Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-09-27
Our Postal system .

In a previous article on the working of the
postal laws of the Confrder ate States, We al
| uded to the law wherein ii is provided that
| for all newspapers sent from the office of
| publication or elsewhere, for disirib ltion
abroad. whether conveyed in the mail, by ex-
press or as freight on the cars, pOsuage must
he paid. This is, We believe, the first in
stance where the Government h rs undertaken
to levy direct tax upon newspapers for the
sake Ut revenue. This Law was made Stlll
more annoying and oppressive in its work .ngs
before the adjournment of Congress lay tue
adoption OF an amendm mt To the existing
law, providing that it should be lawful tor
dealers aud others to carry papers outside OF
the mails, on the prepayment of postage at
the post office nearst the office OF publication,
or Nearest the place of purchase, Only On con-
dIuUn that such prepayment should be lndI-
Gated by the stamp of the office. or by writing
upon each paper so sent. Thus, if il was re-
quired to send from Montgomery five hundred
or five Thousand papers by express, 1t would
not be sufficient to pay the Regular postage,
in addition to the express charges, but Tue
papers must go to the post office. there to be
delayed until every one OF them can be
stamped with the stamp of the Office. If such
petty legislation "a this Is in keeping wi
the spirit of the age, we are unable to APP
preciate it. Our Legislators and post Office
officials we hope will be brought TO see that
the act of levring such tax upon the dis
seminatiun OF intelligence is unworthy the cUn-
sideratiOn Of a free, enlightened Government.
The ruling of the PosIoffice Department in
regard to papers placed i'll the pOstcffice for
delivery merely, is altogether different from
any we have seen elsewhere. The clause of
the law upon this pOiut is as follows: "Ali
newspapers, unsealed circulars, or other I'M
sealed printed transient matter, placed in
any post office, not for Transmission, but for
delivery only, SHALL be- charged at the rate of
one cent each." At first it was generally
understood that this provision referred to
transient papers only, but when the question
was bi ought to the General Postofice De-
partment, Mr.. Reagan decided that it applied
to regular numbers oi IA newspaper, sent from
the Office of publication, as well "a to trans
lent papers. Tue postage OF one cent per
number on daily paper would amount to
more than turee dollars year, sum W hich
very few persons would be willing to pay for
the privilege of wing their paper handed
10 them from the post Offise. We believe all
attempt was made by some of the members
of Congress, to have the law amended in this
respect, bat the attempt failed. One result
of the law will be to cause persons heretofore
in the habit of obtaining their papers from
the post office, to get them direct from the
Office of publication, unless the Department
should decide that the proprietors OF newspa-
pers by establishing box of delivery for pa
pers in their own offices are guilty ot an at
tempt to detraud the Government OF its Just
revenues.
This construction of the postal law not
only operates oppresSively upon the people,
but it will be found to have Injurious eff
feet upon the postal revenues. There are
many people who have been accustomed to
purchase a box in the post Office, in which
their papers and letters were deposited
Having paid for their boxes, their mail mat
ter was placed in it without any further cost
to them; but now, an expense of three OF
four dollars extra will be incurred by retain
ing the boxes and having papers deposited in
them, the effect will be to cause thousands TO
give up their post Office boxes. obtain their
papers from the Office OF publication, and
their letters from the general delivery. Thus
the post offices will loss in revenue on ac-
count of their failure to rent the boxes, while |
the expense and trouble Of attending to the |
duties of the offices will be Increased rath- |
er than diminished. |
The postage which subscribers are COM |
pelled to pay on newspapers which are actu- |
ally carried in the mails is high enough, one +!
would think, to satisfy the desires OF the !;
Government, without placing additional |
taxes on the dissemination of intelligence |
taxes SO heavy as 10 some cases to amount |
almost TO prohibition. If the Government |
was really III netO Oh tue TeNeuuS W DS
rived from the Post Office Department, and |
if it could be shown that unless it thus OBJ
tanned it the Government would perish. We |
would not say word against any Of the
measures which have been adopted. But |
these arguments cannot be used IN favor OF
the propriety of the acts of Congress or the
rulings of the Postmaster General with re-
ference to our postal laws. The arguments
gaiust them, and in favor of their repeal or
are three fold. They are OPP
pressive on the people, injurious to the news
paper press, and if persisted in, will tend
greatly TO diminish the revenues Of the Post
Office Department Tue subject should be
discussed, in order that Con-
gress when il again meets, may fully under
stand the sentiments of the people. If the
subject is properly presented to the Postmas-
ter General and To Congress, we feel satisfied |
their sense of justice will induce them TO
change the laws SO far as to relieve them of
their present obnoxious Observation-Disclosures
zy AdUertazer.