Part 38

[274] "Sir Francis Freeling states that he succeeds to the enjoyment of the privilege of franking which had previously appertained to the situation of the Comptroller of the Inland Office, when he held the situation of Principal and Resident Surveyor, and that it was deemed a measure of economy to provide for the remuneration of this officer by these means in lieu of salary."--_Eighteenth Report of the Commissioners of Revenue Inquiry, Post Office_, 1829, p. 26.

[275] About 12 millions a year. Ibid., p. 464.

[276] H. Joyce, _History of the Post Office_, p. 419.

[277] "These laws (the Six Acts) were specially directed--not against the morning Newspapers, which had been cajoled or frightened into comparative silence, or shared in the then general feeling in favour of a 'strong Government'--but against the Radical writers and speakers, 'Cobbett, Wooler, Watson, Hunt,' as Byron reminds us, all of whom had contributed, by cheap political publications and strong political harangues, to raise a demand for reform, loud enough and daring enough to be most troublesome to the authorities."--F. K. Hunt, _The Fourth Estate_, London, 1850, vol. ii. p. 49.

[278] "Newspapers are so cheap in the United States, that the generality even of the lowest order can afford to purchase them. They therefore depend for support on the most ignorant class of the people. Everything they contain must be accommodated to the taste and apprehension of men who labour daily for their bread, and are of course indifferent to refinement either of language or reasoning."--Quoted by Lord Sandon, 20th June 1836; _Parl. Debates_ (_Commons_), vol. xxxiv. col. 649.

[279] The duties on newspapers at that time were (1) the duty on paper, 3d. per pound weight (1/4d. a sheet), (2) a duty of 4d. a copy, (3) a duty of 3s. 6d. on every advertisement.

[280] "The change which had taken place in the political condition of the country made it essential to communicate to the people sound political knowledge and information. He would say that the security of that House, living, as it did, in the affections of the people--of the Government, possessing, as it did, the confidence of the people--and of the Monarchy, reigning, as it did, and as he trusted it ever would, in the hearts of the people, depended upon the diffusion of sound political knowledge."--Chancellor of Exchequer, 20th June 1836; _Parl. Debates_ (_Commons_), vol. xxxiv. col. 634.

[281] "Many of these publications circulated to the amount of several thousand copies weekly; their sale, in several instances, was larger than the sale of some among the most popular legitimate papers; their influence over large bodies of the working classes was much greater."--E. Lytton Bulwer, 14th June 1832; Ibid., vol. xiii. col. 623.

"You have laws imposing severe penalties upon those who are guilty of breaches of these laws; but it has been found impossible to stop the sale of those cheap and obnoxious publications by fiscal laws; and the success with which they are broken, the sympathy excited in favour of the offenders, and the assistance which they receive, only give encouragement to pursue the same course. I have been informed that, within the last fortnight or three weeks, between forty and fifty persons have been taken before the police magistrates, and convicted for selling these publications."--Mr. O'Connell, 14th June 1832; Ibid., vol. xiii. col. 637.

"As long as the Tories were in power Lord Liverpool, or even Canning, could consistently advocate the restriction of political discussion. But the fact that the Whigs had now held office since 1830, and that the tax remained undiminished, was only to be explained by their rooted disbelief in every principle which they professed to hold.

"Year after year Place had brought the question forward. Every year the Chancellor of the Exchequer declared himself in favour of repeal in principle, and every year the Government, for reasons which they dared not avow, continued the tax. Meanwhile the Commissioners of Stamps so used their power of prosecution as to set up a peculiarly odious form of censorship. The _Penny Magazine_, for instance, was allowed to circulate unstamped, while the _Poor Man's Guardian_ was prosecuted."--Graham Wallas, _The Life of Francis Place_, London, 1898, p. 336.

