The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1890-02-12
PENNY POSTAGE.
A LETTER THAT COST $50 FOR
POSTAGE
Wonderful Changes That Have
Taken Place in the Past
Fifty Years.

-there came into peIatlon IN
this country one of those great
measures of social reform which
may be said to constitute the
landmarks of a nations pro-
sress the uniform penny pos
tage system. This measure,
originating with a private in
dividual who, up to the age of
n, had been a schoolmaster,
and who was wholly unconnect-
ed either with the postoffice or
the government, has, in the last
half century, revolutionized the
postal cervice of the world, and
made the name of its author
the late Sir Rowland Hill-a
household word in every coun-
try.
To the present generation the
old postal system. which was
swept away by Rowland Hills
reform, is now so mach mat
ter of ancient history, and
of history but little
studied, orthat probably very
few have any conception of the
state of affairs which existed in
this country at a date no further
removed than the early years of
her majesty's reign.
Up to 1850 the pcstcffice, SO
far as the poor and the lower
middle class was concerned
may be said to have been al
most nOn-existent. The rates
charged on letters were in those
days so exorbitant, especially
when compared with the scanty
wages then obtainable, that cor
respondence was a luxury FOR
too costly for all but the we'll
TODD. Even in the upper mid
die classes the cost of postage
was a heavy item of household
expenditure, only to be incurred
after much careful considera-
ton but the vast multitude of
the lower orders were practi-
cally excluded from all use CT
the post office. When once
their families parted OF from
home it was separation almost
like that of death. The hun
dreds OF thousands of appren-
tees, Of shopmen, of governess-
es, Of domestic servants, were
cut off from family relations as
if seas or deserts lay between
them and home.
Except in the local town de-
Enthusiastically known as
penny posts'-the lowest charge
on any letter was 4 pence, but that
only sufficed for distance of if
teen miles; beyond that radius the
rates Of posta9e rapidly increased
with the distance the letter had to
be conveyed, till letters from Lon
don TO Liverpool or Manchester
were charged II pence, those to
Edinburgh or Glasgow l shilling
y pence, and to Cork and Ions
derry, / shilling 5 pence, and even
these exOrbitant rates were opce
doubled or trebled it the letter,
however light, contained one or
more Enclosures, or consisted Of
two or three pieces of paper. Thus
letter consisting o! a sheet Of
paper and a check, with an envel-
ope to inclose them, which now
goes from London to Cork for l
penny, would, prior to 1910, have
been treated as treble letter end
charged 4 shillings 3 pence, or
more than fifty fold the present
rate.
Letters in those days were al
most always sent unpaid, and
were, in many cases, refused by
the persons to whom they were
addressed, especially by those of
the poorer classes, so that the
postoffice constantly overshot its
mark IN its endeavor to make =
great profit, and had to carry the
letter from the writer to the adj
dressed, and, after all, to lose the
whole postage. The old high
rates of postage simply killed all
domestic or friendly correspond
enee, or drove it into illicit chan.
Al ID !