Chapter 6
“As the post-office is made to sustain itself solely by a tax on correspondence, it should derive aid and support from everything it conveys. No man’s private correspondence should go free, since the expense of so conveying it becomes a charge upon others; and the special favor thus given, and which is much abused by being extended to others not contemplated by law, is unjust and odious. Neither should the _public_ correspondence be carried free of charge, where such immunity operates as a burden upon the correspondence of the citizen. There is no just reason why the public should not pay its postages as well as citizens—no sufficient reason why this item of public expenses should not be borne, like all others, by the general tax paid into the public treasury.”
The report of the Senate Committee goes still more fully into the argument, leading to the same conclusion. In explaining the reasons for the dissatisfaction with the post-office, then so widely felt by the people, and the consequent diminution of its revenues, it argues thus:
“The _immediate_ benefits of the post-office establishment accruing to that portion of the people only who carry on correspondence through it, and these enjoying those benefits in very unequal degrees, according to their various pursuits, habits, or inclinations, it has seemed to be required by the principles of equal justice that the expenses of the establishment should be defrayed by contributions collected equally from each person served by it, in proportion to the amount of service rendered. The obvious justice of this rule, admitting as it does of so near an approximation to exact justice in its practical application to the business of this department, has commended it to all: and, accordingly, the department has always been _professedly_ governed by it: but, unfortunately, so wide has been the departure from this just and equitable rule in the actual practice, that it has become a word of promise, kept only to the ear, and broken to the sense. Far from exacting of all equal contributions towards meeting the necessary expenses of this department in proportion to the amount of service rendered to each, about one-eighth part numerically, and probably not less than one sixth part in weight and bulk of the whole correspondence, has been privileged to pass free of all charge—to say nothing of the immense amount of public documents conveyed under similar privilege, while the expense of the whole has been borne by high charges upon the non-privileged part of the correspondence. It may be said this privilege was granted, and has been extended, from time to time, for the public service, and in furtherance of the public interest. Admitted; but is it not perceived that it still involves a palpable violation of the principle of equal justice, before shown to be at the foundation of all our institutions, and an adherence to which is indispensable in the conduct of all our affairs? How can it be made to comport with any just conceptions of right, for the Government to levy so large a tax, for the common purposes of all, upon a portion only of its citizens? As well might the post-office be used as a source of general revenue, as to be taxed specially with the expenses of this branch of the public service—a mode of raising revenue for general purposes universally admitted to be so unequal and unjust that it has never been resorted to in this country but in a single instance of extreme necessity, and then only for a very short time. It is true, the post-office may be, and is in other countries, successfully resorted to as a means of extorting money from the people; but this must be where the principles of government are widely different from ours, and the leading policy being not the promotion of the happiness and welfare of the many, but the advancement of the few, justifies the use of any means which may subserve that end. There force and fear, not justice and mutual good will, are the controlling influences. According to the nature of our government, it might with much more propriety be asked, by those who use the post-office establishment, that its whole expense be borne by the general treasury, than that they should be required to defray the expense of the public service performed in this or any other department; because it may with truth be urged, that although the advantages of this department accrue _immediately_ to them, yet mediately at least they inure to the great benefit of the whole country.”
These objections are of great weight, even under the old or the present postage. With cheap postage, they ought to be conclusive. In the language of the English Chancellor of the Exchequer, men who would then wish to retain the franking privilege “must have a more intense appreciation of the value of money, and a greater disregard for the value of time, than I can conceive, if they insist on it.” The only other reason for retaining the privilege would be, that honorable gentlemen, in the receipt of eight dollars per day for attending to the business of the nation, would be willing to spend their time in writing franks at two cents a-piece, for the sake of having their names circulate through the post-office with the letters M. C. attached to them.
