, 1873-02-13
THE NEW POSTAGE LAW,

The now Postage bill, passed by tho House of
Representation, Is fitting aoquol to tho repeal
Of tho franking privilege. Tho now bill, II 1t
pasB tho sonate will 60 into effect in July, 1873.
after which date the rates Of postage on all lot
torB not exceeding half IN ounce In woight will
be two cents instead Of threo conts. This will
require tho handling and transportation Of ono
third moro lottora to produce the present amount
Of revenue, but tllero is certainty that tho two
cent rate will produce moro revenuo eventually
thnn tho present three-cent rato.
Tho great cost Of the mail transportation bua-
iness is in tho case Of printed mattor, for which
the poutal service receives little or no compon-
aasion. Tho now law reduces The ratos Of postage
on printed mattor, after January, 1874, one-half
tho present rates, tho sano to be prepaid. nfr.
Farnsworth, to whose untiring efforts tho coun~
try is largely indebted for this bill, estimates
that the Government doos not now recoive ono
third Of tbs poatngo properly duo and col1eotable
on the newspapers and othor publications. Bont
through tho mails. Tho Government, thero-
foro, Gun woll afford to feduco the ratos
one-half, and by getting paid In advance will
still nearly double the prosont revonue. But
the Government will find that when tho po stage
on I'LL printed matter Is prepaid the rate Of post
age may be still further reduced. as In the.case
Of lottora The proper mode OF paying postage
on printed matter, when 1t is mailed in large
quantities, is by weight. The daily paper that
deposits ton Of newspapers in the Post of1lce
In tho morning can moro readily pay the postage
on the whole ton at ono timo than it can bo
dono by collecting 1t, az ut present, once evory
three months from 10000 persons scattered in
all parta Of tho country. Tho publishers Of mag
azinea In like manner should pay their
postage. not by the weight Of eacl copy,
but by the weight Of their entire
Tho rule should be inflexible, that no printed
mattor Of any kind should DO received into tho
mails upon Which tho postage is not prepaid,
and thon everything roaching Post Office
through tho malls will be FREQ to tho person
directed. No man or publisher has any right to
tho froe use Of the mailg; has no rghtto tax other
people to pay for carrying his lettcrs or papers.
This justice is only attainable when prepayment
is imperative. When that is secured, It will bo
found upon q very short experience that the
rates Of postage on all printed matter
may bc reduced, not only to ono-half,
but to one-1Ifth tho present rates. It took q
long time to get Congress- out Of the system Of
charging postage OH letters by the sheet, and
not by the weight. No one ut this time would
think Of charging postage on letters other than
by weight. So with regard to newspapers.
publishors Of large papors should pay more for
postago than publishers Of small papera; ..eacll
should pay according to tho actual weight dcpoz-
itod in the mail, and no moro; and, instead Of
stamping each paper, tho postage can bo paid on
the who1o edition according to its wcight,
whether TINT edition woigh twenty pounds or a
ton. When this system geta fairly to work, pub
lishora will wonder why 1t was mover adopted
boforo, and the revonuos Of tho postal service
from printed matter will be found, like that
from letters solf-sustaining.