Part 20

An Act of 1805[547] imposed an additional charge of 1d., making 3d. in all, on letters sent by the twopenny post and not passing by the General Post, directed to or sent from places beyond the limits of the General Post delivery; and on every letter passing by the General Post and directed to places beyond the limits of the General Post delivery, and delivered by the twopenny post, an additional charge of 2d.[548] There were now, in reality, two local posts in the London area--the twopenny post, for letters transmitted between places within the limits of the delivery of the General Post; and the threepenny post, for letters directed to or sent from places within the limits of the local service, but beyond the limits of the General Post delivery. In 1831 the limits of delivery of the twopenny post were extended to include all places within a radius of 3 miles of the General Post Office; and in 1833 the limits of the threepenny post were extended to include all places beyond the 3-mile limit, and not exceeding 12 miles from the General Post Office.[549] No further modifications of importance were made before the establishment of uniform penny postage.

The introduction of a uniform rate of postage for the whole country of 1d., only half the lowest rate which had been charged in the London local post, obviously made unnecessary the continuance of that post, and also of the penny posts scattered up and down the country; or rather extended to the whole country the benefit of rates based on items of local cost only, since the system of uniform postage irrespective of distance rests on the recognition of the preponderating cost of the local or terminal services, and the relatively insignificant cost per letter of the service--conveyance from place to place--which depends on the distance of transmission.

Financially the London penny and twopenny posts were always successful. Under the penny rate the profits had approached half the gross receipts--in 1800 they were 43 per cent.--and under the twopenny rate at once rose to more than 60 per cent., in 1825 reaching 67 per cent. The net revenue, which in 1801 under the penny rate was [L]16,286, had in 1837 under the twopenny rate risen to [L]73,334.[550]

CANADA

Special local rates have from quite early dates been in operation in America. If in England the lowest rate fixed for General Post letters had been found too high to afford reasonable accommodation for the public in London and other cities, it may well be imagined that the lowest rate in Canada, gauged as it was to the needs of a service which should cover a country of vast area and ill-provided with roads, would be found altogether high for local letters. Moreover, in most places no sort of delivery service existed. Local letters could only be placed in the post office to be called for by the persons to whom they were addressed. In Canada the actual cost of the conveyance of the mail was consequently disproportionately high compared with other expenses of the service, and the justice of a lower rate for such letters as obtained no benefit from that expenditure naturally suggested itself. The lowest rate fixed by the Act of 1765 for transmission within Canada of a single letter was 4d., and, rather than charge such a rate on local letters, the deputies in Nova Scotia allowed such letters to be deposited in the post office free.

At Confederation a special rate for local letters of 1 cent per 1/2 ounce was established. At this time there was still no authorized house-to-house delivery of letters in any part of Canada, and local letters were actually what they are always termed, viz. "drop" letters. They were letters dropped into the post office letter-box and handed out at the office to the addressee on application. When in 1875 delivery by letter-carrier was introduced in certain towns, the drop-letter rate was not disturbed. It was thought, however, that a postage charge of 1 cent was not sufficient to cover the cost of the service of delivery at the place of address, performed by an expensive establishment of letter-carriers; and in 1889, on that ground, though much against the wishes of the mercantile community, the rate was raised to 2 cents an ounce in cities and towns where the system of delivery by letter-carrier was established, the existing rate of 1 cent per 1/2 ounce being continued in other cities and towns.

The ordinary letter rate was still 3 cents. This change therefore left all local letters with a lower rate than ordinary letters.[551]

The 2-cent rate proved to be too high. Much dissatisfaction resulted, and evasions were constant. In defiance of the law, which conferred on the Postmaster-General the monopoly of the carriage of letters, merchants made arrangements for the transmission and delivery by their private messengers of their letters for local delivery. The evil assumed such proportions that the suppression of the private carriage of local letters was deemed out of question, and the Government concluded that the only satisfactory solution of the difficulty was the re-introduction of the general 1 cent drop-letter rate.[552] So great was the number of drop letters sent otherwise than through the Post Office that no actual loss of revenue was anticipated from a reduction of the rate, which should bring back those letters to the post. This anticipation was more than realized. In a very short time after the passing of the Act of 1898 legalizing the reduction to 1 cent, the gross revenue from local letters surpassed that obtained under the 2-cent rate.

FRANCE

In 1658 a local service (_la petite poste_) was established in Paris by M. Velayer. He obtained from the King the exclusive privilege of erecting letter-boxes, which were opened three times daily, in various parts of the city,[553] and set up an office in the royal palace at which tickets bearing the words "Port-pay['e] le ... du ... de l'an 1653" might be purchased at the price of a sou. No money was paid to the letter-carrier by persons posting or receiving letters. A label was affixed to the letter, which was then delivered without further charge.[554] The service was not a success and was discontinued.