[282] "The market for a Newspaper at twopence appeared to be insatiable, and this ready demand produced an ample supply. In vain the police apprehended hawker after hawker; in vain the Stamp Office gave the informers and detectives additional premiums for vigilance, the trade went on with an exciting degree of activity. As the London gaols became crowded with 'victims,' the public sympathies were touched, and a fund was raised by subscription to support the families of the men and women (for women were seized and imprisoned) whilst under sentence."--F. K. Hunt, _The Fourth Estate_, London, 1850, vol. ii. p. 75.

[283] "This tax was a charter to the existing newspapers--it was not they who suffered from it--it was the public--it was the Government--it was order--it was society that suffered."--E. Lytton Bulwer, 22nd May 1834; _Parl. Debates_ (_Commons_), vol. xxiii. col. 1195. See also _G.J._ Holyoake, _Sixty Years of an Agitator's Life_, London, 1893, vol. i. p. 288.

[284] _Parl. Debates_ (_Commons_), vol. xxxiv. col. 625.

[285] "2755. _Chairman_: That penny which was left when the stamp was reduced, was called by some noble Lord the worst penny of all; and was not it always foreseen by those who looked deeply into the subject, that the retention of that penny just made the difference between not being able to circulate a cheap paper and being able to circulate it?--It makes all the difference, I think."--Evidence of Mr. H. Cole, _Report from Select Committee on Newspaper Stamps_, 18th July 1851.

[286] "The penny was avowedly retained in 1836 not for the purposes of revenue but as a compensation to the State for services performed in the transmission of newspapers by post."--Viscount Canning, 24th May 1855; _Parl. Debates_ (_Lords_), vol. cxxxviii. col. 954.

[287] McCulloch has some remarks which indicate the line on which was justified the practice of charging the stamp duty on every copy of a newspaper, in order that a portion of them might be transmitted by post without further charge:--

"_Impolicy of Imposing a Postage on Newspapers._--The duties now substantially repealed produced, in 1853, [L]412,220 nett, no inconsiderable sum in a period of war. In point of fact, however, they could hardly be called duties, and ought rather to have been regarded as a payment for the trouble and expense attending the conveyance and distribution of newspapers by post. But supposing such to be the case, it was argued that the duty should be so limited, that is, that it should only be imposed on papers carried by the post. Matters of this sort are not, however, to be decided by mere logical considerations. The effect of the new plan is to confine, in a greater or less degree, according to circumstances, the circulation of newspapers to the districts within which they are published; and this certainly is not a desirable object.... Under the new plan the charge for conveyance, or it may be postage, being added to the price of the metropolitan journals, they will be dearer than the local papers, and people in many, or rather perhaps in the majority of instances, will be disposed to prefer the low-priced though inferior journal published at their door, to the superior but higher priced journal of the capital.... On the whole, therefore, we anticipate little or no advantage from the new plan. But we are, at the same time, ready to admit that no system of this sort can be safely judged _a priori_; and that the results of experience may differ very widely from those of theory."--J. R. McCulloch, _Commercial Dictionary_, London, 1856, p. 893.

[288] "We are living under a disguised censorship of the Press. I use the word advisedly; and I find that generally where there is an avowed censorship of the Press there are no taxes on knowledge; no stamp duty and generally no paper duty. From the time when the stamp duty was first imposed in the reign of Queen Anne, the number of newspapers has been very much diminished by the stamp. For instance, Steele's _Spectator_ was nearly if not quite ruined by it; and from that time to this the amount of revenue has never been so large as to be a serious subject of consideration."--Evidence of Collet Dobson Collet, _Report from the Select Committee on Newspaper Stamps_, 18th July 1851, p. 113.

[289] Mr. Roebuck, 20th June 1836; _Parl. Debates_ (_Commons_), vol. xxxiv. col. 653.

[290] Treasury Minute, No. 21,355, 28th November 1838: "It appears that these papers, though stamped as newspapers, are not according to Law Newspapers, and consequently need not have been stamped, but that the proprietors have caused them to be stamped for the purpose probably of obtaining the facility of passing them free of postage.

