Part 39

[314] "Already they found a tax proposed on every poor man who took a newspaper for the information of his family; a stamp tax, an impost unknown in the Maritime Provinces, and one which had cost England half this continent."--Mr. Macdonald in Canadian House of Commons, 12th December 1867 (_Ottawa Times_).

[315] Sir John A. MacDonald in Canadian House of Commons, 20th December 1867, ibid.

[316] "If ever there was a time when it was necessary for the interests of the whole Dominion that just the sort of information which newspapers conveyed should be disseminated through all the Provinces, it was now."--Hon. Dr. Tupper in Canadian House of Commons, 20th December 1867 (_Ottawa Times_).

[317] Mr. Savary in Canadian House of Commons, 20th December 1867 (ibid.).

[318] Hon. Mr. Mackenzie in Canadian House of Commons, _Parl. Debates, Canada_ (_Commons_), 22nd February 1875.

[319] "There was good reason for the enactment of the old law that made the rate for the carriage of newspapers a cent a pound, and there never was even a semblance of sense or reason or any request for the repeal of that law. The truth is that its repeal was a mere whim of a gentleman of the Senate, who, anxious to pose in the niche of personal popularity, jollied through Parliament a measure that has cost this country in postal rates millions of dollars, creating a big deficit in the spending department, which has stood in the way of reform every time a reform was proposed."--Mr. Ross Robertson, _Parl. Debates, Canada_ (_Commons_), 13th May 1898.

[320] See _Parl. Debates, Canada_ (_Commons_), 11th July 1900.

[321] The following remarks by Sir Charles Tupper in the Dominion House of Commons, though made at a somewhat later date, will illustrate this. He said: "There is abundant evidence that manhood suffrage in the Dominion is a far higher franchise than manhood suffrage in Great Britain, for the reason that there are tens of thousands of electors in the United Kingdom who go to the polls without having the remotest idea not only of public questions before the country, but, if their lives depended on it, they could not state who is the Prime Minister of Great Britain to-day. I give that as an indication of the great advance the people of Canada have made in intelligence; and the thorough knowledge which the mass of the people here have in respect of the political issues, and all other questions of that kind, as well as general information, rests largely on the fact that newspapers have so largely increased in circulation until they now reach almost every individual in the country."--Sir Charles Tupper, _Parl. Debates, Canada_ (_Commons_), 13th May 1898.

[322] In Great Britain the figures are in very different proportion. While the letters are 3,500,000,000, the newspapers are only some 200,000,000. The circumstances of the two countries are in such contrast that the figures afford no basis for argument as regards the relative postage rates: but they illustrate very effectively a fundamental difference in the general character of the two postal services. In Great Britain the number of separate newspaper mails is extremely small proportionately to the number of letter mails. In Canada the proportions are almost reversed. The postmen on delivery in Great Britain carry their letters and packets in a light canvas bag, and the number of newspapers taken out by any one postman is quite small (the proportion is about one newspaper to twenty-five packets of other description). In Canada the letter-carriers are weighted with newspapers, carried either strapped in a bundle or stuck in a satchel which is full to overflowing. In effect, the general practical arrangements in Canada must be made largely with a view to the handling of vast quantities of newspapers, while in Great Britain the arrangements are in general based on letter traffic, and, except at the largest offices, the arrangements for newspapers are incidental. Letters, however, receive first consideration in Canada, and the discrimination in their favour against the newspaper matter, in point of promptness of handling, is carried to much greater lengths than in Great Britain.

[323] Cf. _supra_, p. 57.

[324] "I trust that after the reimposition of postage on newspapers has been fairly in working order, we shall then have the Post Office a self-sustaining department."--Sir William Mulock, Postmaster-General, _Parl. Debates, Canada_ (_Commons_), 1st April 1898.

[325] Sir William Mulock, _Parl. Debates, Canada_ (_Commons_), 1st April 1898, col. 2915.

[326] "Hon. gentlemen are entirely in error in assuming that the length of the journey does not make extra cost. It lays the foundation for extra claims by railways, and there is in the department at present, on the part of practically all the railways in Canada, application for increased payment. It is quite impossible to treat newspaper postage in the same way as letter postage."--Sir William Mulock, ibid., 11th July 1900.

