The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-11-27


of letter writer's naturally looked upor
the innovation as the deathbloW to the
carefully writing epistles of the past
That the post card may have had some
such effect is not perhaps to be alto
gether disputed. but in an eminently
unitarian age like the present the
fact that post cards have become q
most useful and indeed indispensable
adjunct of social and commercial in
tercourse must far outweigh any dis
advantage which the old world letter
writer ascribes to it's use.
Notwithstanding all the objectiones
urged against the system of post cards
the use in this country, spread very
rapidly. On the very first day of their
Introduction $4,000 cards passed
through the office at st. Martins lie
Grand alone while the weekly number of
cards posted throughout the country
averaged 100000. In the first year of
their use the number of cards sent was
75,000,000, and since then they have in
creased each year at an extraordinary
rapid rate, until the present almost
fabulous number of 1872, 100000, as al
ready quoted, has been reached.
The system has not attained it's exist
ing huge proportions without undergo
ing many changes and improvements.
AT the outset only cards issued by the
postoffice We're allowed to be used, and
these were sold at their face value. Gu
liously enough this fact gave rise to as
much agitation as there is now against
| the charge made for cost of material.
The statioriers who complained of I'M
| fair competition on the part of the
/ government, took up the question vigor-
ously. but it 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 rails
| ed from Cd. to G 1-2d. At the same
time the use of private cards wac per-
mitted provided they We're stamped at
| Somerset House, for which, at first, the
| inland revenue authorities made no
| charge. In 1888, however, on the ground
of protecting the official cards from
competition and also paying the cost of
stamping, they deemed it necessary to
impose a charge of Is. for a thousand,
which was subsequently raised to q. Cd,
per thousand. The use of private cards
postage stamp was a concession which
the public agitated for with conspicuous
tenacity for many years, and the agita-
ton was not wanting in vigorous sup
porters in parliament The chief objec-
tions to their use were breach of uni
formity and the endangering of the pen
ny letter rate by the inclusion of cards
of invitation and the like. The ques-
tion passed through many vicissitudes,
and although it was favorably regard
ed by Mr.. Fawcett, the postoffice otfic-
ials. and committee of inquiry, it was
not. owing to the opposition of the
treasury, until September 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 conclusion has proved, need
less almost to remark, an immense boon
to all classes of postcard writer's.
The question of charging only face
value for postcards is still debated
one. Since 1881 the matter has been
keenly ventilated in and out of parlia-
ment. A select committee in 1888 con-
sidered fully the merits of the case but |
with the result only of causing a slight |
reduction to be made in post card |
prices The ground of objection on the |
part of the government is that, if post
cards We're sold at face value, it would |
be doing a wrong to the papermakers |
and would involve less of revenue, |
it being stated that a heavy cost has
to be paid to the contractors. On the
other hand, it 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 for !
eign post card The matter is not, per-
haps. very important one, but it Is
Just one of those petty, irksome in
If not Inconsistencies, for
the removal of which the public wl'l
never cease to clanof.
The postcard has undergone many
little changes during it's thirty years
career, which, while beneficial in them
Selves need hardly be averted to at
length. Senders of cards may now
sign the address side, a concession
granted at the suggestion of Mr. Glad
stone. who was also responsible for the
''stout" card which was brought into
use in 1874. The court, or corfespon-
dence cards, We're not introduced until
over twenty years later, namely, on
1000, anu ticSC Wiil HON
take the place of the stout cards
which are to allowed to become exhaust
I'd. The foreign postcard was INTRODUCE
I'd in 1874, being one of the results of
he first convention of the Universal
Postal Union, the twenty first annivers-
ary of whose establishment has Just
Perhaps the most useful of
al the changes that have taken place
n connection with the postcard system
vas the introduction of reply pos cards
n October, 1882. The salient feature
If these cards is, of course, that they
hese were sold at their face value. The
20 far toward an answer. The advan- ]
ages of such a card are too obvious
o require comment, and it need hardly
De said that their sale has been rapid {
md has now reached a high figure. s
similar cards for foreign correspondence !
lave been brought into Use under the ]
uspices of the Postal Union, and, as I
nay be imagined, they have been still {
more appreciated.
The latest change as regards post !
ards, as recorded at tine outset, is not '
f startling nature, but, nevertheless, l
t will be received with much public APP +
recitation. The postcard with it's en- S
2