In 1759 a local postal service was re-established in Paris by M. de Chamousset. The new service was avowedly in imitation of the London penny post. The rate was 2 sous for a letter not exceeding 1 ounce in weight, delivered in Paris, and 3 sous if delivered in surrounding villages not served by the general post. This venture proved more successful than the earlier service of M. Velayer. At the outset it employed about two hundred men, and the profits for the first year were 50,000 livres. But its founder, M. de Chamousset, met with no better fate than Dockwra, the founder of its prototype. Such large profits could not escape the notice of the Government, and the service was taken over by the King, Chamousset being given a pension of 20,000 livres as its inventor.[555] The service was continued, and its success led to the establishment of similar local services in other towns--Bordeaux, Lille, Lyons, Nancy, Marseilles, Montpellier, Nantes, Rouen, Strasburg, etc.[556]

The ordinary letter rate in France remained at a moderately high level until a comparatively late date, and a special rate for local letters continued until 1878. In that year the ordinary rate for letters was reduced to 15 centimes, the level of the existing local rate, and since that time local letters have enjoyed no special privilege in France.

GERMANY

In Germany the delivery of local letters in towns was for a long period conducted as a private undertaking of the postmaster or letter-carrier. Between 1842 and 1852 it was made a branch of the general postal service, and the delivery charge (_Ortsbestellgeld_), which, in general, had been retained by the letter-carrier as wages, was, in the latter year, made payable to the general revenue. An arrangement was also made for the acceptance and delivery of local letters, at the rate of 1 sgr.[557] If the letters were called for at the post office (and the service of delivery at the house therefore not performed) the rate was reduced to 1/2 sgr.; and when one person posted as many as one hundred local letters at the same time, the rate for each letter was no more than 4-1/2 pf. (reduced in 1860 to 4 pf.), including delivery at residence. When as many as fifty were posted at one time, the rate was reduced to 1/2 sgr. By a regulation of the 21st December 1860 the limit of weight for the single letter was, however, raised to 1/2 pound, and a rate of 2 sgr. imposed on heavier letters, but the rates were not otherwise materially changed. The law of 16th September 1862 abolished the delivery fee on ordinary letters. In 1865[558] the rate for local packets of printed matter was reduced to 4 pf.

When, at the foundation of the North German Union in 1867, the postal rates were reorganized, the question of the local rates proved to be one of some little difficulty, since the existing rates differed very considerably in the different parts of the Union. The Prussian rates were high as compared with the rates in some other States; and any rate which could be applied generally was likely to represent a considerable reduction of the Prussian rates, but a considerable increase of the rates in other States. The reorganization of the local rates was consequently delayed. After much discussion a new local rate for places in the former Prussian postal territory (excepting Berlin and Hamburg) was established:[559] for ordinary letters 1/2 sgr., for printed matter and samples 1/3 sgr. In Hanover the local letter rate was made 1/3 sgr.; in Brunswick 1/4 sgr.; and in Cassel, Erfurt, Frankfort-on-Main, and Hamburg similar rates were established.[560]

From the 1st January 1875 a uniform rate of 5 pf. for local letters was introduced throughout the Imperial postal territory. The rate was irrespective of weight, but there was a maximum limit of 250 grammes. All other local packets (postcards, printed matter, and samples) were subject to the ordinary rates of postage. No special local rate was fixed for parcels: the lowest zone rate was payable, and was, of course, in effect a local rate. The general application of the new letter rate would, in certain cases, have resulted in increased rates, and in those cases (Constance, Darmstadt, and Karlsruhe) a rate of 3 pf.--the equivalent of the previously existing rate--was established. In Berlin, in view of the specially expensive arrangements for the delivery of letters, the rate of 10 pf. for local letters remained in force.[561]

For the delivery of local parcels no charge had previously been made beyond the rate of local postage, although in respect of all packets from outside a delivery charge was collected. From the 1st January 1875, however, local parcels were made liable to a delivery charge.[562] In general, the local rates introduced on the 1st January 1875 remained for more than a quarter of a century unchanged, but in course of time difficulties in their administration developed. The order of the 18th December 1874 had prescribed a special local rate for letters only; for all other kinds of postal traffic the ordinary rates remained applicable. Consequently, a local postcard was charged the same postage as a letter weighing 250 grammes; similarly the rates for printed matter or samples for local delivery were high when compared with the rate for local letters. Such rates were, moreover, anomalous when compared with the rates for long-distance traffic, which, for postcards, printed matter, and samples, were much less than for letters. In fact, for local delivery printed matter and samples had only to be placed in sealed covers in order to pass at the rate of 5 pf.

