New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-01-04
More nbout Newspnper Postage.

More about Newspaper Postnge'
To me Editor Of The Tribr1e:
! am sorry not to have secured your indorse-
ment of the plan for circulating newspapers for
onehalf cent PREPAID. Your objection on the
soore Of the injustice Of the provision to local jour
nails would be fatal, were it not for the following
considerations
l. The cost Of transportation bears very small
proportion to distance. Frequently triP OF a
thousand miles on n Western river costs no more
often not so much-as journey of 100 miles on
the same route. And with railroad and steam
boat facilities, the Government can carry news.
papers as cheap from NewYork TO Chicago, as
from Houston to Austin. in the same State.
0. The larger circulation Of the City Papers, and
greater patronage they give 10 the Department,
entitle them to as cheap distribution as the papers
Of limited circulation. If Justice IS the para
mount consideration let the Department be Just
TO its principal supporters.
g. y our objections, if valid, would strike at the
root of the admirable system Of Letter Postage IN
Great Britain, and the plan recommended by the
Postmaster General and approved by the Com
mittees of both Houses of Congress. Why should
letter be conveyed from London to the remotest
cottage in the United Kingdom for penny, or
from PASSPORT to the Mexican line for three cents
with no complaint of injustice; and yet that cry
be raised when the same principle IS applied 10
Newspapers Your illustrations from per capita
taxes for support of Government and Mileage, are
lust as fatal to uniform letter postage as to uniform
Newspaper Postage ,
| concur in YOUR views Of all " deadhead' mail
matter-whether for Congress, newspapers, or
ANYTHING else But what have they to do with
plan for securing prepayment TO the Department
for the matter it conveys instead Of the loose sys
TEN of nonpayment now so common ana iroHi
which the Government loses so much? ,
Remarks.
|. Ii is idle to talk of uniform half-cent
rate of Newspaper Postage. Two-thirdS
of the Members of Congress represent Dis
tricts in which the Country Journals are
potential, and to those Journals Uniform
Newspaper Postage is not fair in our Judg-
ment. Is it likely to wear better aspect
in theirs? And if they and we agree that
their papers should be delivered cheaper
than ours, are the Members likely to dc
that to our advantage which IRE cannot JUS
tify and they certainly will not patiently
endure
.. Large circulation is naturally accept
able to the Department, provided II Is con-
veyed at a proft-but not if transported
and delivered at loss. We send many
papers weekly to Iowa and Minnesota
In our Judgment. half a cent per copy would
NOT remunerate the Government for theil
carriage.
3. To carry letters (Of incOnsiderablf
weight throughout Great Britain average
distance, 200 miles; extreme distance 6OO)
at a uniform low rate, is one thing to carry
Newspapers twenty times as heavy to
every part of the United States distances
five miles to three thousand) at a uniform
rate of Fourth the British letter-rate
strikes us as rather a different thing. In
Letter postage the main consideration is
the care of mailing, guarding, checking and
safely delivering; in Newspaper postage
(no entry on way bills, record in the office
comparison of letters with waybills and
entry at the receiving office being required,
weight and distance carried seem to US ma
terial considerations. In nothing has Q
man a better chance to blunder than in
attempting tn run a narallel. Ed. Trib.