A serious objection to the franking system is, that it unavoidably tends to constant strife and altercation between members of congress and the department. The head of the department, naturally and properly careful of the income of the post-office, sees with pain the vast encroachment upon the revenue made by the franking system. He becomes rigid in the construction of the law; he deems every frank that does not come within its letter an abuse; he adopts the assumption that franks were only designed for the personal accommodation of the individual, and not for his family or friends. He watches to detect some unwarranted stretch, he finds a plenty; he examines a franked letter, he stops it; complaint is made to the member whose signature has been treated with disrespect, an explosion follows, the public service is hindered, and the honor of law is lowered. At this moment there is a bill pending in congress, to protect the franks of members, in consequence of a franked letter having been stopped, on the ground that the direction was not in the handwriting of him who gave the frank. Any espionage upon men’s letters, is plainly an intolerable grievance in a republican government. The British government were compelled to allow franks of members to cover all that was under them, and they therefore restricted them in weight and number. The only available method for us is to abolish the privilege itself. The experience under the present postage law proves that it is impossible to abolish the privilege, except by establishing cheap postage. The act of 1844 attempted greatly to restrict the franking privilege, but in three years every material restriction has been practically done away. There is no middle ground between boundless franking and no franking. The bill above referred to has passed the senate, in spite of the most earnest remonstrances of the Postmaster-General, so that now the frank of a member of congress covers all that is under it, within the prescribed limit of two ounces weight. Those members who are so disposed can frank envelopes for their friends, in any number, and send them in parcels of two ounces, to be used anywhere, without any more meddling of the post-office clerks. The remedy will be, to reduce the rate of postage so low, that it will be worth no person’s while to use the franking privilege, or to seek its benefits from those who hold it; or so that, if it is retained, those who use it will at least show that they “have a more intense appreciation of money, and a greater disregard for the value of time,” than ordinary persons can conceive!
It has been said that it will be impossible to secure the services of postmasters, without giving them the franking privilege. But it will be found that the cheap and uniform postage, always prepaid, will so greatly diminish the labor of keeping the post-office, as to remove the objection in most cases to taking the trouble. And for the rest, it is only for the department to demand that, if the people of any neighborhood wish a post-office they must furnish a postmaster, and this difficulty is annihilated.
With regard to the transmission of public documents, printed by order of the two houses of congress, it is undeniable that very much of the printing itself, and the circulation of them through the mail, is a sheer abuse and wanton waste. And it is probable that a great check would be given to these abuses, if there were an account required and a charge made on the public treasury of all this circulation, at the same rate with other pamphlet postage. The circulation, even if kept up at its present rate, would in fact cost no more than it does now; but the burden would be taken from the letter correspondence of the country, and placed where it ought to be, on the general treasury. The statement of 1844, that four millions of public documents are circulated in a single session, attracted much attention of the public press at the time. One influential paper, the New York Journal of Commerce, has the following remarks under the head of “National Bribery:”
“It has just been stated in congress, that the two houses had ordered _fifty-five thousand copies_ to be printed, of the Report of the Commissioner of Patents: and that the cost to the country would be $114,000. This Report is a huge document, printed in large type, with a large margin, containing very little matter of the least importance, and that little so buried in the rubbish, as to be worth about as much as so many ‘needles in a hay-mow.’ Then, this huge quantity of trash, created at this large expense, is to be _franked_ for all parts of the country, by way of _currying favor and getting votes next time_, lumbering the mails, and creating another large expense. We have taken the trouble to weigh the copy of this document, which was forwarded to us, and find its ponderosity to be 2 lbs., 14 ozs., or, with the wrapper, about _three pounds_! The aggregate weight of the 55,000 copies, is therefore EIGHTY-TWO AND A HALF TONS! Eighty-two and a half tons of paper spoiled; and the nation taxed $114,000 for spoiling it; and then compelled to lug it to all parts of the Union through the monopoly post-office and the _franking_ privilege! Poor patient people!
“Such taxes, to be defrayed by high postage on letters and newspapers, grow out of this _franking_ privilege; and the power which congress reserve to themselves, of distributing free, as many documents as they choose to print at the public expense! These documents, it seems, are the grand means resorted to by many members, of ‘_currying favor_’ with the influential, and thus ‘_getting votes next time!_’ ”
A late number of the Boston Courier contains the following humorous but not untruthful description of this franking business, written by a correspondent at Washington:
“The object of assembling the representatives of the people is _discussion_, not business; or at least, no other business to speak of. And this is labor enough for any man. Why, one gentleman of the house informed me that he had 2700 names on his list of persons to whom he must send documents, and he is _not_ a candidate for re-election.
