Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-01-11
TnE F1Rsr PENNY Posr.
The Penny Postage system Inaugurated
in England 4G Years Ago Yesterday.

in England 4G Years Ago Yesterday.
Yesterday was the forty-sixth anniver-
ssry Of the establishment ofthe cheap post
age system, Jan. 10, 1910, will be men,
orable day in the history Of civilization as
that on which the idea Of penny postage
was first exemplidcd. The practical BEN
efts derived from this reform are known
all over the world. The modest man
whom the world thanks for the noble in
Yention is almost equally as well known
in history as the invention itself IL.
it was about $3.50 that Rowland
Hin turned his attention to the
postal system OF Great Britain
with the Conviction that it was suecepti-
bic Of reform. Under enormous difficult
ties he contrived 70 collect information
upon the subject So as to satisfy himself,
and enable MIN to satisfy others, that the
public might be benefited by a cheaper
postage and yet the revenue remain undi-
minished. The cost OF a letter to the post
office be saw WAS dlyisible into three
branches.
First that of receiving the letter and
preparing IL for its Journey which, Under
the old regime was troublesome enough,
as the postage varied first in proportion to
the distance it had to travel. and again
according as it was composed OF one, two
or three sheets of paper, the charge
tor each OF them being eXOrbitant.
The duty OF taxing or writing
upon each Of them its postage,
thus became complicated transaction,
occupying much time aud employing tue
labor Of many clerks. The second branch
was the transit ffom post Office to post
office Iae third branch was that OF de-
liyerlng the letters and receiving the post
age Hin saw that a considerable reduc-
tion OF postage might and ought TO be
made, and addressed himself 10 a simpll-
ttcatiOn Of the post Office work.
II instead OF charging according to the
number OF sheets or scraps OF paper
weight should be fixed, below which
letter, whatever might be its CON
tents, should bear a single charge, much
trouble would be spared, aud an unjust
mode of taxation would be abOl-
ished. The cost of transit from one
point TO another was then Investigated,
1t was found that the difference
between the cost of delivering a letter one
mile from the post Office aud IN delivering
10 100 miles distant was insignificant.
This settled the question in Hills mind
as TO the injustice OF charging according
20 the distance a letter Travelled. All
that could be done for lesspning the cost
attendant on delivering the letters from
house TO house was to devise some
plan Of prepayment which should be ac-
ceptable to the public and Which at the
same time should not transfer the task Of
collection TO the receiving office whiie il
relieved the letter carriers attached to the
distributing Office. This led to the pro-
posal for prepayment by stamped labels,
whereby the post Office was t0 be relieved
from tho duty OF collecting postage
IGus one by one Were he impedimcnts
nll removed 10 the Accomplishment or
uniformity Of postage through the cOun-
try. H. is hardly possible to compare The
present postal system he both Great
Britain and this country with the system
that existed fcrtt-six years ago.