"My Lords consider that all publications which are in the construction of the law newspapers and are compelled to be stamped are in equity entitled to the privilege of passing free of postage, but with respect to publications, which like these now under consideration are not properly newspapers, or necessarily stamped, they are of opinion that they are not in equity entitled to the privilege, and that my Lords must take into consideration the convenience of the public service and the other circumstances of the case. My Lords are desirous of affording every fair facility which may not be inconsistent with the proper despatch of the mails, and in this view they consider that a limit of weight may be properly applied, and adverting to the average weight of a large newspaper, they are of opinion that the limit may be properly fixed at 2 ounces.

"They are pleased therefore to direct that for the future in all cases where applications are made for the transmission of any stamped publication through the post free of postage, if it shall appear that such publication is legally a newspaper and compelled to be stamped such paper shall pass postage free whatever may be its weight, and that when such publication may not appear to be strictly a newspaper, still it should be permitted the indulgence in case the weight shall not exceed 2 ounces."

[291] _Parl. Debates_ (_Commons_), vol. cxxxvii. col. 1130.

[292] "If a tradesman at the present time carries his circular to the Board of Inland Revenue, he obtains the postal privilege on the condition of his declaring his circular to be a newspaper, although, if the Board of Inland Revenue were afterwards to prosecute him for not stamping his entire impression, he would be entitled to go into a Court of Justice and there to contend that that was not a newspaper which he himself had declared to be a newspaper in order to obtain the postal privilege for part of his impression."--Mr. Gladstone, 19th March 1855; ibid., vol. cxxxvii. col. 791.

[293] 'The Solicitor of the Board of Inland Revenue, being examined before a Committee upon the subject of class publications, was asked why class publications were not subjected to the compulsory stamp. Inadvertently, instead of saying that they were exempted because they were addressed to a particular class of the community, he said that it was because they related only to one subject. In giving that reason, he made a slight error of statement. That error has now been taken up in different parts of the country, and a number of periodicals have appeared, such as the _War Telegraph_ and the _War Times_, containing intelligence relating exclusively to the war, which they say is 'one subject,' and so saying, set the Board of Inland Revenue at defiance."--Chancellor of the Exchequer, 19th March 1855; ibid., vol. cxxxvii. col. 804.

[294] "I am quite satisfied, from years of attention to this subject, that there never was so large a measure involved in a small measure, so to speak, as is the case with regard to this proposition for making the Press free. I am willing to rest on the verdict of the future, and I am quite confident that five or six years will show that all the votes of Parliament for educational purposes have been as mere trifles compared with the vast results which will flow from this measure, because, while the existing papers will retain all their powers of usefulness, it will call to their aid numbers of others not less useful, and while we continue to enjoy the advantage of having laid before us each morning a map of the events of the world, the same advantage will be extended to classes of society at present shut out from it."--John Bright, 19th March 1855; ibid., vol. cxxxvii. cols. 810-11.

[295] "Another objection, and that of a more serious character, has been brought under my notice by various persons, who have described the proposition to repeal the compulsory newspaper stamp as one which would be most dangerous to society. It has been described as a measure which will open the floodgates of sedition and blasphemy, and which will inundate the country with licentious and immoral productions, which will undermine the very foundations of society, and scatter the seeds of revolution broadcast over the land. These expressions are not exaggerated representations of the opinions which have been communicated to me from many quarters since this measure has been under my consideration."--Chancellor of the Exchequer in House of Commons, 19th March 1855; ibid., vol. cxxxvii. col. 782.

"The Right Hon. Gentleman who has just resumed his seat (Mr. Disraeli) has spoken of the 'liberty of the Press.' That has been long spoken of. It has been said that it must be 'free as the air we breathe; take it away, we die.' But, Sir, what is the 'liberty of the Press'? It is the liberty of a certain number of persons to slander anonymously whomever they please, against whom you have no redress. It is freedom to the anonymous libeller."--Mr. Drummond in the House of Commons, 23rd April 1855; ibid., vol. cxxxvii. col. 1680.