In many of the larger towns the delivery of local letters was undertaken by private enterprise at rates much lower than those of the Imperial Post Office. The undertakings secured a very large proportion of the local traffic, and found even these low rates very profitable. Moreover, the large increase in the number of post offices, and the withdrawal of numerous places from the areas assigned to certain offices, had led, in many cases, to great difficulties in deciding whether letters were subject to the general or the local rate of postage.[563]

The regulations governing local traffic were accordingly revised under the law of the 20th December 1899. Local rates were considerably reduced in amount, and were made applicable to all traffic passing between a town area and the neighbouring area (_Nachbarorts-Verkehr_),[564] by which the advantage of these rates was greatly extended. In order to enable the Post Office adequately to fulfil its public functions, as the phrase went, it was thought necessary, in view of the development of the private undertakings, to confer upon it the exclusive right to deal with local traffic. At first the proposal was to extend the monopoly only to closed letters, but the Reichstag widened the prohibition, and forbade private undertakings to conduct arrangements for the transmission of letters, sealed or unsealed, postcards, printed matter, or samples addressed to particular persons.[565]

The traffic left open to private enterprise, viz. the delivery of unaddressed open letters, parcels, newspapers, and magazines, was regarded by most of the proprietors as insufficient to warrant the continuance of their undertakings, and on the 1st April 1900 almost all the private establishments of this kind were discontinued. The proprietors were, however, compensated by the State for the loss of their profits.[566] The first undertaking of this kind had been established in Berlin in the 'seventies, under the title _Brief- und Druckschriften-Expedition_. Its success led to the establishment in Berlin and various other places of similar undertakings, some of which were profitable, but most of which were unsuccessful. The cheaper rates, however, attracted a considerable volume of traffic, and at the time of their suppression some seventy-seven such undertakings were in existence. Most of them were not of long standing, only fourteen of the seventy-seven having been founded in the 'eighties, forty having been founded in the years 1895-6-7, in a period of speculation resulting from the high dividends paid by the Berliner Packetfahrt-Aktiengesellschaft. The size of the undertakings varied largely. In some cases the whole business was conducted by the members of a family; in others as many as a hundred men were employed; and in the case of the Berliner Packetfahrt-Aktiengesellschaft the letter traffic alone employed a thousand men. The amount of traffic dealt with was considerable, and large additions to the postal staff were found necessary.[567] Some of the employees of the private establishments were taken over by the Imperial Postal Administration, and a sum of 1-1/2 million marks was paid as compensation to employees who were not taken over.

Although special provision had been made in the statute with regard to the amount of compensation to be paid to the proprietors, the determination of the actual amount was a matter of some difficulty, owing largely to the unsatisfactory and unreliable manner in which the accounts of many of the undertakings had been kept.[568] In several cases also the owners asked exorbitant amounts.

After much negotiation the sum to be paid was finally decided. It amounted to some six million marks. In order to get rid of the private establishments for the handling of private letters, etc., the Imperial Administration therefore paid in all (i.e. including the compensation to the employees of the private undertakings) a sum of about 7-1/2 million marks.[569]

The new rates were as follow[570]:--

(_a_) Letters-- Not exceeding 250 grammes in weight 5 pf. (_b_) Postcards 2 pf. (_c_) Printed matter-- Not exceeding 50 grammes 2 pf. 50 grammes to 100 " 3 pf. 100 " 250 " 5 pf. 250 " 500 " 10 pf. 500 " 1,000 " 15 pf. (_d_) Commercial papers-- Not exceeding 250 grammes 5 pf. 250 grammes to 500 " 10 pf. 500 " 1,000 " 15 pf. (_e_) Samples-- Not exceeding 250 grammes 5 pf. 250 grammes to 350 " 10 pf. (_f_) Mixed packages of (_c_), (_d_), and (_e_)-- Not exceeding 250 grammes 5 pf. 250 grammes to 500 " 10 pf. 500 " 1,000 " 15 pf.

These rates applied throughout the Imperial postal territory, including Berlin, which thus for the first time obtained the advantage of local rates; and in 1902 they were extended to all places which had a post office for only part of the year, such as small watering-places, summer resorts, and beauty spots.[571]

The result of the reduced rates was not satisfactory financially. It was not, of course, possible to calculate with any exactness the actual cost of the service performed by the Post Office in respect of local traffic; but such estimates as the administration were able to make tended to show that the cost exceeded the revenue, and that the local business was therefore conducted at some loss.[572] Consequently, when in 1906 Imperial requirements made it necessary to obtain an increased revenue from the Post Office, the administration placed the burden on the local traffic, although not without some opposition in the Reichstag. On the 1st July 1906 the rates for local traffic, with the exception of the rate for local letters, were made the same as the general rates for transmission throughout the Imperial postal territory.