“Now, let us suppose that the average number of each member’s _document_ constituency is but 2500, and that each gets _four_ favors only from his servant in congress. This would throw upon the shoulders of each member the labor of procuring, and franking, and directing _ten thousand_ speeches in the course of a session. What more business than this should be expected of a man? especially, when we consider that the representative must receive and answer, at length, all sorts of letters, from all sorts of people, upon all sorts of topics, from Aunt Peg’s pension to Amy Dardin’s horse. If each member requires 10,000 speeches to his constituents, somebody has got to make them. And as there are something over 280 members of both branches there must be a supply of about _three millions_ of this kind of ‘fodder.’ How can it be otherwise than that the congressional talking-mill must be kept constantly going? And what a famine would there be should it stop grinding? Going into a Western member’s room the other day, and seeing him with his coat off in the middle of the apartment, up to his middle in documents, and speeches, and letters, laboring lustily with his pen, I alluded to his press of private business.
“ ‘Stranger,’ said he, ‘I never came to congress before, and I never want to come again. I tell _you_ that this office of member of congress is not what it is cracked up to be. I calculated to have a good time here this winter, after racing all over my district, and making more than five hundred stump speeches in order to get elected. But the fact is you can see the way I enjoy myself. It is what I call the enjoyments horribly. Why, sir, I never began to work in this way before in all my life.’ I asked, ‘How comes on the loan bill in your branch?’ ‘O, they are spouting away, sir, and here I am franking the speeches. The Lord only knows what is in them.’ ‘And the Ten Regiment Bill?’ ‘I know nothing about it, and don’t want to. Look at them thar letters,’ pointing to a two bushel basket of private correspondence—‘not one half of them answered; look at these speeches, not a quarter of them franked. What attention can I give to loan bills and regiment bills? Sir, I must attend to my _constituents_.’ And we left him to his labors. Our impression is, that it takes all day Saturday, and Sunday too, to bring up the franking and letter writing business of the week, for the members seldom get out to church.”
VI. _Letter Postage Stamps, for Prepayment._
In England, as a part of the system devised by Mr. Rowland Hill, the prepayment of letter-postage is greatly facilitated, and, of course, the tendency to prepayment is increased, while the management of the post-office itself, in all its departments, is simplified to the highest degree, by the use of adhesive postage-stamps. The stamp is a small oblong piece of paper, with a device upon it, (Queen’s head) so skilfully engraved and printed as almost to defy counterfeiting, against which indeed the small value of each one, the danger of speedy detection, and the high penalty for counterfeiting a royal signet, are equally effective safeguards. The stamp is coated on the back with an adhesive gum, which securely fastens the stamp to the letter, by being slightly wet and pressed down with the finger. These are printed in sheets, and are sold at all post-offices, at precisely their postal value; 1_d_., 2_d_., or 1_s_., as the case may be. The postmasters purchase them for cash, of the general post-office, and are allowed a deduction of one per cent for their trouble. The small shop-keepers of all descriptions, who buy from the post-offices without discount, generally keep postage-stamps to sell for the accommodation of their customers and neighbors, just as they would give small change for a larger piece of money with the same view. Such a shop would lose favor by refusing to keep stamps to sell.
Each individual buys stamps for his own use, in as great or small numbers as he pleases, always at the same rate. You keep them on your writing-desk, along with wafers and wax. You carry a few in your wallet, ready for use at any place. You seal your letter, and direct it, and then attach one of these stamps, drop it into the letter-box, or send it to the post-office, and that wonderful machinery takes it up, passes it about, finds the owner, and delivers it into his hand, without any additional charge. Nothing can exceed the simplicity of the process but the perfection of its working.
As the current value of these stamps is the same in every part of the country, and is precisely identical with that of the coin they represent, they serve as a currency to be used in payment of small sums at a distance. This is more useful in England than in the United States, because there they have no bank notes of small denominations. But even in this country, as soon as they are in general use, they will be found vastly convenient in making small payments at a distance.
Besides the label stamps, the English post-office manufactures and sells stamped envelopes, which will at once enclose the letter and pay the postage. The price of the envelope is half a farthing, in addition to the 1_d._ for postage; that is, eight stamped envelopes are sold for 9_d._, or 24 for 2_s._ 3_d._
Stamped half sheets of paper are also furnished by the post-office, a farthing being charged for the paper, besides the 1_d._ for postage. These are much used for printing circulars, for which they are very convenient. They are also bought by the poor to write brief letters on.
