New-York daily tribune., 1856-02-28
CHEAP UNIFORM POSTAGE.


this time when the subject is popularly agitsted,
the question Of the rates for letters may be well
considered What, then, is the most equtsble,
profitable and convenient rate for postage on let
tersl Uniformity-one price for all single letters
irrespective of distances certainly the most
desirable. Whether this single rate should be one,
two, or three cents is matter Of discussion. 1t is
considered with many conclusive argument to
saw that as present rates OF one three and ten
cents, averaging at least three cents scarcely sus-
tain the Department, a uniform charge of two
cents will not do it. This like many other argu-
ments on economical questions, has single
flaw which extends from top to bottom.
1t is wholly unsound for since the
formation of the Government, tho Department, one
year with another. has considerably more than
paid for itself. At this time too, it more than pays
for all the correspondence of the citizens and were
the Government documents and franked missiyes
during the past ten years paid for, the Post Office
Depsrimen would have reserved fund on hand of
many millions.
There is in fact no mystery in this question of
postal rates. 1t is easily solvable. II can be de-
termiDed what rates of postage are remunerstive
and how and when the Post Office yields the largest
income High rates of postage, irregular mails,
and inconvenent mail arrangements cause stag
nation in the postal well in the other business
of the country, and drive correspondence into new
channels. The postal arrangements of every na
tion show that the lowest charges and the best
postal facilities have ever been the most profitable
When Mr.. Rowland Hill commenced his Postal
Reform agitation in England in 1896 he found that
for twenty years the postal revenue had not gained
at all while all other branches of national income
had increased with the increasing business and
population Of the country The rates Of English
postage in 1910 were all reduced to uniform rate
of one penny sterling-less than one sixth Of the
former average charges; and we learn that with
the increase of postal revenue since, the income of
the British Post Office now is several million dol
lars more annually than it would have been under
the old rates.
Now, 10 far as our Post Office experience goes,
similar results have followed. Our first reduction
of postage was in 1845, changing the old rates to
and 10 cents. BY taking the first and last Of the
sx years previous to that time it may be seen that
there was no increase, or less than One-twentieth
of one per cent increase in the postal revenue:
Year. letter. Revenue
1883. .sll5702 $i35,C7s
lSii..............,.....BlS1,5 lS1 ,59l 4I7,S3
During this same period, the national income,
the customs duties, and the tunnage of our COM
mercial marine, which, taken together, may be
considered an index OF general prosperity, give the
following result:
Year National income. Customs y, duties @ TqSn.ss aa9
lsii..... B,5Oi5l9 S,l85,5H 2iSO,oso
The rates OF increase during six years in the
above items of income, duties and tunnage were
respectively AZ per cent, 62 per cent and Ia
per cent, or an average Of 81 per cent. Let
US now compare the postal income from 1888 to
1s47 to that during the first six years of post
age from lS45 to 1851;
Year Postal Revenue
lSij,.......,.................. = l59BJl
lS5l..................,.......... 655l,gS
Here is an increase of IA per cent annually. Had
the postal revenue increased as fast as the other
business of the country from 1888 to 1874, the
revenue that year would have been S6,4S ,3lS.
Then had the increase that been IA per cent an
nually from 1S44 to 1854 the postal revenue of the
latter year would have been Sl8,25l 1888. Tho
actual income from postage in 1874 was Sc, l61,-
O45. What clearer evidence than this can be pre-
sented TO show that postal accommodations do not
keep pace with the business of the country And
how can the advantages of good postal system
of Post. Office to accommodate every citizen in
every part of the country, be compared with the
mere cost of this branch of our Government,
Let the Government look well to these reforms,
or the people will carry their own letters. They
do il by halves already in California as 5000 let
ters day or ,S25 900 year are there distributed
by private enterprise, and this is half the letter
circulation of the State, reckoned pro rata accord
ing to the population.
But the corp de main in the argument against
two-cent postage is that, as they have two-cent
rate in Great Britain and that is small country,
of course in our great country two-cent rate will
not pay. To this We reply, that just about one
entire half of the postal income Of Great Britain is
clear profit, showing that one cent or half-penny
sterling letter is there paying standard, and, if
put down to that point, the British Post Office
would sustain itself. Again, if the rate in England
were instead of one cent, the paying rate of three
or FIVE cents, would any one argue that six or ten
cents would not pay here But such is the sort of
argument now applied to the comparative rates of
the two countries. The great advantage it may
be properly added, Of the uniformity in the Brit
sh postage, aside from its vast consenience TO
the public, is in the economy OF carrying on the
postal business. Before the rates were uniform,
the letters cost in handling, sorting, and so
forth, not including transportation. $50 thou
O,,- Iat,ars eoat IN the hanli..- a