Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-08-07
Old POSTAL USAGES.
CURIOUS PHASES OF THE MAIL sERv-
ICE SIXTY YEARS AGO.

hates on Ordinary Letters In England
Were Almost observation-disclosures of
the Penny Post and the Queer ArGu-
nents Against It.
When Queen Victoria assembled the
throne, there were no telegraphs in this
country and few railways. The mails
were forwarded by coach, and the post
age rates were to all but tho we'll to do
prohibitive. It cost from I'D. to Is. Sd.
to send "single" letter under an
ounce in weight from one part Of the
kingdom 10 another There were some
10 charges, varying according to dis
lance. the average rate being Cd, or
half tho days wage Of n laborer. A
"single" letter meant single piece of
paper adhesive envelopes had not been
invented), and the addition Of a second
scrap of paper made the letter 'dou-
BILE" one. The postage was paid on de-
livery by the recipient. and as no cred
it was given the incursion of postman
into poor neighborhood was watched
ON all sides with fear rather than hope.
Coleridge, the poet, saw poor wom-
an declining to accept n letter on the
score of inability TO pay. The good
natured bard tdoubtless with come diff
Guilty. found the required ninepence,
despite the woman's circumstances.
When the postmun had gone away, she
showed Coleridgo that the letter was
but blank sheet of paper. Her brother
| had arranged 10 send her at intervals
such "a sheet, addressed in q certain
fashion, as evidence that all was well
with him, and she as regularly, after
inspecting the address, refused to accept
it. Some humorist on one occasion sent
out large numbers Of letters, each on u
sheet as large as tablecloth, all Of
which had TO DO delivered as Single"
missives.
This system practically stified written
| intercourse among the working class and
pressed with severity upon the middle
class, but the rich and highly placed
entirely escaped postal taxation. The
privilege of ranking covered the CORE
spondenco not only of ministers, peers
and members Of parliament, but of
their relatives, friends and acquaint-
ances, While in ono year early in the
queens reign no less than 1900, 900
letters were franked, u single London
firm paid annually 81 200 for postage
and a writer in The Quarterly referred
flippantly to $50 slight and rare an in
Cident i'll laborer's life as the receipt
of letter, Among the packets"
franked was grand piano. An army
Of clerks was employed to fix the charges
to be collected, and the postal revenue
remained stationary between 1915 and
1885, although in the same period the
population increased from o, 800, 600 to
90, 600, 900.
Moved by this state of things, parlia-
ment in 1899 adopted Rowland Hills
proposal of uniform inland penny post
age, which came into operation on Jan.
10, lS40 The writer possesses a copy Of
The Quarterly Review Of 1880, in which
contributor believed to be Croker
fiercely denounces the scheme. Twill
clerks" he says, write only to Their
fathers and girls to their mothers? viii
not letters Of romance or love, intrigue
or mischief, increase in at least equa
proportions? We doubt whether socia
and domestic correspondence will be
moro than doubled. a gigantic exem
pliication Of the old proverb-Penny
wise and pound foolish" ETC.
Macaulay says that the penny post
when first established, was the objec
Of violent invective, as q manifest con
trivance of the pope to enslave the soul
of Englishmen. 1t was described al
"sedition made easy" The postal au
thorities, who is 1854 had opposed tn,
institution Of mail coaches, were i'm
placable enemies of penny postage. TIT
postmaster general of 1889, Lord Lich
field, based his objections on the curl
Gus ground that the building at st. Mar
thistle Grand would not be larg,
enough, The secretary, Colonel Maber
ly, constantly repeated, This plan W,
know will fail"
As we know, it succeeded, and tn
penny rate has been generally adopte,
in Europe as well as in the Unitet
States. The number of letters rose from
So 900, 900 in 1887 to 300, 600, 900 il
1S47, and for the year ending on Marcl
81, 1897, about 1900, 900, 600 TIL
postal surplus was in 1889 81, 1853, oil
and in 1867 GO, 632, 1873. The humble
Of letters, which was in 1887 about
per head and in 1854 10 per head, i
now n per head. -Fortnightly Review
High TITLES without Cost.