The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-07-02
TWO-CENT POSTAGE.

The reduction in ordinary letter postage IRON
three to two cents, which became effective
throughout the United States at midnight June
80. will be welcomed by all classes of the people
When on November 2, 1917, the rate was in
creased to three cents it extracted pennies and
dollars from the pockets of more people than
any other provision of the war revenue act, but
it is only fair to add that the burden has been
willingly and periodically borne, so long as adj
dtional revenue has been necessary to meet the
nations extraordinary expenses of the war.
When the three-cent rate came into effect a
whole generation had elapsed since it had cost
three cents to send letter through the mails,
outside local limits. In restoring the two-cent
rate Uncle Sam is pursuing policy that is al
most as old as the government itself, and which
has been interrupted only in cases of greatest
emergency. From the time of the original estab-
lishment of the postoffice department, more than
a century and quarter ago, the tendency has
been toward decreasing rather than increasing
rates.
Only once before in the history of the country
had the government found it necessary to in
crease the postage rate. This in 1872, to
meet the expenses of the second war with Great
Britain. In that year the ordinary letter postage
was doubled, the increased rate continuing for a
period of four years before the former rate was
restored. Then, as in 1917, the increase was
purely al emergency measure to help the gov
eminent in defraying the expenses of the war.
The United States postal service was still in
very primitive state of development in those
early days, and rates, even in times of peace,
were high. Communication by mail was chiefly
confined to the few.
Doubling the then existing rate realized only
few thousand dollars, whereas the recent in
crease of one-third brought in many additional
millions, so tremendous has been the growth of
the letter-writing habit, both for business and
social purposes.
AS late as 1910 the lowest letter postage rate
In the United States cents for letters not
carried further than 80 miles and containing but
single page. If the distance exceeded 80 miles
the charge was 10 cents for each sheet, increas-
ing gradually to % cents for 400 miles.
In 1845 the rates were reduced to cents for
distances not exceeding 800 miles and 10 cents
for longer distances
The ordinary adhesive postage stamp, now in
universal use, was until then unknown in Ameri-
ca. 1t had lately been introduced in England but
the suggestion that It be introduced on this side
OF the Atlantic was not popular, and it was not
until the postal officials threatened to make its
use compulsory that it officially adopted by
the United States in 1S47
Prior to that time the ordinary envelope had
not been devised. The sheet on which letter
was written was folded and sealed before being
deposited in the mails and the rate of postage
varied with the length of the letter.
The postage was paid by the recipient of the
letter. instead of by the sender-a circumstance
which probably accounts for the early unpopu-
larity of the postage stamp. The cost of the
postage under the old system passed on to
the recipient, who could refuse to accept and pay
for the letter if he saw fit
In 1851 the rate of ordinary letter postage
was reduced from and 10 cents to cents But
these reductions did not avail to stop popular
agitation for still cheaper rates, and further
changes downward would undoubtedly have been
made but for the civil war and the fl
nancial requirements of the government at that