The New York herald., 1862-01-19
THE POST oFfIoE.
Absurd Postal Laws and the FranktnS
Privilege.

Privilege.
TO rHE EDITOR OF THE HERALD.
Notice has lately been given that in Q fow days .
bin viii be brought forward the House of Representa-
ves TO abolish ranng and establish certain rates for
She printed matter that b annually published in vast
quantities under the Of "Public Documents" The
abolition Of frankng righteous measure, that must
meet the appreciation Of every But. II my impress
so correct the rates of postage proposed for the
thousands Of tons Of printed matter that cucumber
our mails are absurd, preposterous and inde-
fensble. Let not deceive ourselves The
object Of the bill--however IL may be cloaked-is
70 enable the members OF Congress- after franking
abolished send their speeches and vast mass OF po
cal trash and figures 10 their constituents at rate SO
low that small portion of il will DO taken out of the
Post Office. The cost is to be- believe, three cents
pound under and five cents when over three thousand
miles, This less than fifth the postage charged
Tor books that sent by mail by publishers and Others
In this fair just equitable decent right2 Every man
IN his heart will answer Are public servants set
Of spoiled children and ntrguers who will not do away
with rankng unless they get some equivalent that
wl answer the same purpose and still leave the Post
Office in position where is impossible not only for
70 support itse but to find out what IL earns and who
its debt0rsf Sir, unhesatingy assert that the
worst manager out Of the first one hundred
mercantile houses you will pass in New York does not
that consummate folly and total absence Of sagacty
md common sense that we have seen in every
Single one Of the postal laws that have been
passed proposed during the last sixteen years To
prove my entire assertion and take all the acts passed
would exhaust your patience and fill half your paper; so
| will confne my remarks to the item OF rates Of
postage on transient printed matter.
Railway companies and other common carriers have
different for transporting different descriptions Of
gravel to SPECIE bullion or jcwelry OF course this is
right and equitable; but they have few
glasses as possible Cotton and woollen goods "a and
do not have one price of carriage for red flannel and
another for white do they charge one rate for pack
age Of school books and another for histories
zines. Then in quantities. you will find that the express
companes-the most active secure and expensive carr
ers in the c,untry and the nearest allied TO postal
few rates of charge possible being
content with general average that shall be fair to their
custome and convenient to all parties. believe all
parcels from the smallest up to certain weghtfour or
five pounds, thnk-are levied at the rate. Then
The next rate goes from FIVE to eight or ten pounds
This is all clear. Now let the rule Of action in
the Post Office. Bear in mind that we have only very
minute shades Of difference in the quality kind sort
anything is recognized maabe matter except books,
newspapers, periodicals, and other kinds of printed
literature Seeds and cuttings have been lately added TO
these. But printed matter would to be all Of
CLASS But Post Office Solons make four classes and
add one more for certain distance when transported
30O0 miles. Now to distance, deny that there
difference Of five per cent in the actual postal cost Of
books sent hundred miles and books sent 900 miles
The great item OF cost is the sorting the various mani
pulations and handling, and the delivery But let that
pass Why should we have sort or class and
rate rate OF charge for books and pamphlets and another
for small pamphlets" of " less than sixteen octave
pages each" Oh, the microscopic wisdom Of some law
makersl Another class and rate for periodicals, and an
other still for newspapers-ke ghosts Of Ranquo's
Asred enemies they multiply till the crack of DOOM We
should naturally imagine that after all this grand dis
play the wisdom of the concoctors of these wonderful
laws would have been well nigh exhausted Not
TOO fast. "Pad begins and worse remains behind" Not
content with five different classified and classes
they must lay themselves out and how fine they
cut them up in an avordupois scale pound is divided
into forthwith the rates must be by separate
ounces. Fact, assure you. As Captain Ed ard Cutle
said Of his friend Mr. Bunsby 'heres wisdom for you
Express companies for every sort of goods-money and
)ewelry excepted-have rate up to five pounds Our
Post Office. in the article Of transient printed matter
alone, has, up to parcels weighing pound-how many
rates do you suppose2 Just eighty Here s the table
The nrst column gives the ounces ko packages weigh
ehe other ave columns give the rates.
RATES OF POSTAGE on TRANSIENT PRINTED MATTER.
Small papers Books u1l- Books