The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-06-01
The New Posta2e-Biil.


The new bill to regulate postage seems moi
to he thornughir understood by our friends
Q; nc weekly press. They have an idea that
il will be to their interest TO oppoeo'fts I'as'
saee. In this they arc vastly mistaken. Inc
new bill proposes. tirst, to allow them TO CIR
culstc their papers free in the counties
wherein they are published. Secondly, TO per
WI, them 10 receive their exchanges Tree
And thirdly, that they shall pay postage I"
one and hall cents per ponnd IN a"'"''''
n, all the naprts they send out ot TIC co""
tr Mos, Of The weekly country papers IL
VIRGINIA have not more than 23o suo>'r'oet'
o,oh ou,sid. Of the counties in which the'
GRO puhIi-hea. These $50 copies Wou't
weigh say n,,een pounds, or. at the OUTSIDE
twenty pounds. including their wrappers
and the wafer and ink added to the dry pa
rer. The postage on twenty pounds "on't
be thirty cents a week, or St5.6oa year. Tn
der the pres. mt lsw the postage on these 2'''
coples j. $40 q year; and the editor DIS u
nav postage upon his exchanges, "t''St n'
home subscribers have TO pay postage upon
each copy they receive, amounting III the az
crevate TO hundreds of dollars. IL, 'nen
there is suv class OF editors to oe benehteC
by the new bill it is that class which puo
fishes the weekieS in country towns. IL Il
amazing 10 us that any Of them should nave
q douot upon the subject.
Why, then, does the D'Spn'ch ao'oca''
fnc nea bii7 For no other reason Iiith ptN
cause oc consider. it wise one, ana one
Winch, il passed into lsv will greatly IN
crease the ejaculation Of every valuable
i,urpai. whilst it will do away with
1,vo.tbirds Of the labor now per
forurd in the various poS'.oillccs OF
the country. Thee az perhaps not less than
t,e thousand newspaper postage accounts
kent in the post Office OF NV YORK city.
There are perhaps several hundred different
papers received at the hlchmond once oS
regular subscribers 10 them. ana Win sach
O! Lhese subscribers in account must DC keep
whether he Dave in advance or not. 50, all
over tie county there is An immense amount
OF labor imposed by the present law when
y.,uld be avoided under The new one. We
briicye there are SOME ioity thousand post
Offices. and at every one Of these newspapers
a. received. The smaller the business at
q office the more difficult does the post
III ser find 1t TO induce tbe subscribers to
pat the postage upon their papers. Inc
country people resent ~ an insult The re-
al En- llny N
Office before the postage upon 1t Is paid.
Aud so tue postage Is never pa'd. Inc
Iostlnas, cr- General Informs Congress that
not oue-fourtD of the postage upon printed
matter 1--WE think that is the proporton) is
ever collected by his department. 1t is im-
possible TO make the postmaSterS do it,
aud equally Impossible to get any better
po<tmasteTs. The fact i that the present
system is the very height Of folly. It's alb
surdity is 20 manifest that We cannot but
wonder how it has lasted 80 long. The plan
Of gong TO mill With stone in one end Of the
bag to balance the corn in the other end was
not more inexcusably foolish than the plan of
collecting, or pretending to collect, from ten
thousand people what can 50 easily he col
lccted from one man. As We have before said,
it would hot be mere silly and incNcusable
to attempt to collect the tariff upon every
pound Of foreign sugar used in this country
man Who imports it.
Under the new law. the fact that matter is
III The mails will be sufficient evidence that
tue postage upon it is paid. The sub>cri.
bers to newspapers will be entitled to their
instantaneous delivery, and there can be no
detention because the postage is not paid.
The new law will injure no newspaper
Whose subscribers wish to continue to take
il. 1t will injure no paper that is not Il
black mail paper-that is to say, paper
that depends for support, not upon its merits,
but upon black mailing men who do not
want it. We are obliged to confess that
there are even now some editors
WAC send out their papers to men
Eho would like to be rid of them,
and WHO would never subscribe for them
after they were once stopped, and whom
therefor the bllckmsiling editor refuses to
strike from his lists, and whom he compels
to paw postage upon his worthless sheet, and
ANNUALLY visits und duns for his subscrip-
ton. These papers would undoubtedly sul-
fer. But thiGk what relief the new law
would be 10 their subscribers. How they
would rejoice. How they would say to
themselves that now surely JONES Won't
seud me that paper of his any longer
Surely be can't afford to pay postage upon
lis worthless sheet and run the risk of get
ting it back from the men he forces il upon
The more the subject is looked at the more
clearly will it appear to every rejecting
fair-mindcd man, that the new postage-bi
ought to become law. We trust that on:
friends of the weekly country press will see
that it will operate to their benefit, and use
their powerful influence in its fsyor.
THE Enquirer unntcntionaly does Judge
BEASsoN, Of Barbour county, West Virginia,