[327] "This new Bill is little else than a special tax and handicap on certain Montreal newspapers, which are the only ones which have the bulk of their circulation outside of their own province. We have always favoured newspaper postage, but we are not favourable to its being collected off a few papers, and thus making them pay for the carriage of their own mails."--Mr. Foster, _Parl. Debates, Canada_ (_Commons_), 10th July 1900.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier made some interesting observations. He said: "A newspaper is merchandise, a letter is not. A letter simply conveys to somebody the views and thoughts of another. But newspapers are merchandise, and the publisher of a newspaper a manufacturer of merchandise which he sells. Now, I do not see any reason why this class of merchandise should not pay freight for its transportation as well as any other class of merchandise."--In Canadian House of Commons, 10th July 1900.

[328] Sir William Mulock, ibid., 11th July 1900.

[329] Ibid., 3rd July 1903.

[330] Ibid., 25th January 1905.

[331] "The growth of the Post Office from this humble beginning solidified the American Colonies and made independence possible."--_The American Post Office_, by Nathan B. Williams. Reprinted as Senate Document No. 542 of the 61st Congress, 2nd Sess., p. 5.

[332] E.g., "Mr. Franklin has in particular the great Advantage of circulating his Papers free, and receiving intelligence, which he may make the best or worst Use of in the present Situation of Affairs."--Minutes of Pennsylvania Council, 21st March 1757.

The Council recommended that the Postmaster be commanded to be extremely cautious "to prevent the publication of improper intelligence," and that the Governor should be authorized to exercise a censorship on the publication of news.

[333] It was in point of fact due to his action in submitting to the Assembly of Pennsylvania English official letters addressed from the Governor of the colony which had come into his hands.

[334] See _supra_, pp. 64-5.

[335] "To take it (the franking privilege) away would be levelling a deadly stroke at the liberty of the Press; the information conveyed by franks may be considered as the vital juices, and the channels of the Post Office as the veins; and if these are stopped, the body must be destroyed; it is treading on dangerous ground to take any measures that may stop the channels of public information.... It is the duty of the members to dispense the newspapers among those people who cannot, perhaps, otherwise obtain them, under the protection of franks.... The establishment of the Post Office is agreed to be for no other purpose than the conveyance of information into every part of the Union."--_Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States_, 16th December 1791 (pub. Washington, 1849).

[336] "The poisonous sentiments of the cities, concentrated in their papers, with all the aggravation of such a moral and political cesspool, will invade the simple, pure, conservative atmosphere of the country, and meeting with no antidote in a rural Press, will contaminate and ultimately destroy that purity of sentiment and of purpose which is the only true conservatism. Fourierism, agrarianism, socialism, and every other ism, political, moral, and religious, grow in that rank and festering soil.... Relieve them (the country papers) from the burden of postage and they can successfully compete with the city publishers. Reduce the rate of postage on newspapers and pamphlets, and you diffuse light and knowledge through the land."--Mr. Venables in House of Representatives, 18th December 1850 (_Congressional Globe_).

[337] I.e. odd packets posted by members of the public, as against the regular bulk postings of publishers.

[338] _Report of Postmaster-General_, 1892, p. 68.

[339] "The law cannot be so construed as to permit such an abuse--an abuse that, while operating to load down the mails with immense masses of stuff of insufficient value to command cash-paying subscribers to any extent, would be a wrong to every business institution which issues its advertising circulars and other matter in an undisguised manner and therefore pays the lawful rate of postage on them."--Ibid., p. 72.

[340] "The most urgent need of the postal service is the rectification of the enormous wrongs which have grown up in the perversion and abuse of the privilege accorded by law to second-class matter. This reform is paramount to all others.... For this costly abuse, which drags on the Department and weighs down the service, trammels its power and means of effective advancement in every direction."--Ibid., 1899, pp. 4 and 5.

In 1900 it was stated that the whole cost of the extension of the rural free delivery service could be met from the saving which would result from the elimination of the second-class mail abuses.--Ibid., 1900, p. 13.

In 1901 it was described as "the one great overshadowing evil of the service, because it underlies and overtops all other reform and advance."--Ibid., 1901, p. 4.

[341] There had been, under an Act of 26th June 1906, a weighing of second-class matter from 1st July to 31st December 1906.

[342] _Report of Postal Commission on Second-class Mail Matter_, 1907. Known as the Penrose-Overstreet Commission, from the names of two of its members.

[343] The actual statistics to be obtained were defined thus:--

"The Postmaster-General shall cause a record to be kept from July first to December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and seven, inclusive, of the weight in pounds, respectively, of first-class, second-class, free, paid-at-the-pound-rate, and transient, third-class, and fourth-class matter and all franked and penalty matter and the equipment carried in connection therewith.