The rate for letters remained as formerly, 5 pf. for letters not exceeding 250 grammes in weight.[573]

* * * * *

VI

INTERNATIONAL RATES

(I) INTERNATIONAL LETTER POST

The adoption in numerous countries of the principle of uniformity of rate for inland postal traffic, and the enormous simplification of the system of rates and of their practical administration which it achieved, led naturally to an endeavour to effect a like simplification of the rates for postal traffic exchanged between the various countries. The rates in operation varied enormously, not only as between different countries, but frequently in respect of letters passing between the same two countries.[574]

The arrangements for the exchange of such traffic between different countries had been conducted under conventions and agreements entered into by the countries immediately concerned, and the rates to be charged were prescribed by these conventions or agreements. Foreign rates were often built up by the addition of a rate for the transmission abroad to the ordinary rate chargeable for the inland transmission. The fact that numerous rates were chargeable for one and the same letter in respect of its transmission within the same country thus naturally made the rates charged for transmission abroad likewise numerous. In many cases there was an additional variation in the rate of postage between two countries according as one or other route was followed. And not only were the international rates of postage high and complicated. The methods employed for accounting between the countries respectively concerned in regard to the proceeds of postage on international letters were equally complicated and burdensome.

In 1850 the necessity for some simplification of the arrangements for the interchange of correspondence led to the formation of the Austro-German Postal Union by Prussia and Austria. The chief feature of the arrangement was the adoption of a common rate of postage for the whole territory of the Union, moderate in amount, and based on a small number of zones of distances. The advantages resulting from the Union were soon apparent. Other German States joined, and within a short time the question of extending it to foreign countries was mooted. At a Conference held in Berlin in 1851, a general European Postal Union was adumbrated.

The first definite suggestion for the general re-organization of international postal traffic on a common basis came, however, from America. In 1863, Mr. Blair, Postmaster-General of the United States, in a note to the postal administrations of the world, suggested the assembling of a Congress representative of all nations for the discussion of the subject. The proposal was favourably received by fifteen administrations,[575] representing nine-tenths of the commerce and nineteen-twentieths of the correspondence of the world. The representatives of these administrations (with the exception of Ecuador) met at Paris in May 1863.

The Conference was not empowered to enter into any definite arrangement for the amelioration of the system of international postal traffic. Its function was simply to discuss and proclaim general principles applicable to the conduct of the traffic, with a view to their ultimate adoption by the nations of the world. The discussions centred on the three fundamental questions of uniformity of weights, uniformity of rate, and simplification of accounting.[576] Thirty-one articles of agreement were adopted.[577] These articles recommended, _inter alia_, the adoption for ordinary letters of a unit of weight and a progression of weight of 15 grammes; and for corrected proofs, samples, and documents not in the nature of a letter, a unit and progression of 40 grammes. The Conference was convinced that transit charges were often an invincible obstacle to the establishment of a really advantageous international system, and recommended that the transit rate for each country should never exceed half the postage reckoned at the inland rate of the country traversed, and that for small countries it should be even less. For sea transit the Conference recommended that in no case should the charge against an administration in respect of such transport be greater than the actual charge made on the country of destination by the shipping agency by whom the mails were conveyed.

Although its conclusions were without the sanction of authority, the Conference was nevertheless of great assistance to the development of an international system. It brought into prominence the obstacles in the way of international postal intercourse, and the difficulties which must be removed before a common system could be founded. And it formulated general principles which might with advantage be observed in the making of fresh agreements between individual countries, and might serve as a basis for a common agreement. Its conclusions were, as a matter of fact, so used in numerous instances.

Towards the end of 1868 Dr. von Stephan, of the postal administration of the North German Union, published in the official journal of the Union a definite project for a postal union between all civilized nations, and proposed a discussion of the project at a universal Congress. The proposal was taken up by the administration of the North German Union. The diplomatic arrangements for calling a Conference were, however, interrupted by the Franco-German War of 1870. After the conclusion of peace, the proposal was again taken up, and the Swiss Government undertook the task of inviting the administrations of the chief countries to send representatives to a Congress at Berne. The invitation was readily accepted, and the Congress met in 1874.

The proposal submitted to the Conference was that the Union should cover the following categories of postal traffic:--

(1) Letters. (2) Postcards. (3) Newspapers and other printed matter. (4) Samples. (5) Commercial papers.