Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-04-21


bill raising the rates of letters, from cents to
s, and from cents to 10, all to be prepaid.
The reason given by the Committee, for in
creasing the postage, is, that there is q deficit
Of $4,000, 200, i'm the revenue of the Post Of
flee Department, for the year ending April LIST,
and that, in order to prevent the Post Office
being thrown for partial support on the Ma
tional Treasury, the proposed increase must
be submitted to by those who write letters
Now, it seems to US, that neither justice nor
made self-sustaining, if the tax is to be levied
on one portion only of the matter transported
by mail. The Post Office is a national mo-
nopoly. 1t is used for national, as well as
individual purposes, and is under exclusive
government control Why, then, should GER
tain individuals be taxed exclusively to sus-
tain it. The government and its officials enjoy
the privileges of the mail, without paying any
Of its expenses. There are twenty millions of
surplus revenue in the treasury, and we think
a part of it could not be better applied than to
the liquidation of the postage expenses of the
government officials, and to the opening of
new Post Offices, in the new settlements of
ths South and West, where the receipts from
the offices do not pay expenses. 1t is neither
reasonable, just. nor generous, for rich re-
publican government to tax the individuals
who use the Post Office, in order to meet the
expenses of its own correspondence. Why
should government Matchmaker be ranked,
and the Matchmaker of the private citizen be
taxed, in consequence, at least sixty per cent.
more than it really costs to carry it! If it is
desired to make the Post Office self-sustain-
ing, let every member of Congress, and every
government official, from page to President,
pay for his own correspondence, and let all the
departments of the government pay for the
correspondence incident thereto. In such a
case, there would be no necessity for increas-
ing the already too high rates of postage. The
deficit in the Post Office revenue is not caused
because those who do pay for carrying letters
do not pay enough, but in consequence of the
franking system, by which SO many pay moth
ing.
The extent of the American continent, and
the genius of the American republic, demand
a cheap and facile postal system. The pioneer
who leaves his native home in New England,
and who goes, to extend the blessings of civ
ilization, to the untitled territories of the South
and West, has right to every facility for COM
municating with his friends and relations that
his country can afford him. The United
States is rich, and is abundantly able to carry
the blessings of the post Office system to every
valley within her borders; and there is no rea-
son why those who go to increase her riches,
and magnify and multiply her industrial re-
sources, should be cast off from all commune
cation with those they love, unless individuals,
who transmit their letters through the post
Office, shall be taxed, to afford them postal
privileges.
1t appears by the post Office returns, that the
cost of mail transit, in the free States, in the
year ending June, 1851, was 81, 1856, 1874; and
the postage collected amounted to $4,621, 342,
The expense OF mail transit, in the slave States,
was $1,6S2, 4l9; and the postage collected was
| $l,732,0I0. The excess of postage over the
cost of transit in the free States, was SO, 1885,
| l7S, while the excess in the slave States was
only $49, 59l. 1t will be seen that the cost of
transmitting mails throughout the slave States
exceeds the cost of mail transit in the free
States, while the excess of revenue in the free
States exceeds the excess in tho slave States
more than $S,OOO,OoO. Now, is it just to tax
the correspondence of the free States to this
extent, in order to sustain National institu-
tions We do not think it is, and we do not
believe the people will say that it is.
If Congress is determined to make the Post
Office self sustaining, let every letter, and
every ounce of matter that passes through it
be charged at the regular rates. Abolish the
franking system in toto, and charge the gov
eminent for all its correspondence. If this
were done, there would be no deficit now, at
the present rates. But, if the government
means to maintain the ranking system, and if
it intends to act paternally and justly, in
preference to the establishment of new Post
Offices, let it place the Post Office under the
@gis of the General Treasury, and reduce in
stead of increasing the present rate of postage.
MORN NJ Avn TyrNns