It is a common practice, in writing to another person on your own business, to enclose a postage stamp to prepay the letter in reply. Some persons, who have much correspondence, procure their own address printed in script on the back of stamped envelopes, and then send these enclosed to bring back the expected return. Persons doing a great deal of business with each other, through the post-office, keep each other’s envelopes on hand. The child at school or the son in college, is furnished with his father’s envelopes, stamped and directed.
The postage stamps are cancelled, by an obliterating stamp in the office where they are received, so that no postage stamp can ever be used a second time. Each post-office is furnished with a cancel stamp, and an ineffaceable ink for this purpose. There are five different forms of cancel stamps, one used for London letters, deliverable within the London District, one for letters mailed in London for places elsewhere, one for all other places in England and Wales, one for Scotland, and one for Ireland. Thus it is seen at a glance, from what section a letter comes. Sometimes the stamp denoting the place at which a letter is mailed, is not sufficiently plain. To meet this, and to serve some other conveniences, the cancel stamps have a blank in the centre, in which is inserted the number belonging to that office. Thus the shape tells the district, and the number the office from which each letter comes. The London stamp has a circular blank for letters that are mailed within the London circle, and deliverable also within it, and a diamond-shaped blank for letters going out of London.
The post-offices in each section are all numbered consecutively, and each office is permanently known in all other offices by its number as well as its name. Each office has its number engraved in the blank space of its cancel stamp, as in the first and last above, so that the place from which the letter comes is known at a glance.
The total number of Label Stamps issued in the year ending
1_d_. Stamps. 2_d_. Stamps. 5th January, 1841, 74,856,960 7,587,960 5th January, 1842, 110,878,344 3,391,800 5th January, 1843, 121,648,080 2,866,080 ——— ——— First three years, 307,383,384 13,845,840
321,229,224 stamps, nominal value, £1,396,146 Expense of manufacture and distribution, 42,763 ——— ——— Net proceeds, £1,353,382 Average yearly, 451,127
The present cost of Label Stamps is reported, July 16, 1846, thus:
Paper for a million labels, £5 11_s_. Printing and gumming, 25 -- Salaries, proportion of, 46 10_s_. Contingencies, poundage, &c. 46 10_s_. ————— ——— Cost per million, £79 --
The entire cost of the Stamped Envelopes is thus stated:
Year Ending. Cost. Sold for. Profit. 5th January, 1841, £4,268 £4,292 5th January, 1842, 5,530 5,470 5th January, 1843, 5,290 5,415 5th January, 1844, 6,190 6,540 5th January, 1845, 6,948 7,261 Total, five years, £28,229 £28,978 £749
The original cost of the machinery, £435, is divided and apportioned on six years. The whole number of envelopes issued is 83,694,240. The present cost per million is £359; proceeds, £371; profits, £12.
Whether it would be advisable for our own post-office to go into the manufacture of envelopes, may be doubtful. Probably it will be judged that the Label Stamps would afford all needed convenience, so far as the government is concerned, and the rest would be left to private enterprise. From the returns of the actual expense of manufacturing envelopes, £359 per million—about a mill and three quarters apiece, it will be seen that there is yet room for individual competition among us, to bring down the current price to the rate of only a reasonable profit.
The third assistant Postmaster-General remarks, in his late report, that the demand for Label Stamps has not been as great as was anticipated, the amount sold being but $28,330, which would only pay for about 500,000 stamps. This is indeed a very great falling off from the number purchased in England, which must be not less than two hundred millions of stamps in the year. He says that “many important commercial towns have not applied for them, and in others they are only used in trifling amounts. But it should be borne in mind, that people are more likely to invest a dollar in stamps, when they get fifty for their money, than when they only get ten or twenty. And when purchased, they are likely to use them up a great deal more freely, when they look at each one as only two cents. With so great a convenience afforded at so cheap a rate, it is not possible but that the demand must be immense, and the use abundantly satisfactory to the people and to the department.”
These stamps would obviate the practical difficulty apprehended in the administration of the cheap postage system, in those parts of the country where the use of copper coin is not common; as it will always be easy to purchase stamps with dimes. I do not believe any persons in this country would be so fastidious on this point, as to be unwilling to send five letters for the same money that it now costs to send one.
VII. _New Arrangement of Newspaper Postage._