"For thirty days during such period he shall require a record to be kept of the weight of each of the classes above specified despatched from such post-offices as he shall determine to be representative for the purpose and have computed thereon, in the most practicable way, the average haul of the mail of the different classes and sub-classes as hereinbefore set out. For seven days during such period he shall cause a record to be kept of the revenue received from each of the classes and sub-classes of mail matter hereinbefore specified and a count of the number of pieces of each class and sub-class, showing also for the first class the number of letters, postal cards, and other matter separately, and for thirty consecutive days during such period he shall cause a record to be kept for the purpose of ascertaining the average load of railway post-office cars other than storage cars, the average load of storage cars, and the average load in compartment cars.

"Such record shall be reported to Congress by May first, nineteen hundred and eight, and the sum of three hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to cover the expense of such weighing and counting and the recording and compilation of the information so acquired, and the rent of necessary rooms in the city of Washington, and the same shall be immediately available."--Statute of 2nd March 1907.

[344] _Special Weighing of the Mails_, 1907. Document 910, 60th Congress.

[345] _Hearings before Committee on Post Office and Post Roads_ (_House of Representatives_), January-February 1910.

[346] _Report of Commission on Second-class Mail Matter._ Appendix to Message of President of 22nd February 1912, pp. 137-8.

[347] Ibid., p. 129.

[348] "The historic policy of encouraging by low postal rates the dissemination of current intelligence, and the extent to which it has proved successful, should not be overlooked."--Ibid., p. 143.

[349] "If the Republic of our patriotic love is to live and our people preserve their liberties, the sheet-anchor of their salvation is a free, independent, untrammelled and fearless Press, and we believe that to maintain this happy condition publishers must not be subjected to any arbitrary authority that claims and exercises the power to destroy by closing the mails against them without the right to appeal to the courts, a right that is held sacred by every citizen, however humble, whenever and wherever his opportunity to earn a livelihood in an honourable business is called in question or denied him."--Evidence of Mr. Wilmer Atkinson of Philadelphia, Pa., _Report of Commission on Second-class Mail Matter_, 1906, p. 412.

[350] "Publishers are now sometimes kept on the anxious seat for months awaiting decisions which may wreck their businesses."--Evidence of Mr. Madden, Third Assistant Postmaster-General.--Ibid., p. 89.

[351] "There is no 'subsidy' at all, as claimed by the foolish, but simply that the lawmakers of the greatest Government on earth have been wise enough to see to it that the people shall have periodical literature within easy reach, and with as little expense as possible."--Evidence of Wilmer Atkinson, ibid., p. 441.

[352] "Who knows but that the onerous restrictions of the department have some connection with the efforts of the express companies to have second-class mail rates increased, and by both means drive the publishers of the country to employing the express companies to carry their publications? Such would not be beyond the craftiness of these skilled farmers in the field of legislation."--Nathan B. Williams, _The American Post Office_, 1910; Document 542, 61st Congress, 2nd Session, p. 40.

[353] "Yet we publish more periodicals than Germany, France, Russia, Great Britain, Switzerland, Belgium, and Holland aggregated, and you may then add all the other countries of Europe, then Canada and Mexico. Then add all the Central American States, and the South American States, and the African Colonies--North, South, East, and West. You must still add Australia, and Hindoostan, and all other Asiatic countries, including Japan and China, and even then you haven't reached the end or the story. You then have only 40 per cent. of the total against our 60."--C. W. Burrows, _One Cent Postage_, etc., Cleveland, Ohio, 1911, p. 11.

[354] "The great decrease in all the more serious departments of literature, as well as in some of the lighter ones, is a curious and unexplainable condition of our book production. Scientific and philosophical writings are as conspicuous through their absence as are the simply amusing books."--_Publishers' Weekly_ (New York), 30th January 1904.

[355] Message to Congress, 22nd February 1912.

[356] "No lobby ever sent to Washington in furtherance of the most corrupt legislation has ever been more persistent or dealt less fairly with both legislators and public than the lobby that has worked for the retention of the second-class mail graft."--C. W. Burrows, _One Cent Postage_, etc., Cleveland, Ohio, 1911, p. 4.

