“The direction to the Postmaster-General to contract with the lowest bidder, without the allowance of any advantage to the former contractor, as had been the[pg 061]case before its passage, had the effect of enlarging the field of competition, and reducing the price of transportation, except on railroads and in steamboats, to the lowest amount for which the service can be performed; and will reduce the cost of transportation, when the other section is let to contract under it, but little less than a million of dollars per annum from the former prices.”In other words, our letter postage is no longer taxed as it used to be, to give the people of other sections of the country, stage coaches which they do not support, as well as mails which they do not pay for. There will doubtless be still further reductions in this branch, in proportion as the knowledge becomes diffused among the people, of the profits of this business and the freeness of the competition for it. As Mr. Dana suggested in his valuable Report in 1844:“The difference must arise from want of competition, and a reluctance to engage in the business of transporting the mail. When the attention of the North shall be called to the subject, and the difference in price pointed out, we cannot doubt that contracts will be made nearly as cheap for transportation at the South as at the North. If southern men will not engage in the business, let it be generally known that such increased pay can be had, and an abundance of yankee enterprise will be ready to engage in the business.”Railroad Transportation. One of the most difficult points in the administration of the post-office, has been the dealing with railroad corporations. As these are bodies without souls, they can only be dealt with on the footing of pecuniary interest. And as they are state institutions, and local favorites, public opinion has been generally predisposed to take sides with the railroad, and against the department. And thus the railroads have been able to exact exorbitant allowances for services which cost them next to nothing. Were the whole mails of the country to be sent at once by a single railroad, what would be the amount? The average number of letters mailed in a day is 142,857; which, at the average weight of ⅓ ounce, would weigh 2976 pounds. The average number of newspapers in a day is 150,685, which, at the average weight of 2 ounces, would give 18,834 pounds. The whole together make 21,815 pounds, equal to 109 passengers, averaging, with their baggage, 200 pounds each. These passengers would be carried by railroad 200 miles, from Boston to Albany for $545. The daily cost of railroad service is $1637, which shows that it is distance, not weight, that is chiefly regarded. Or, in other words, that the weight of the mails is of very little account to railroads. It is well known that the corporations regard the carriage of the mail as almost clear profit. The whole daily mails of the United States could be carried by the inland route from Boston to New Orleans, by the established expresses, at their regular rates on parcels, for a little over $3000; while the whole daily expense of mail transportation is $6,594. The expresses will carry from Boston to New York, for $1.50, an amount of parcels, which the post-office would charge $150 for carrying as letters, or $18.40 as newspapers—and all go by the same train, of course involving equal cost of transportation to the company. The inference is unavoidable, that the government is charged exorbitantly by these companies, from the entire absence of competition on almost every railroad route. While human nature remains the same, it is to be expected that corporations will take this advantage[pg 062]unless some counteracting interest can be brought to bear upon them as a restraint against extortion.Now, let the post-office present itself to the people as a system of pure and unmingled beneficence, studying not how it can get a little more money for a little less service, but how it can render the greatest amount of accommodation with the least expense to the public treasury, and it will at once become the object of the public gratitude and warm affection; men will study how to facilitate all its transactions, will be conscientiously careful not to impose any needless trouble upon its servants, and will generally watch for its interests as their own. Such is the benign effect upon all the considerate portions of society in England. Then the government will be fully sustained in insisting that all railroads shall carry the mail for a compensation which will be just a fair equivalent for the service performed, in reasonable proportion to other services. And if the corporations are perverse in throwing obstacles in the way, the people will expect that such coercive measures should be employed, as wisdom may prescribe, to make these creatures of their power subservient to the public good, and not to mere private aggrandisement.In January, 1845, a document was communicated to congress by the Postmaster-General, containing replies by the British