[296] "This is not merely a fiscal matter, because, as I have already stated to the Committee, the existing law respecting the stamp duty upon newspapers has been brought into a most inconsistent state by a succession of indulgences which were made for the benefit of a certain class of newspaper publications. The consequence of these indulgences is, that the greatest difficulty exists in the administration of the present law."--Chancellor of the Exchequer in House of Commons, 19th March 1855; ibid., vol. cxxxvii. col. 802.

[297] "Q. 1852. _Mr. Cobden_: Would the carrying of newspapers be profitable to the Post Office at the present rates, provided you were left to adopt your own regulations as to the transmission of newspapers without the intervention of the Board of Inland Revenue?--In one sense it would be profitable and in another it would not. If we were to charge against the newspapers a share of the fixed expenses of the establishment, then it is very questionable whether it would be profitable; but if you consider, as we probably should, that the expenses of the establishment are incurred in respect of the letters, and only calculate the additional expense which would be thrown upon us for the transmission of newspapers, then I think we should find them profitable.

"Q. 1853: Having an immense organization at the Post Office with a certain amount of fixed charges, with a large amount of postmen necessarily travelling over the whole of the kingdom, you would find it profitable to carry newspapers for a penny, in addition to the letter carrying, would you?--Yes.

"Q. 1854: Therefore, if the newspaper stamp were abolished, and you were left to regulate the postage at the Post Office, you would deem it profitable to carry newspapers at a penny each?--Yes, certainly we should: what I mean is, that the carrying of newspapers would not increase our expenses to the extent of a penny each.

"Ans. 1912: I was in hopes that we might distribute them at a halfpenny, if we could have completed a plan in the simple form in which it presented itself to my mind at first.

"Q. 1913: The plan is so far under consideration, and, perhaps, these difficulties may be got over?--I cannot hold out any expectation of that; I think I have considered it sufficiently to see that those difficulties are all but insuperable."--Evidence of Sir Rowland Hill, _Report from Select Committee on Newspaper Stamps_, 18th July 1851.

[298] "He believed it would be admitted that there was no wish to make revenue out of this carriage of newspapers; but, on the other hand, the newspaper interest had no right to ask that their productions should be carried at less than cost price. It should be as near as possible an equal bargain between the parties, by which neither the revenue on the one hand, nor the newspapers on the other, should gain.... He believed it was the opinion of the Post Office that a halfpenny would not be sufficient to cover the expenses of transmission."--Lord Stanley, 23rd April 1855; _Parl. Debates_ (_Commons_), vol. cxxxvii. col. 1664.

[299] The duty was reduced to 1d. upon a sheet containing a superficies not exceeding 2,295 inches.

[300] See _infra_, p. 221.

[301] "Another objection might be urged that, by once touching the permanency of the 1d. rate they were endangering its stability, and that if the edge of the wedge were once inserted it might lead to the uniform rate of 1/2d. He shared no such apprehension, and believed that the wisest way to maintain the permanency of the 1d. rate was to remove the cause of the agitation."--Mr. Graves, 6th April 1869; _Parl. Debates_ (_Commons_), vol. cxcv. col. 241.

[302] "A newspaper with an impressed stamp circulates free for fifteen days. It is the last relic of the old taxes on knowledge. The law is complicated and leads to fraud by the abuse of free transmission. An unstamped newspaper now goes at the rate of 1d. for every 4 ounces, and every fraction of 4 ounces. About 35,000,000 newspapers pass through the Post Office annually with an impressed stamp, and about the same number without. What we propose to do is to abolish the impressed stamp altogether, at a loss to the Revenue of [L]120,000.... Then we propose to carry all newspapers which weigh less than 6 ounces for a 1/2d. That will be limited to bona fide newspapers; but we propose, instead of 1d. for every 4 ounces and fraction on of 4 ounces, to charge 1/2d. for every 2 ounces of other printed matter. There will in this way be a loss to the Post Office, over and above that incurred by the abolition of the impressed stamp, of [L]250,000 a year. There may be besides some additional expense in connection with building and the increase in the number of persons to be employed; but this has not been estimated for, and the amount cannot be very large."--Chancellor of the Exchequer, 11th April 1870; _Parl. Debates_ (_Commons_), vol. ce. col. 1636. The limitation to 6 ounces was withdrawn. Ibid., vol. cciii, col. 1383.

