Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-02-27
The Cheap Postage Bill.

The lower house of Congress has passed the
Cheap Postage bill reported not long ago from
the Postoffice Committee. The bill reduces
letter postage to two cents for each half ounce
or fraction thereof, declares magazine and
newspaper manuscripts to belong to the third
class of mallable matter, fixes the postage on
daily newspapers at fifteen cents per quarter
and requires prepayment of postage on all
printed matter, or mailable matter. of the
second class, except on weekly newspapers
within the counties where they are printed or
published. which will pass through the mails
free, as heretofore. AS it originally came
from the committee the bill restricted the
newspaper franking privilege to weekly
newspapers within the respective counties
where the same are actually and artOlly
printed and published" The words actually
and wholly, which would seem to have been
inserted for the purpose OF discriminating
against those weeklies which are printed partly
IL the cities by . auxiliary establishments,
and partly at the place of publication, were
very properly stricken out. Country publish
ers who print their newspapers actually and
wholly in their own offices have right to
their own opinion of country insides" or
country outsides,' of course but Congress
has no right to force their opinion down other
peoples threats. If people choose to sub
scribe and pay for papers printed on the auxil-
larry plan, they have a perfect right to do So
and publishers hSve right to supply the de-
mand for papers of this description. 1t is not
for Congress to inquire of publishers where
they have their printing done. They may have
1t done IN their g6rrets, or in their cellars. or
they may pay others for doing it thousand
miles away if they please. Congress has
nothing to do with the business.-C Chicago
Times.
Our Chicago contemporary takes a
correct and sensible view of this matter.
He might have gone a step further, how
ever, and added that it was bit of i'm
pertinence, to say the least, on the part
OF certain members of Congress to at
tempt to defle our national statute books
with such manifestly unjust piece of
class. legislatior-a piece of legislation
more in keeping with the barbarism of
the dark ages than with the liberal and
enlightened sentiment of the present
century. It is matter with which Con-
gress nor any other Legislative body has
no sort of concern, and in meddling
with which they are stepping wholly
beyond the pale of their legal preroga-
tive. If Congress possesses the legal
right to dictate to the publisher the
mode, manner and place for the execu-
ton of the mechanical work of his paper,
itpossesses an equal right to enact that
he shall use straw paper instead Of rag
paper tnaG ne snail use large type HI
stead of small type; that he shall use g
bad Quality Of ink instead of a good
quality ; that he shall use hand press
instead ola steam press and altogether,
that he, shall furnish his patrons with al
inferior instead of a good, readable
sheet. For, IN reality, the outrageous
discrimination attempted would have
amounted to this, and nothing less.
bar-. 49,.
COOP champagne has pale amber
color. -aN