[357] "Je vois que le prix du port des journaux fera d'un vingt-quatri[e']me du prix des lettres. Le prix n'est sans doute pas suffisant pour les frais de la poste, et je ne crois pas que l'envoi des journaux doive [^e]tre [a'] la charge de la nation."--M. Biozat, Assembl['e]e Nationale, 17 ao[^u]t 1791 (_Le Moniteur Universel_).

[358] "Si vous examinez set objet sous un point de vue fiscal, je vous dirai qu'en augmentant le tarif, vous diminuez le produit, en rendant la circulation de plusieurs feuilles impossible. Le plus l['e]ger surhaussement de taxe priverait de tout b['e]n['e]fice les autres des productions p['e]riodiques les plus utiles, telles que les journaux d'agriculture, de physique, d'histoire naturelle, de m['e]decine, etc., qui, par leur nature, ne sont pas susceptibles d'avoir un grand nombre de souscripteurs. Et les journaux que l'on aurait peut-[^e]tre en vue d'['e]carter sous le poids d'un imp[^o]t on['e]reux seraient pr['e]cis['e]ment ceux que l'avide curiosit['e] du public ferait r['e]sister [a'] la surtaxe. Personne d'ailleurs ne r['e]voquera ne doute que, de tous les commerces, celui des id['e]es soit le plus pr['e]cieux, et je crois que vous devez le favoriser de toutes les mani[e']res."--M. Larochefoucault, Assembl['e]e Nationale, 17 ao[^u]t 1791 (ibid.).

[359] The increase during the Revolutionary period was nevertheless considerable. Before the Revolution the cost of distributing 60,000 prospectuses by post was 200 livres. Under the rates then in operation it would be 3,000 livres, and under the new rates then (1796) proposed, 7,500 livres. Before the Revolution a volume could be sent from one end of France to the other for 12 sous.--A. Belloc, _Les Postes francaises_, Paris, 1886, p. 353.

[360] "Le conseil des Cinq-Cents, consid['e]rant qu'il importe de faciliter la circulation des ouvrages p['e]riodiques, brochures, catalogues, et prospectus tant pour encourager la libre communication des pens['e]es entre les citoyens de la R['e]publique que pour augmenter le total du revenu public...."--_Proclamation_, 1796.

[361] Law of 15th March 1827.

[362] Law of 16th July 1850.

[363] There was also at this time a tax on books.

[364] M. Rouher, Assembl['e]e Nationale, 21 mars 1850 (_Le Moniteur Universel_).

[365] Decree of 17th February 1852.

[366] The political Press was somewhat strictly controlled. The law of 1814 on the liberty of the Press, which was continued by the Press law of the 27th June 1849, imposed on every printer the obligation to deposit with the Procurator Imperial every article treating of political matters or social economy twenty-four hours before publication, under penalty of a fine of 100 to 500 fr. A decree of 1852 subjected political publications to a stamp duty.

[367] "Les journaux n'['e]tant plus dangereux et ne pouvant plus faire que du bien, l'honorable membre e[^u]t d['e]sir['e] qu'une l['e]g[e']re r['e]duction des droits de poste leur perm[^i]t d'acqu['e]rir une existence plus s[^u]r, plus ind['e]pendante, afin qu'on p[^u]t les retrouver fid[e']les et d['e]vou['e]s, si la France avait encore des jours difficiles [a'] traverser. Nul n'a oubli['e], en effet, l'admirable attitude de la Presse d['e]partmentale au milieu des ['e]v['e]nements de 1848, son empressement [a'] se rallier [a'] la cause du Pr['e]sident de la R['e]publique, le courage que ses r['e]dacteurs ont montr['e] pour la d['e]fense de l'ordre, courage que quelques-un on pay['e] de leur vie.

"Telles sont les consid['e]rations d'['e]quit['e] et de politique qui avaient fait r['e]clamer en faveur de la Presse d['e]partmentale une r['e]duction de taxe. Tout ce que la commission a pu obtenir, c'est qu'il n'y aura pas d'aggravation de taxe lorsque le num['e]ros circuleront dans les d['e]partments limitrophes. Rien ou [a'] peu pr[e']s rien ne sera done chang['e] aux charges que les journaux de province ont support['e]es jusqu'[a'] ce jour."--M. Paul Dupont, Chambra des D['e]put['e]s, 31 mai 1856 (_Le Moniteur Universal_).

[368] Motif du loi, cited A. Belloc, op. cit., p. 542.

[369] Ibid., p. 545.

[370] Law of 29th April.

[371] "La poste perd sur le transport des journaux et des imprim['e]s.

