The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-05-13


the Unitsd ststss,
The iDefficiency of our postal system, as Dom
pared with those of other countries, has long
attracted the attention Of the mercantile com
munity. Efforts have been made to reform Il,
from time to time, but obstacles, such as the
ranking privilege and the convey ance of news
papers by mail, have hitherto interfered to pre-.
vent any effectual Improvement As long as
such an immense amount of heavy matter had
to be thus conveyed there seemed but little
chance of the service being rendered self sus
tanning. The vast extent of our country, aud
the necessity Of making the thickly populated
| pay for the more uninhabited portions OF it,
afforded In themselves apparently sufficient
reasons why, for many years to come, the ex-
pendture of the department must largely ex-
coed its receipts.
Latterly different conviction seems to have
Impressed itself upon the public mind. There
Is In consequence growing feeling in favor Of
he bolition of the ranking privilege, as one
of the great clogs Of the machinery Of the ser
vice, and Congress will not be able to resist
the Influence of this feeling much longer. This
will relieve the department of one great burden,
aud the arrangements that are being carried
out for the general conveyance OF newspapers
by special trains, Independent of the mails,
will tighten it of another By-and-bt the
Post Office will only have letters to carry, and
this diminution Of freight will enable it not
only to meet its expenditure without aid from
government, but to extend indefinitely the ia
siliiies of the service. To chow that there Is
nothing problematical In this calculation, we
have taken the trouble to analyze the last an.
nual report of the British Postmaster General,
which, making all due allowance for the diff.
ferent circumstances of the two countries, will,
we think, prove clearly to every mild that
vast economy can be effected in our postal
service, even in bringing it up to the standard
of that of Great Britain.
The gross revenue OF the British Post Office
in 1859 amounted to e3.44s,074 Tor SIT ,240,.
37O), and the expenses to G2,3l2, ia, leaving
net revenue of 81, 1890 (s5,679,so0.) The
increase Of postage last year over the year
year 1858 was $l,lO6,5 sos; In London alone the
increase wss 1921 $40, and In Manchester s44,-
$50. The average postage on letters Of diffs-
rent weight, not foreign, was ono and one
eighth of penny, and the average net prodi
ne.third Of penny, or twothirds Of q cent
One result seems very startling, and that is
that the cost OF transporting letters has In
creased, since penny postage was started, from
one thirsy-sixth part of Q penny TO one-eightt
OF penny, Of more than four times the for
mer amount, while there has been constant
and rapid increase Of both gross and net reve
nue. ever since the first day Of the uniform
rate.
All this Is due to the enormous increase II
the number of letters accruing from the single
uniform rate Of penny. The following state
ment gives the number Of letters passing
through the British Post ONCE in different
years. II will be remembered that 1889 wa
the last year Of the old postage scheme, and
1910 the nrst year Of penny postage