Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-04-22
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.


CHEAP POSTAGE SAOrHERED"- Under
this caption the COHrier and Engaurer of
New York, preached, on the day before yester-
day, homily on the shortcomings of the Post
Once Department In this homily the editor
mourns over the alleged short-sightedness of the
late Postmaster General and his successor His
impression seems to be, that under Democratic
auspices the Department is merely a sort of
machine for depressing the progress of the
Cheap-Postage tendency Of the age Though
we know well that the world is blessed with
fast 'uns, until now we had little reason to class
the Courier with those who 90 for " progress
In business matters whatever we may have
thought OF its politics) at the expense of law,
justice and common sense ; as we shall proceed
to show that it does, in the article to which we
refer.
Reduced to plain English, its complaint is as
follows Viz; A publisher having asked that a
printed circular embracing two sheets or pieces
OF paper, enclosed in an enrelope haring a
circular printed upon ii be permitted to 20 in
the mails for one cent postage, provided the
weight of the package is under half an ounce,
the First Assistant Postmaster General wrote
the following reply:
Posi- OFFICE DEPARTMENT
APPOINTMENT OFFICE, April "a, is57
SIR In reply to yours Of the 18th instant, I
have only to say that no good reason is perceived
FOR changing the decision already made upon the
subject to which 1t relates. Indeed without ig-
noring the law upon the subject, as well as the
UNIFORM decisions Of the Department under SINH
lar cases, no other decision than that to which YOU
allude could be made
Such Is the ground Of its complaint, as we
have ascertained on inquiry at the Department,
rather than Its charge, for the Conner fails to
allude to the only material point in the case
That il, to the fact that the envelope enclosing
the circular, has on it printed matter other than
the address
The Department has not refused to permit
prepaid circulars to be transported in the mails
consisting Of more than one sheet and not
weighing more than three ounces, for one cent
postage, as the Courier argues. Thus, it au-
thorizes pack of playing cards, or a piece Of
music consisting Of dozen sheets, it may be
to be transported in the mails as the law di
reefs for one cent, if not weighing more thar
three ounces and for one cent additional 70,
each additional ounce,
The objection embraced in the Assistant Post
master Generals letter printed above, is to tn.
fact that the envelope covering the circular ha
printed matter upon it IA business circular) il
addition to the address of the individual Il
whom it is directed
The Courier is indignant that the following
provision of the law Of March Sd, 1851, is set a
defiance in this decision. Viz:
Each newspaper, periodical, uuseal.d ei,ep
gar, or o'hsr article of printed matter NOT exceed
ting fhree OtHeest an Deighf, shall be sent to an,
Pdrtot fhs United States for one cent, and fo
one cent additional shall be eAargedn
To. make good his case the editor entirel,
overlooks the following provision of the sam,
law:
"Sec. 3. And b, IL further enacted, That N,
newspaper, periodical, magazine. or other pyint,c
paper matter, shall be entitled be sent at th.
rates Of postage in this act specified unless tn,
following conditions be observed:
q First. IL shall be sent without any cover o.
aPPef, or IN a cover or wrapper open at TIT
ends or sides, so that the character Of the matte
contained therein may be determined without re
moving such wrapper. Second, There shall b,
no UOTd or communication printed on the sam,
(teT ats publication, or upon the or rrappeI
MeTeoJ; nor any UrtfHg or marks upon IL, MOI
sPoH the eOrsr or wrapper thereof. exespt III.
ndne and address Of ths person 10 tcho,a n /, 4,
s % ssnt. IhtTd, There shall be no paper othe
thing enclosed in or with such printed paper
Ana ~ these conditions are not complied NTH
such PTtHfsd matter shall be subject to letter
,f ana all matter sent by mail from one part O
Is not liked by the provisions OF this act shall
unless the same be entitled to be sent free of post
age, be charged with letter POSTAGE
We respectfully and kindly submit to tn,
Courier that, in its arraignment of the Depart
ment IN this connection, it does infinite in;us
tice; as, in its decision upon it, its functionary
has but respected the requirements of this third
section.
We shall not elaborate this point, and have
thus stated it as briefly as possible, that the
public may comprehend at glance how very
baseless are such charges against the officers O,
the Department. The envelope containing the
circular over which the Courier sets up its jere
made, has an elaborate business card printed
upon it, and therefore contrayenes the express
provisions of the third section, which we quote
above. Was the First Assistant Postmaster
General right in his decision, or was it, as the
Conner intimates, an arbitrary exercise Of the
Departments power, simply with the view to
obstruct the operation of the cheap postage sys.
tenn enacted by Congress? We leave the pub
lie TO Judge
hP'oP0S-The country has but a faint idea
OF 'he trouble and loss to which the Post Office
department was subjected before il prevailed
on Congress to adopt the rule of reouir;nv nre.
payment on transient printed mail mater rh.
ahee, sihee that action Of Congress, has
Increased Id measure, but by no means en-.
ureiy- IL arose from the determination of the
lottery ticket and patent-medicine vendors Ac
to use the mails Of the United States a, a. al
vertising medium, which is clearly against the
law Since prepayment at the lowest rate
has been enacted, difference Of some Sl2 600