The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-01-23

The Malls.

The Malls. .3ssss
n q stated Chat the abolition OF tho frank
Ing privilege has already effected consioer-
ahse sayina 10 the Government. We are
acraeably surprised to learn this TACT Tor
s;nce contracts for carrying the mails are;
made only once 10 four years, and as almost
al, the present contracts were entered into
under the belief that the contractors would
have to carry tons upon tons OF free mail
matter, we had not expected any great saving
to be manifest until after the nextletting OF.
contracts. II will take at least four years 70
make plain the advantages that are to result
from the abolition Of this outrageous priv.
legc.
Blu. the postal system needs other changes.
tits defective as to newspapers. Already
the law requires the postage upon all letters
to be prepaid. So as to transient newspapers
and all other mailable matter except news
papers regularly sent through the mails.
Stamps pay the postage upon letters, or upon
psir of spec,aclcs, or upon any mail mat
ter of the class which includes everything
but manuscripts and letters and regular news
napcrs ard periodicals. AL this Is well
enough. The man who wishes TO send tran
sient newspaper, or letter, or grapevine,
or ANYTHING else, through the mails has only
to put stamps enough upon his package to
insure its transmission to the person for
whom 1t is designed. Neither the postmas-
ter at the office Of transmission nor the post
master at the Office of delivery has any trou-
BILE worth mentioning. The thing Is put into
o bag, and VIXEN it reaches its destination,
istaken out and delivered. No account OF
the transaction is kept at either end OF the
line. No clerks are employed to charge
man with a quarters postage or to credit
him with having paid it. The business is
done with the minimum expenditure OF
time and trouble.
And how many clerks are there employed
: il the United States in keeping the accounts
we have just alluded to! How much Of the
compensation allowed to country postmas.
tiers is allowed because they have so many
small accounts TO keep? And how many
thousands of dollars are lost to the Depart
ment because of the impossibility of collect
ing all these little accounts and of keeping
out of the mails transient newspapers which
pass as if sent to subscribers? How much
trouble and vexation, too, do these little &C
counts not cause? In word, the credit
system ought to be abolished. Everything
that passes throughthc mails should pay its
way. And the presence Of mail matter in
the mail.bass should lie conclusive evidence
that al the postage is paid upon it, and that
when it arrives at its destination it may
be delivered Immediately. The postmaster
ought not to have to hold on to newspaper
until he can open an account and charge the
postage and then credit the same before be
can deliver it. Nor ought he to be COM
PEELED either to reftl;e TO send paper by
messenger because the postage is not PAID,
or to violate the law by sending it.
What is the remedy for all this trouble, ex-
pense, and labor? Simply laU requiring
postage upon all newspapers TO be paid by
the pound at the office auhence sent. Each
editor would send his Wheelbarrow load or
wagon load or wagon loads of packages to
the office, and, causing the whole to be
weighed, pay the postage in lump each
lay, or weekly, or monthly, if the Depart
ment chose to allow it so to be done-as it
might safely do, seeing that if the editor
JAILED to pay at the appointed time his pa
per would be excluded from the mails. The
postage is now one dollar and twenty cents
per annum upon the Daily Dispatch, and in
exact proportion upon papers published
semi-weekly or weekly. 1t is easy to ascer-
tain how much 312 sheets of a newspaper of
average size weigh. Let us suppose that
they weigh twenty pounds. Then, if the
rates of postage are to remain as high as
they now are, the editor will have to pay six
cents a pound, or six dollars hundred
pounds, postage upon bis packages of news
papers. No stamps will be required
for these papers. Scarcely any time or trou-
BILE will be required at the post-office. The
wagon drives up. The bags are weighed.
The postage is paid. The entire lot is at
once ready without any further ado, not
only to be sent away, but when it reaches
its thousands of destinations will be ready
for immediate delivery. The postage paid
now by thousands will then be paid by
single person or firm. The revenues of the
Department will be increased. A large
number of employees may be dismissed.
And nobody will be injured. What says
Mr.. CREswELL?
And to that Ohio EDITOR who has furnish
cd the only argument why newspapers
should be sent free within the counties
where published, we would say that our law
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