New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-01-20


age which passed the House of Represent
atives on Friday and is now before the SEN
ate for concurrence
AN ACT REDUCING POSTAGE.
SIC Be enacted &c That letters carried in the mails
OF the United States shall be charged with postage as fol-
Upon each letter not weighing onehaf ounce three
cents and for each additional half ounce or fraction ofhsf
three cents Prortded That Post Office now
10 existence shall be discontinued, shall the mail
vice. any mail route In any Of the States Territories
be discontinued diminished in consequence Of any d.
minuuon Of the that may result from this act And
pyOsided ythe That i shall be the duty Of the Po,mss
mail service mail routes established, or that may
hereafter be established In the same manner as though this
act had not been passed And prOrded further That the
compensation Of the PostmasIers shall not be diminished
in consequence of the passage Of this act
SEC 2 And be further enacted, There shall be charged
upon each newspaper, pamphlet, periodical, magazine
book and every other description of printed matter which
shall be uncOnnected with any manuscript or written mat
ter and which May be lawful 10 transmit through the
mail OF greater weight than two ounces one cent and
for each additional fraction OF ounce cent
Bound books, not weighing thirty ounces, shall be
deemed maiabe the provisions olhs secu0n
Pyosasd Ihst oeivereo Ia .ne Sas "nsre
going rates PrOrided further, That no postage shall be
charged upon any newspaper mated and delivered within
the county where printed, within thirty mes OF the
Prsrided further, That the free circulation Of newspa
pers within The county OF their publication the distance
OF thirty miles of the place OF publication, "a herenbefOre
provided shall be confined to actual subscribers receiving
Prorided further. That fifty per cent shall be deducted
from the postage on magazines when the postage shall be
SEC s. ind be further enacted That it shall be lawful
to CON- at the Mint OF the United States and it's branches
piece Of the denomination aud legal value Of three cents
or three hundredhs OF dollar to be composed OF three
fouTths silver and oDeourh copper and TO weigh twelve
bear such devices as shall be conspcuousy different from
those of the silver coins and of the gold dollar but having
the inscription United States Of America and its denOmi
nation and dae ard that II shall be legal tender Ia pay
Of debts for all sums Of thirty cents and under;
of the Postmaster General TO provide and furnish 10 all
deputy and other persons applying and paying
cents the OF the hostages provided
for ihis And any person who shall counterfeit alter,
forge any etierstamps shall knowingly have IN his
possession any false forged altered erstamps, with
intent TO sell or use the same as genuine shall be deemed
TO be guilty Of felony and be punished by fine not
ceedDg FIVE hundred doer or Imprisonment not exceed
SEc s. Ind be it further enacted That there is hereby
appropriated out Of any money the Treasury not other
wise appropriated the sum of 81 100000 to supply any de-
hciency that may arise in the Post Office Department
SEC T. And be ii further enacted That lists OF letters
manning uncaed for In any Post Oee for the space OF TWO
shah he printed shall hereafter be published once only in
newspaper which being printed as frequently as any other
shall have the circulation within the range ofdevery
ofssid Office TO be decided by the Postmaster General IN
der such regulations shall be prescribed by him, at
charge not exceeding two and half cents on each letter
called for And the Postmaster at such Oce Is hereby
directed to post In conspicuous place In his Ohce copy
Of such list on the day day after the publication thereof
Provided however, II the publisher OF any paper herein
specified shall refuse publish the list Of letters provided
in this section, the Postmaster shall designate some other
paper In which such list shall be published and such pub
hsher so refusing shall be deprived OF ali the benefits OF
this act and the free exchange now provided by law
be in the power Of the Postmaster General, at all
Post Ohces where the Postmasers are appointed
bv The President OF the United States to establish post
routes within the cities towns TO provide Tor carry
ing the letters to the Post Office by establishing suitable
ers 10 receive and deposit them the Post Office and al
all such Offices shall also be In his power to cause letters
be delivered by suitable carriers TO be appointed Sy MN
shs rUvh mi
shall be charged 70 be paid by the persons sendng OF TO
eevng letters and ell 30 received shall 90 PAID INTO
Prorided, That the amount OF compensation allowed by
the Postmsster General carriers shall IN no case exceed
the amount paid into the Treasury by each town or e
under the provisions Of this section
This is a very liberal and hopeful bill;
we are glad it has passed, even thus; but
it might have been better, and we trust 1t
may yet be made so in the Senate. 1t
seems to US to need amendment in the fol-
lowing particulars
I. 1t is not right to charge the same
postage on prepaid as on unpaid letters.
For carrying the former, the Government
is sure of its pay whether they are ever
called for or not; the latter are often
mailed, carried thousands of miles, distrib-
uted, advertised at the public cost, and
after all not taken out, entailing positive
loss on the Department. Five cents per
half ounce on unpaid is no more than fair
equivalent for three cents on prepaid let
tiers; and we think the Postmaster Gene
rails suggestion Of these two rates should
have been needed by Congress. DIR. Hall
is gentleman whose opinions on many
subjects are not potential with US, but we
do think his judgment as to the details of
Postage Rates deserving of some considera-
ton. Beside, the successful experiment of
Great Britain is in point. In that compare
lively small, densely peopled and most busy
country, the rate for any distance is uniform
lytwo cents where the pOStagei is prepaid and
four cents when it is unpaid till the letter
is delivered. We should be quite willing
to try the experiment of two cents for each