[303] _Parl. Debates_ (_Commons_), 7th May 1855, vol. cxxxviii. col. 197.

[304] In 1899 the number of registered newspapers which normally exceeded 8 ounces in weight was 29.

[305] See _infra_, p. 293. The size and weight of many of the largo trade papers has decreased in consequence of the war.

[306] "Newspapers and books are carried at a low rate for the sake of the education and general information of the people."--Mr. W. Monsell (Postmaster-General), 14th March 1871; _Parl. Debates_ (_Commons_), vol. cciv. col. 2014.

[307] In 1854 the average weight of the mails which left London daily was 279 cwt. of which 219 cwt. consisted of newspapers.

[308] Only some 150 copies of the _Daily Mail_ are delivered in London by the post each day.

[309] "There is no reason whatever why the Post Office should charge a man threepence or fourpence for a book and a halfpenny for these vast trade circulars, and it would be the simplest, as well as the wisest and most beneficial of reforms, to bring the book post down to the newspaper level."--H. G. Wells, _Mankind in the Making_. London, 1914, chap. ix.

The following further suggestions by Mr. Wells are reprinted here for the consideration of postal reformers. Their adoption involves merely an extension of the principle of State benefit.

"Now, in the first place, the post office as one finds it in Great Britain might very well be converted into a much more efficient distributing agency by a few simple modifications in its method. At present, in a large number of country places in Great Britain, a penny paper costs three-halfpence including the necessary halfpenny for postage, and the poorer people can afford no paper at all, because the excellent system in practice abroad of subscribing to any registered periodical at the post office and having it delivered with the letters has not been adopted. Government publications and Government maps, which ought also to be obtainable at a day's notice, through the Post Office and post free, have to be purchased at present in the most devious way through a remote agent in London. There is no public reason whatever why a more intimate connection should not be established between the Stationery Office and the Post Office."--Ibid.

"It would be the simplest thing in the world to have a complete, business-like catalogue of Government publications, kept standing in type and reissued and reprinted quarterly, distributed to every post office, and by its means one ought to be able to order whatever one wanted at once, pay for it on the spot, and get it delivered to any address in Great Britain in the next twenty-four hours."--Ibid.

[310] _Report of Special Committee, House of Assembly, Lower Canada_, 11th February 1832, p. 10.

[311] Sir Francis Freeling replied to the petition. He said the practice of his Deputy in North America was not illegal, but was based on an Act of Parliament authorizing certain of his officers to circulate newspapers by post; that as it had been in existence since the first establishment of the Post Office in the colony, the petitioners must have entered into the business with a full knowledge of the charge to which their publications would be subject if sent by post; there was no stamp duty in the colonies to give the publishers a right to free transmission; and, moreover, the amount of the charge was less than the similar charge in the United States.

[312] "Mr. Howe was very loose, and rarely took any steps to obtain or enforce the payments of the amounts due to him for the transmission of Journals through the Post....

"I cannot look upon it as the mere collection of a private source of emolument to the officer, but I conceive that the Department is interested in the question not only inasmuch as the amount received from this source goes in aid of a larger salary to the officer, but that whenever the time comes that the substitution of a postage rate on newspapers supersedes the present mode of sending them, a due enforcement of such rate will be most unfavourably received, if a free transmission has been previously permitted from the negligence of the party to whom the collection of the charge was deputed and whose perquisite it was."--Report of Mr. Page, 1842 (_British Official Records_).

[313] "It may fairly be viewed in the same light as the amounts annually granted by the Legislature for roads and bridges, and for the support of common schools. The mail carriage to all parts of the province secures us the travelling public conveyance which would not otherwise exist, and the very large amount of newspapers, etc., which pass through the Post Office affords strong evidence that the Department may be considered a branch of our educational system."--Postmaster-General of New Brunswick, 1857.