post-office to certain queries which he had proposed to them. This document gives the distance travelled daily by mail trains on railways at 1601 miles, at a cost per mile of 1s. 1-18/32d. per mile. But this“distance”is the number of miles between place and place. The total number of miles that the mail travels by railroad daily is 5808, which would make the real cost per mile of travel about 5-¼d. The number of miles travelled by railroad in this country is 4,170,403, at the cost of $597,475, which is about 12 cents per mile. But the English trains are driven at much greater speed than ours, the expense of running is much greater in all respects, the cost of the roads is vastly higher, the weight of mails is much greater, and therefore the price of transportation might be higher than with us. But it is lower. The average weight of mails sent daily from London alone is 27,384 pounds, which is 5569 pounds more than the whole daily mails of the United States. By act of parliament, the Postmaster-General is authorized and empowered“to require of every railway company that they shall convey the mail at such times as he may deem proper; and the amount paid for such services is settled by a subsequent arbitration.”Railroad service is performed in New Hampshire for a fraction over 4 cents per mile. The average in New England is 10-½ cents per mile. The average price of passenger fares, for short distances or long, is but 3 cents per mile. There can be no doubt that it is within the constitutional and proper prerogative of congress to take the use of a railroad for the public service, leaving the just compensation to be awarded by arbitration. Neither can it be doubted that enlightened arbitration would greatly reduce the price from what is now paid.Comparative Cost of other Transportation with Letter Postage.The following table shows the cost of passage from Boston to the places named, and the cost of transportation of parcels of usual weight by Express, with the price per half ounce at the same rates.[pg 063]The average weight of passengers with their baggage is set at 230 pounds. This would be equal to the weight of 7360 letters, at half an ounce each, the postage on which, at two cents, would be $147.20, irrespective of distance.From BostonPassengerPer half oz.ExpressPer half oz.Fare.Mills.Freight.Mills.230 pounds.To New York,$4.005-10ths$1.502-10thsTo Philadelphia,7.009-10ths3.505-10thsTo Baltimore,10.001 3-10ths5.507-10thsTo Cincinnati,25.003 2-10ths10.501 4-10thsTo St. Louis,35.004 7-10ths12.001 6-10thsTo New Orleans,45.006 1-10th14.001 9-10thsTo Liverpool,120.0016 3-10ths7.209-10thsper Cunard SteamersRowland Hill discovered that the cost of transporting a letter from London to Edinburgh was 1-36th of a penny; and the Parliamentary Committee ascertained by a different calculation, that this was the average cost per letter of all the mails in England.Penny Papers. The establishment of penny papers in this country is a very striking illustration of the principles here involved. It is now just fifteen years since the New York Sun was commenced by a couple of journeymen printers, one of whom had just been in my employ. They were intelligent and enterprising, and began by writing their editorials and police reports, which they then set up in type, and worked from an old Ramage press, with their own hands. They printed seven hundred papers, of a very small size, which they sold to boys at 62-½ cents per hundred, and the boys sold them in the streets at one cent each. Soon their editions increased, and they enlarged their sheet, and hired it printed on a Napier press which I owned. Again their business increased, so much that it became necessary for them to have a press of their own, driven by steam power. One of the partners then sold out his interest for $10,000, went to the West, studied law, and has been twice a candidate for Congress, with strong prospects of success. The concern has since passed into other hands, and has continued to prosper. For many years it has been printed on a sheet larger than could be bought for a cent, making a constant loss on the paper alone; besides which, it has cost $25 a week to the editor for the leading articles alone; and I know not how much for other editorial labor, market and commercial reports, ship news, foreign news, lightning expresses, correspondence, &c. And yet the amount received for advertising has covered all these expenditures, and enabled the present proprietor to realize, as is supposed, a splendid fortune.A man in Boston buys 200 copies of the New York Tribune and other papers daily, for which he pays 1-¼ cents each. The Express brings him the parcel for 50 cents, which is one quarter of a cent for each paper. The post-office would charge $3.00 for postage alone. For the half cent remaining to him after expenses paid, the carrier delivers his papers to subscribers all over the city, collects his pay once a month, and runs all the risk of loss of bundles and bad debts. Each paper weighs about an ounce and a half—equal to three single letters of full weight, the postage on which would be fifteen cents, making $30 in all. It is impossible to doubt the practicability of cheap postage.