
consideration of Congress-
3D. The rates of three and fue cents will nei-
Their satisfy the petitioners nor promote the true
interest and prosperity of the Post Office Depart
ment.
The petitioners ask for uniform rate of tho
cents, pre-paid. The undersigned recommend the
adoption Of this rate Of letter postage believing
that it will be more satisfactory to the people,
and better secure the prosperity of the Depart
ment. This opinion is entertained for the follow
ing reasons:
IL is the true revenue point Ii is not so high
as to be felt burdensome tax by any portion of
the people, however limited in their financial re.
sources nor 80 low as not to yield remunera-
ting profit to the Department. 1t is paying an
ample freight for the transportation Of the letters
and a sufficient fee and commission for the labor
bestowed upon them.
This tariff of postage has been tried for ten
years in England, and has been found to furnish
not only sufficient means to support an expensive
Post Office Department, but to yield a surplus
revenue of more than four and a half millions of
dollars per annum.
1t will induce the people to learn to write, and
those who can already, to write more frequently.
1t has been emphatically styled the "sef-edu-
tor Of the people,
The young will commence early in letter-wri-
ting, because the payment of postage will oppose
30 obstacle to their correspondence. IL will Gre
ate in them habits of thought reflection, and oh
servatiop, and lead them to examine more closely
and accurately the language they use in desert
bling their thoughts. Lord Bacon has truly said,
" reading makes learned man, speaking a ready
man, and writing correct man.
THO cents rate will bring all the letters into
the Post Office The old rate of postage was six
cents for thirty miles and under; now it is five
cents for any distance under three hundred miles,
and it is proposed to continue this when the post