The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-11-24
PROJECT TO RAISE THE POSTAGE.

person no resort but to the justice of the State
Courts.
PROJECT TO RAISE THE POSTAGE.
| We suspect that the Postmaster General is
meditating the expediency of recommending to
Congress an increase of postage either on let
ters or newspapers. Observer, the Washing
ton correspondent of the Public Ledger, favors
the public with the following statement:
WASHING TON, Nou. Is, 1853
"rhe working of the cheap postage on the
! financial means of the Post Office Department.
is not what has been predicted for it. by the
advocates of the system. ! remember having
stated in the Ledger, at the time that the bill
was under discussion, that the system would
not bear the same fruit which it bore in Eng
land, and that the Department, which had a
surplus revenue at the time, would probably
become charge upon the Treasury. In spite
OF the economical arrangements of the De-
partment, all this has since become true The
law, which was carried under heavy outside
pressure, has not answered as q revenue meas
ure, and will require some amendment from
the next Congress, il, as some believe. the Post
Office ought to be able to support itself
Oar population is not so dense as that of
England, and the country being so much larger,
the expense OF mail service between the At
lantic and Pacific coast, and between the sea
shore and the interior is far more expensive
than any mail service established in Great
Britain; and our people too and especially
those of the South and Southwest, care yery
little whether they pay three or five cents on
letter. The cheap postage does not induce
many to write who would not otherwise cor
respond nor does it act as relief from an in.
tolerable burthen to the laboring classes If
the five cent postage had been retained few
years longer, the three cent postage might have
been introduced without any pernicous conse
quences to the revenue of the Department but
it is extremely difficult from cheap universal
three penny postage to come back to the five
cents
Again, our Government has not the same
control over railroad and steamboat compa-
MES, which the British or French Government
has over its subjects, and the money paid to
these companies, will in all probability, alb
serb the whole or the greatest portion of the
whole revenue of the Department
The newspaper postage is no revenue at
all, but serious drawback to the Post Office
Department The postage on all printed mat
pound while the Department itself pays for
the transportation of it, from the Atlantic to
the Pacific sea-coast, about twenty-five cents
per pound, thus causing heavy loss by the
transportation. In spite of these inconvenience,
however, it is easy to foresee that few men,
bers OF either House will venture to vote for an
increase of postage on letters or intelligence
aud the Post Office Department will probably
remain, for some years, dependent on the
Treasury doubt much whether a return to
the five cent postage will be recommended by
the Postmaster General
The Ledger briefly remarks, that it is like.
ly some amendments will be made in the next
Congress, that will relieve the Treasury from
the burden of the Post Office Department, and
1t is absurd enough to suggest, that the post
age be raised on letters to FIVE cents
We have reason to believe that the letter of
Observer was written after consultation with
the Postmaster, and that both the letter and
the editorial paragraph in the Ledger are
put forth as feelers of public opinion If the
response of the press is favorable to the sug-
gestion of the Ledger we have little doubt
that the Postmaster General will embody it in
his annual report. We hope the Press will
speak out promptly and plainly on the subject,
and admonish that functonary, that in the
matter of cheap postage, there must be no steps
b0ekwards.
1t would be pretty spectacle for Demo-
cratic Administration to attempt to undo the
only really popular reform which Congress
has accomplished for years 1t would be
showing most profound regard to the inter-
ests of the masses What if the Department
is obliged for a few years to draw upon the
Treasury for half million of dollars, is that
such terrible burden on a Government which
has thirty millions of surplus in its Golfers, and
cheerfully expends half million in fitting out
a single ship-of,war! Better appropriate five
hundred thousand dollars yearly to enable the
people to enjoy the incalculable benefit of cheap
postage, than waste millions upon the private
companies now On the alert with their schemes
to deplete the Treasury. We pay nearly
million and half for taking and printing the
census in 1850, and grudge half a million for
cheap postage The Public Printers probably
receive as much from the Government as the
sum necessary to enable the Government to
carry the letters and papers of twenty millions
of people, at three cents a letter, and half a
cent a paper-and nobody complains When
shall the country be blessed with man at the
head of the Post Office Department, who will
regard it as an agency for the benefit of the
people, rather than an engine for the promo
ton Of partyy
Let Observer not be alarmed Everybody
knows that our country is considerably more
extensive than England, our population COM
paratively sparse, that the cost of mail car
riage is heavy item, and that under a sys-
tenn Of cheap postage, the receipts of the De-
partment for several years must fall short Of
the expenditures. This was the calculation
but the people supposed that the Treasury
would be able to make up the deficiency until
the receipts began to equal the expenditures
30 that no serious harm could be done Let
the Postmaster General rest assured that the
only effect of a recommendation to raise the
postage would be, to damage him and the Ad-
mlnlstrat'on Of which he is part Congress
would not dare to give it countenance.
GIVE THEM LIcHr.-A good Free Soiler.
writing from Salisbury Ohio, says "that the
reason the Free Democracy is not in power, is
because its principles are not known. have
converted here with both Wings and Demo-
Gratis who would say that they were against
any slave territory, in favor of the repeal Of the
Fugitive Slave Law, and Of free mon and free
speech, but opposed to interfering with Slave
our principles, they were astonished and re-