New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-12-09
THE Posr-orFicE DEPARTMENT.

We have already reviewed at length INC An
uual Report Of this Department. but there are
points 10 il which seem 20 require further eluci-
da,ion. One Of these is the striking contrast
which the condition of the Department, as now
exhibited, offers TO the former predictions and
Recommendations of the Postmaster General. la
his Report of December l, l-j3, Nj Campbell
refers TO the decrease in tne total amount OF
hostages, SIS compared with the previous year,
(s6. s23 S52 for lS52, and 81, sc, 255 fox 1899
and tien continues SIS follows:
"Tae failure of the revenue from letter postlg to
recover during period of almost unexanpei pros
ue1i.y and commercial activity with the sane rapid
y unoer the Act of ls5l as II did under Tue hc OF
ls4J nav be accounted for upon tue suppostion
that the later Act had already stimulated ;he CORES
ronderce Of the country nearly to tue highest pO.nt
Of which Il was capable and that therefore, the ACT
Of 1851 afforded but little further inducenenE TO use
the mails. =. SO
Now, in the face of all this, the Report for this
wear shows that the Revenue of the Department
il Sc SIC, 257-an increase of nearly l9 per cent.
over at of 3d. aud " hen the foreign balances"
are deducted for each year, there appears an In
crease Of over 20l per cent. The expenses OF the
Department for le53 were 81, 9s2, 1856 SO, aud for
1854 S, 81, 42i l2, being increase Of less than
"a yer cent Las. year Mr.. Campbell, In coDjunc-
ton with that sagscious Statesman, Edson b.
Olds. made strong effort to raise letter postage
to Eve cents The bill was defeated in Congress
by an overwhelming majority, while it was uni
VERBALLY condemned throughout the country.
But we now have accommodation toincrease
the postage on newspapers notwithstanding toe
vast increase of revenue as compared with the
expenditure. Fortunately Mr. Postmaster Camp
bells advice is not law yet. If We are obliged to
put up with his management OF the most I'M
portant branch of the Government, Congress is
under no obligation TO adopt his recommendation
He wishes the country TO be thrown back on
law Of 1875 for the regulation OF newspaper
postsges. The tenacity with which he cllngs TO
the high. postage system would be Ineligible IT,
Ike tie Prince of Tburn and raxis in the Ger
nan prircpaiite,, he owned the Post-Ofice aGd
all lis revenues and only desired 10 make the re-
ceipts aS large as possible. How do his Pitlfal
penny wise pound-molish suggestions contrast
with the Language Of bis predecessor in office! La
bis annual report the Isl of December 1872, Mr.
Hubbard, referring to the late reduction OF post
age. says:
"Alihoueh the act referred to has not, in its opera
tons during the last year, fulfilled tue predictions Of
its frieuds by Increasing the correspondence ot tue
country in proportion TO ITS reduction OF postage,
should nevertheless, question the expectancy OF
return TO bic her rates. All experience warrants tue
expectation that as community becomes Acoustic ned
90 cheap postage, written correspondence VIII To-
crease. From thi- cause, and FROM the rapid groSth
of the country in population anu business, toe re-
ceipis of The Department must ultimately exceed is
e,reues and enable it 70 refund TO the Treasury the
sums advanced In the mean time, the aPpr0pna-
lions made from the Treasury in AID Ot tue fost On %
estatshn ent may be deemed safe ana benehcept Ia
vcs'menis FOR the advantage of the whole people
each of whom. If Dot engaged 10 business CORES
poLdence has deep interest III the difu lou OF intel
i'e,nCe and the promotion of social Intercourse
Such is the language OF Mr.. Hubbard. But
The ides of furnishing the largest f4cilities for
butDess correspondence, the diffusion Of in.eli-
gence, and the promotion Of social Intercourse,
does rot incrude upon the dollar-andcen policy
of Mr. Campbell. In this be is stone blind 70 the
facts of experience especially in Britain, the
mother country of cheap postage. We have be-
fore us the Reports Of the English Poss-Oaice
from the time of Mr. Rowland Huls reduction
of postage TO one penby, in 1910, to the close of
1858. The gross revenue, cost Of management,
net revenue, and number of letters, in the first
and last years Of the penny postage system, is as
follows:
Y::, 3c Fsgsqs s ssS No S5rsi
ls5s s:.. z si.c4o 7'oojioo 5Ssseio iiO'sl7i55
Here is an increase Of gross revenue, in thir-
teen years, of 90 per cent, an increase OF ex-
penses of GO per cent, OF net revenue Of l3i per
cent, and an Increase in the number Of letters
Of l43 per cent. This gives an average annual
increase, in gros, revenue of sbou! per cent,
and an annual increase of expenses of not quite
per cent. The average annual Increase Of net
revenue was 10 per cent, and in the number OF
letters written the increase was ii per cent. an-
nually. five 90 back TO the year ls39-.he last
year OF the hish rates Of Postsge-the Increase of
letters 10 still more remarks ble for in that year
the number sent by mail was but 800, 5i2.
During all this enormous increase Of correspon-
dence and postal revenue in Great Britain, the
population OF the kingdom in ten years, (from
leil 10 ISL, increased only aoout3 per cent.
The increase in the net revenue Of the Post OF
ice during that time was about 100 per cent.
And yet, with the vast growth 10 the population
ano business Of our own country, and clesr in-
crease il the postal revenue o. over 20 per cent.
to 90 sg-n,t an increase Of expenses Of less tlan
y per cent, Mr Campbell is very desrOus of
putting little more tax On the circulation Of
printed Intelligence. Newspapers for the peo-
PIE are 70 doubt, lis adherence, and he has a
Christian with 10 make the u as DC n as possible.
II can't BE- done, AIr. Campbell.
Ia recommending registration of letters tina.
q. ntain money and Valuable inclnsnre, Ne Camn.