The weekly Arizona miner., 1873-03-15
Chr >> SEginer.
Rates of Postage.
wha. they Were, Are, and Are to Be
,Fron ,hs Boston AlrerHser.l

iTroH. ;Ae Boston Alvertiser.l
 Tie history of the reduction Of postage in tL.. country IS comprehensively given Tn A report made week or two ago to the House of Representatives by Mr. Farusworib, of lllino,. In l792 the frst postage act was ts.-.i. l. introduced highly complicated system. The lowest postage was SIX cents to places within thirty miles eight cents to places within sixty milcsi ten cents to places within one hundred miles twelve and a half cents to places within one hundred and fifty miles fifteen cents to places within two hun drei and fifty miles twenty cents Co places within three hundred and fifty miles, and twenty-five cents 10 places not more than four hundred and fifty miles distant. lnl l799 the rates were changed. The lowest rate WAS raised to eight cents and the lowest dis tance to forty miles. Instead of nine rates there were but SIX twenty cents carried let ters five hundred miles, and twenty-five cents was still charged for greater distances. Ia lSl6 the minimum rate was again reduced to six cents and the distance to thirty miles /; only five rates were established; eighteen and a-half cents carried letters four hundred miles; and for longer distances twenty five cents was charged still.
 These rates, with single exception, where the postage was increased, continued until
 
 place. Five cents became the postage for letters carried distance of less than three hundred miles ten cents for all greater dis tances- At the same time the drop letter system was introduced, such letters being charged two cents. Previous to this time the rule had been that the above rates were for "singe" letters-that is, letters on one sheet of paper, large or small and without reference to weight. In ls45 the half-ounce weight was made the standard instead of the number of sheets. In 1851 the single rate was made three cents for all distances under 5000 miles, and six cents for greater dis tances, if prepaid, this being the first induce- ment held out to prepay letters. Unpaid let ters were charged five and ten cents, accord ing tO the distance. In 1855 prepayment was required, three cents being still the rate for distances under 3,OO0 miles, and ten cents charged for greater distances In 1863 the present rate of three cents, prepaid by stamp, for all distances, was established. The his tory of these reductions show. also. that no material loss of revenue has been their i'm mediate result, and that no loss at all has been permanent Since 1851, when substan- italy the present rate was fixed, the revenue Of the Postotfice has increased from $5, 500 OOO for that year to S22, ,0e0, 900 in 1872 but we need not go further into details
 The proposed reduction of the single letter rate to two cents is an exceedingly important step. We can estimate very nearly what the effect of the present reduction will be- Du- ring the past year there were sold four hun l dred four and a half million three cent | stamps, and ninety three million three-cent | envelopes. As double rates are almost always | paid by additional stamps of this denomina- | ton, and as foreign postage is very frequently l paid with two or more three-cent stamps, we . may take Sl5, 900, ,0OO the value of five hun dred million three-cent stamps, as the sum to be effected primarily by the new reduction 1 Were the number sold to be stationary, the | consequence would be loss to the revenue | of one-third of this sum--in other words a loss of s5 OOO,OOO. As matter of fact, how l ever, the natural increase in the number of letters sent is about ten per cent annually, and this alone would make the number of two | cent stamps, substituted for threes, for the | year ending June go, six hundred millions, ! with a value of twelve million dollars, and re- ducing the loss to three million dollars. Ex- perience has uniformly shown that reductions | of postage cause an immediate increase of | correspondence, and it would not be at all | surprising fl the revenue from stamps and ! stamped envelopes in 1874 were nearly as l large as in 1872. Accompanying the letter postage reform is a reduction of oue-haIf on | the postage of newspapers regularly mailed 1 by publishers. The total revenue in this de- | partmeDt last year was not quite million dollars. It is part of the postal system that does not exhibit ss rapid growth as others, and loss of from quarter to half million dollars in this department is inevitable.