"Pour l'ann['e]e 1889, M. Jaccottey (_Trait['e] de l['e]gislation et d'exploitation postales_, p. 329) calculait que le co[^u]t, c'est-[a']-dire la d['e]pense moyennement, fait pour un objet quelconque de correspondance, n'avait pas ['e]t['e] sup['e]rieur [a'] 0 fr. 055. Il fixait de m[^e]me le produit moyen des imprim['e]s, par unit['e], [a'] O fr. 023, et il ['e]valuait la perte du Tr['e]sor [a'] 25 millions....

"Le nombre des Imprim['e]s de toute cat['e]gorie ['e]tait [a'] cette ['e]poque de 800 millions....

"Or, il y a eu, en 1895, dans la circulation int['e]rieure:--

"514,957,761 journaux ayant rapport['e] 8,378,873 fr. soit, par unit['e], 1 centime 62, 472,202,885 imprim['e]s de toute nature, dont 82,597,172 sou enveloppes, avec un produit total de 13,791,025 ou par unit['e] 2 centimes 92. Pour ces 987,160,646 journaux, p['e]riodiques, imprim['e]s de toute cat['e]gorie, circulent [a'] prix r['e]duit, la recette total a ['e]t['e] de 22,169,975 fr. et le produit moyen de 2 centimes 245.

"La perte a done ['e]t['e] de pr[e']s de 36 millions."--_Rapport portant fixation du Budget_, Chambre des D['e]put['e]s, 1907; No. 2701, p. 37.

[372] 29th April 1908.

[373] "Il serait [a'] d['e]sirer qu'on p[^u]t rem['e]dier [a'] une cons['e]quence regrettable de la disposition particuli[e']re qui r['e]serve aux seuls journaux paraissant au moins une fois par mois le tarif sp['e]cial accord['e] [a'] la Presse.

"En fermant la porte aux feuilles d'annonces trimestrielles on l'aussi ferm['e]e aux bulletins et annales de m[^e]me p['e]riodicit['e] publies par un grand nombre d'associations et de soci['e]t['e]s (soci['e]t['e]s litt['e]raries, arch['e]ologiques, scientifiques, agricoles, syndicats professionels et agricoles, associations professionelles amicales d'instituteurs, soci['e]t['e]s de secours mutuels, etc.), qui doivent [^e]tre encourag['e]es par tous les moyens au lieu d'[^e]tre g[^e]n['e]es dans leur essor."--Ibid., S['e]nat, 1908, No. 340, p. 84.

[374] Defined thus in the law of 1878: "Pour moiti['e] au moins de leur superficie [a'] la reproduction des d['e]bats des Chambres, des expos['e]s des motifs des projets de lois, des rapports de commissions, des actes et documents officiels, et des cours, officiels ou non, des halles, bourses, et march['e]s."

[375] P. Jaccottey, op. cit., p. 322.

[376] Certain questions arose on this point, and the Council of State decided that there was no need to inquire whether the printed sheet added to the newspaper constituted an accidental and unforeseen addition, whether it was the production of the paper, whether it really appertained to the paper, nor whether it was printed at the same time. All that was necessary, in order that it might be regarded as a supplement, was that it should bear the title and date of the number which it accompanied.--Ibid., p. 325.

The Keeper of the Seals concurred in this opinion, and held that it was unnecessary to inquire into the circumstance in which the supplement was joined to the paper, whether it was special or whether it was printed at the same time; but that the supplement ought to fulfil the conditions imposed on all newspapers, to mention the title of the paper, together with the date or serial number, and to preserve, at least materially, the appearance of an annexe to the principal journal.--Ad. Frault, _Manuel postal, th['e]orique et pratique_, Paris, 1893, pp. 385-6.

[377] The second oldest newspaper in Germany, the _Postavisen_, which appeared in Frankfurt in 1617, was published by the Taxis Postmaster, Johann von den Birghden. Cf. B. Faulhaber, _Geschichte des Postwesens in Frankfurt am Main_, Frankfurt, 1883, p. 62.

[378] Dr. Artur Schmidt, _Finanz-Archiv_, 1906, vol. 23, part 1. p. 64; _Archiv f[:u]r Post und Telegraphie_, 1884, p. 290.

[379] _Archiv f[:u]r Post und Telegraphie_, 1884, p. 291.

[380] Regulativ [:u]ber die k[:u]nftige Verwaltung des Zeitungswesens, 15th December 1821.