The Washington union., 1857-11-13
CHEAP POSTAGE.

CHEAP POSTAGE.
Cheap postage, like cheap governments, commends
itself to those who pay. Most Of our national income
is derived from indirect taxes levied upon imports and
directly from the sale of our public domain. We are
also directly taxed through postal establishment
When we purchase dollars worth of foreign goods
we scarcely appreciate the fact that about onethird
of that sum is paid in the form Of duties to the gov
ernment although such is the fact If we pay three
cents for the transportation OF letter, feel the
tax, though not tenth part as large as paid on a
dollar of imported goods. This shows the difference
between direct and indirect taxation Indirect taxes
are principally devoted to the ordinary purposes of
government, while those derived from postages are
exclusively applied to sustain our mail system, which
was originally designed TO be selfsustaininr and
until recently has been so. Prior to l845 ages
were very high, and their prepayment was optional
which resulted in the government transporting large
quantities of mail matter which delivered
or paid for. Former rates were reduced in lS45 to
uniform of FIVE cents, except to California and
in 1851 to three cents and at the latter period pre-
payment was required on all letters, and more re-
Gently upon all printed matter.
Those reductions threw portion of the expense
Of our mail establishment upon the public treasury.
There s now a call for still further reductions,
which would throw them largely upon the reve-
nues derived from the customs or other sources. If
letter postage should be reduced to cent each
letter. no one would expect the establishment ever
to become sesustainng. or to be little else than
instrument for dsbursing, instead Of collecting,
snnes.. To avoid this consequence, it has been Sc
riously recommended in some quarters to increase
the rates Of postage upon letters to five cents,
pecting that such rate would enable the depart
mont to pay it's expenses. While we yield to the
force Of the reasoning in favor Of sefsupporting
post Office establishment, we do not concur with
those who propose to accomplish that object by an
increase Of the present rates Of postage. They are
high enough already, and might rather be lowered
than raised. If circumstances would permit The
true remedy is, not to increase the rates Of
postages, but to diminish the expenses of the
postal establishment, which have actually increased
with the diminution OF income. These expenses,
with the exception Of frequency Of trips upon
mail routes and the kind Of service, whether
horseback or coaches, beyond the control
of the department Congress creates new post
routes, upon which the department is required by
law to put in operation mail conveyance and in
many instances an expensive kind Of service is
ordered where littlo or none is actually needed.
Many routes are thus established when not much is
accomplished gratifying beyond him who carries tho
mail Thousands of miles Of mail service are thus
ordered annually which pay but small portion Of the
expenses. But the great gulf which swallows up
large masses Of the receipts Of the department s the
railroads, which has set up and measuraby become
the masters--and hard Ones too-of the government.
Having driven of the old coaches and stages and
many of the steamboats, they have no competitors
for contracts and exact exorbitant prices and often
refuse to take those limited by Congress-, and some-
times, in defiant manner, throw out the mails
Railroads have added largely to the cost Of trans
porting the mails where they carry them. The
Postmaster General can exercise little control in
limiting the expenses of transportation upon them
whilo their influence in Congress has prevented that
body from exerting all ts constitutional power to
romedy the evil
Bnt there is cause which largely enhances the
ponse Of Transporting the mails which Congress- cain
remedy. The anking privilege is now used to an ex-
tent that II adds from quartz. to third to the ex-
penscs of carrying the mails This evil Congress can
and ought to remedy. When Congress is in session,
there is sent by mail from this city several tons
day Of frankcd matter, mostly printed well as an
immense quantity of letters. During clectioneering
campaigns this printed matter has run as high as
several tons per day. This adds immensely to the
expense Of transportation upon railroads and in
coaches and renders stage wagons necessary where
single horse could otherwise carry the whole mail
In small bag. Besides millions Of speeches and
pamphlets sent free by mail, HERE have been vast
the mails annually, some weighing several pounds,