The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-29


ceived from men and women cured.
ly one of the evils of the age. Fortunate
~ however conviction of such a misde-
meanor carries with it penalties of a suf-
fcient deterrent character to depress the
number of cases of the kind to a very low
average. Some people, too, urged that
the use of postcard was little short of
an insult to the recipient, inasmuch as If
the communication were not worth a pen
NY 1t was not worth sending at all. This
somewhat foolish idea became dispelled
as the use of the postcard rapidly in
creased. No one helped more in this di-
rection, perhaps, than the late Mr.. Glad
stone, who has made countless numbers
happy by the receipt of a card bearing his
well known writing. There was yet anoth-
er class of persons who resented the intro
duction of postcards. They were those
who still regarded letter-writing as fine
art. This old school of letter writer's nat
urally looked upon the innovation as the
deathblow to the carefully written eps-
ties Of the past. That the postcard may
have had some such effect Is not perhaps
TO be altogether disputed, but In an emil
nently utilltarian age like the present the
fact that postcards have become most
useful and indeed indispensable adjunct
of social and commercial Intercourse must
far outweigh any disadvantage which the
old world letter writer ascribes to its use
Notwithstanding all the objections urged
against the system of postcards, their use
in this country spread very rapidly On
the very first day of their introduction
900 cards passed through the office at
St. Martins ie Grande alone, while the
weekly number of cards posted through
out the country averaged 100000. In the
first year of their use the number of cards
sent was 100000, and since then they
have increased each year at an extraor-
dinarilx rand until the TlrpSpnf AL
most fabulous number of 1882, 100000 as al
ready quoted, has been reached.
The Systems Growth.
The system has not attained its existing
huge proportions without undergoing many
changes and improvements. At the outset
only cards issued by the postoffice were
allowed 70 be used, and these were sold at
their face value. Curiously enough, this
fact gave rise to as much agitation a
there is now against the charge made for
the cost of material The stationers, who
complained of unfair competition on the
part of the government, took up the ques-
ton vigorously but 1t was not until 1872,
after many fruitless negotiations, that
| they succeeded in bringing about change.
In the year named it was decided to make
a slight charge for the materials, and the
price of twelve cards was raised from cd
| 10 6lsd. AT the same time the use of pri-
| Vate cards was permitted, provided they
| were stamped at Somerset House. for
which, al first, the Inland Revenue author
| tiles made no charge. In 1888 however
on the ground of protecting the official
| cards from competition and also of pay
| ing the cost of stamping, they deemed It
necessary to impose charge of Is for a
! thousand, which was subsequently, raised
| to Is Cd and still later TO Is Cd, per thou
! sand. The use of private cards with the
| ordinary adhesive half-penny postage
stamp was concession which the public
| agitated for with conspicuous tenacity for
many years, and the agitation was not
| wanting in vigorous supporters of Parlia-
ment. The chief objections 10 their use
were breach of uniformity and the endan-
| gering of the penny letter rate, by the in
| clusion of cards of invitation and the like.
| The question passed through many yieissi-
| tudes and, although it was favorably re-
| garded by Mr. Fawcett, the postoffice Of
fcials, and committee of inquiry, 1t was
not, owing to the opposition of the treas
| ury, until Sept. l, 1894, that private cards
| under certain conditions as to weight and
| size were at length allowed to be used
| with the adhesive label. The concession
has proved, needless almost to remark.
an immense boon to all classes of post
card writers.
The question of charging only face value
for postcards Is still a debated one. Since
1881 the matter has been keenly ventilated
in and out of Parliament. A Select Com
mittee in 1888 considered fully the merits
of the case, but with the result only of
causing a slight reduction to be made In
postcard prices. The ground of objection
on the part of the government is that. If
postcard were sold at face value. 1t would
be doing a wrong to the papermakers and
would involve a loss of revenue IL being
stated that heavy cost has to be paid
to the contractors. On the other hand il
is TO be remembered that in other countries
postcards are sold for their face value.
and even in our own such Is the case as
regards the foreign postcard. The mat
ter is not, perhaps a very important one.
but IL is just one of those petty irksoue
Inconvenience, if not Inconsistencies. for
the removal of which the public will never
cease to clamor.
The postcard has undergone many lit
tie changes during its thirty years ca
reer, which, while beneficial in themselves.
need hardly to adverted to at length
Senders of cards may now sign the ad-
dress side, a concession granted at the
suggestion of Mr.. Gladstone who was also
responsible for the stout" card which was
brought into use in 1874 The court, or
correspondence cards, were not introduced
until over twenty years later, namely, on
Jan q, 1896 and these will now take the
place OF the stout" cards which are 10
be allowed to become exhausted. The for
eign postcard was introduced In 1874 be-
ing one OF the results of the first conyeu-