New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-10-23
FROM FLASHING TON
OF The N. Y. Tribune.

'"' - o. 80. rn.de of e,nvas should have
+.L.n ,bem for blocks Of SCod, so square aud
.oua a,A +bev look and feel They were oil adj
80 &c pnh noe Hon. r. II. Stanton, Ken
"tucky." and Hon. F. Pratt Maryland ana
Yesterday morning sixteen more bags were there
in waiting. also marked Pub Doc, and
.aE,ee - and addressed 10 two ." Down East
,,o,nbe,. Here are electioneering documents ;
renorts Of departments that have had all their
NTH and value printed in the newspapers
nearly year ago, and yet here is over
a tun of this matter, not only filling, but
actually obstructing the mails, and delaying
the letters papers and essential business dispatches
of the people. Let il not be thought that this is
anything unusual' on the contrary, if this is all
that has passed within two days it is unusually
smill-actually only one fourth Of the daily aver
age Of "free" matter that leaves Washington By
mail every day in the year Fifteen ordinary bags
will not weigh much over hall tun, and the aver
age of outward free matter from this office IS over
two tuns daily throughout the year. Take the
above facts for a tex, and see the sermon thtt IL
made out every day either in obstructive decisions
and fulminatOns from the POstmaster-geDeral, or
constant accounts Of mail rObbeIies and
Losses and cOmplsnts of the bad working of
the postal system. Look et two late decisions Of
the Postmaster General that appear in sort Of
semi-oicial way in yesterdays aud to-dsys CHion:
In lieu Of one single uniform rate for letters and
merchants circulars, and reasonable charge for
bundles Of advertisements, we have postage Law
making gle letters--with numerous exceptions,
for there is nothing about postal system that
is uniform or regular-pay postage OF three
cents, and admitting a single advertisement or
printed circular in 81 unseaed wrapper, at post
nfo the lgtpr0Us de-
cisiOn Of the Postmaster General respecting these
"circuars" He first decided that # the 4" circu-
"laT" was q wrapper or envelope that had printed
or embossed on it the name end address OF the
sender. the whole package thereby comprised two
advertisements or "circulars instead OF one and
not living under the rule Of "a single circular IN
an unseaIed envelope" was subject TO letter
postage. and to be stopped and condemned to that
purgatOry, our dead letter Office, unless prepaid
three cents Not content with that, L see by an
article from The 81. LOuis Republican OF Oct IL,
and inserted with comments in tO-days On'on, that
another decision, still more vexatiOus has been
made and put in force lately. II is that where
merchant prints " circular letter ," on one page
of sheet Of letter or note paper, and on another
page his own business card" the sheet forms two
distinct advertisements or document and can
not 90 unless full letter postage is paid on
H. 1t seems according to this decision OF
she POstmaster.general, that that functionary
has a right to set aside what was the unquestiOn-
able design of Congress that a circular " should
70 for one cent postage, and by investigating the
contents of said circular, and finding two subjects
or two objects in the printed form. declare it to
be something more than circular within the
meaning of the act. Another not less important
and not less outrageous decision was made public
in Yesterdays Union. 1t is no less than this, that
all printed advertisements sewed into and actually
forming part of printed magazine or periodical,
abau euhiact tho whole In letter POSTAGE. 10
quote from The Union
All such matter which does not form, and was not
intended AID originally printed 10 form regular part
of the contents of periodical or magazine and It's
cover " H. under the decision OF he Department, he
considered extrareOus mat or, and subject the
whole copy 10 which it is thus attached or with which
it is thus Incorporated, to letter postage
Now | should very much like to know by what
rule decision could be made as to what was or
was not INTENDED and originally printed to form
81 regular part of the contents Of periodical or
magazine Book notices and advertisements
in some form have from time immenorlal formed
part and parcel of every species ofperiodica' pub
lcation. from the daily newspaper up to the pom
derous Quarterly Review or an annual al
manac or other work Now what material differ
epce can there be in the act of advertising
and circulating advertisements as part and por-
"tion" of newspaper all on one sheet, or IN the
leaves of magazine, PACED and printed regularly
with the reading text thereof or on paper oil
different texture OF color and then stitched or
sewcd up with it, Congress in its wisdom saw mt
70 enact a reasonable rate of postage for printed
matter, aud defined what was periodical, and the
evident and direct intent and desire OF those that
fra ned the law has been put aside by the post
master-general. There is nothing new in the plan
of printing end circulating advertisements IN
every species Of publication, periodical and
otherwise and il is more than the post
master general, or any other man eau do
10 decide what is part and portion OF pub
location and what is not and what was original
"ly printed to form regular part OF the contents
" of any given number of periodical or maya
" zine" and what was not The head of our Post
Office department ought to know that there are
millions of newspapers, periodicals, and pamphlets
not periodicals printed and sold or distributed
eyerv year, that would never see the light in any
form we're il not for the profit derived from the
advertisements that accompany them. witness
the annual quaIto volumes that come out WIN eie-
CANT portraits and wellwritten biographies, on one
side of A leaf and an advertisement of some mer.
camille establishment on the other Are the stitched
leaves in the back Of magazine any less part
4" and portion" of the work than these
The whole affair lies in nutshell and very
small one. Ii may be as large as the " BRAN cup
of our postmasts. general. He-Mr. James
Campbell -seeing that the PostOtfice could not OBJ
tain funds enough in the legitimate Postotfice re-
ceipts to support that and all OF our monstrous
amount of ranked" matter, instead of laying
before Congress cogent reasons for having franslng
abol he'd at once urged them TO increase all our
rates of postage. They threw his bill over
board Now he seeks to increase his funds
like the daughters Of the horse eech crying
for "more"-by putting every imaginable re-
striction on the legitimate business and mer-
camille interests of the country. How different
do they manage these things IN England BOOKS
nj xAln ma