[pg 064]In Scotland, with but 2,628,957 inhabitants, and no great commercial centre, no political metropolis, and but little foreign commerce, such is the effect of cheap postage that 28,669,169 letters are sent in a year. Even inpoorIreland, where the people die of hunger by thousands, where there are millions of people who never taste of bread, and where the majority of the people are said to be unable to read or write, with a population of 8,175,124, less than half the population of the United States—there are 28,587,996 letters mailed under the influence of penny postage. The population of Scotland and Ireland together is 10,804,081, not half the present population of the United States; the number of letters in a year is 57,257,165, being more thanallthat are sent in the United States, franks included.Concluding Remarks. I am brought to the close of this essay, with only a brief space left to be filled, and with many subjects of remark untouched—the Exclusive Right of the Post-office—the History of Postage in this country—the Sectional Bearings of Cheap Postage—the Postage Bill now before Congress—the Moral and Social Benefits of Cheap Postage. This pamphlet has been wholly written since the vote of the Publishing Committee, which must be my apology for some repetitions. The main arguments cannot be overthrown, until men disprove arithmetic.Who can doubt that cheap postage would bring three times as many letters as are now sent by mail in this country. And that would give a greater revenue to the post-office than it now receives. It is impossible to doubt the success of cheap postage, when once it is established.Now is the favorable time for its adoption. The astonishing success of cheap postage in Great Britain is opening people's eyes. The rapid progress which public opinion has made in the last six months in favor of cheap postage, creates a confident expectation that congress will yield to the first resolute motion that shall be made, and adopt a well-considered system, of which two cents letter-postage shall be the basis, with a general provision for prepayment. The details will be easily adjusted when the principle is adopted. Let us have no evasions, no half-way measures, to delude with false hopes, and to stand as obstacles in the way of the only true system.Why should I enlarge upon the benefits of cheap postage? The only question to be asked is—What shall every man do to obtain it? The answer is, You must understand its merits; you must talk with your neighbors, and get them interested in its favor; you must write, if you can, for the papers; you must unite, without delay, in signing and forwarding the following petition to congress:To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled:The undersigned, Citizens of:respectfully petition Congress to pass a Law to establisha uniform rate of Postage, not to exceedone cent on Newspapers, andTWO CENTSon eachpre-paid Letterof half an ounce, for all distances; and for other corresponding reforms.
“The direction to the Postmaster-General to contract with the lowest bidder, without the allowance of any advantage to the former contractor, as had been the[pg 061]case before its passage, had the effect of enlarging the field of competition, and reducing the price of transportation, except on railroads and in steamboats, to the lowest amount for which the service can be performed; and will reduce the cost of transportation, when the other section is let to contract under it, but little less than a million of dollars per annum from the former prices.”In other words, our letter postage is no longer taxed as it used to be, to give the people of other sections of the country, stage coaches which they do not support, as well as mails which they do not pay for. There will doubtless be still further reductions in this branch, in proportion as the knowledge becomes diffused among the people, of the profits of this business and the freeness of the competition for it. As Mr. Dana suggested in his valuable Report in 1844:“The difference must arise from want of competition, and a reluctance to engage in the business of transporting the mail. When the attention of the North shall be called to the subject, and the difference in price pointed out, we cannot doubt that contracts will be made nearly as cheap for transportation at the South as at the North. If southern men will not engage in the business, let it be generally known that such increased pay can be had, and an abundance of yankee enterprise will be ready to engage in the business.”Railroad Transportation. One of the most difficult points in the administration of the post-office, has been the dealing with railroad corporations. As these are bodies without souls, they can only be dealt with on the footing of pecuniary interest. And as they are state institutions, and local favorites, public opinion has been generally predisposed to take sides with the railroad, and against the department. And thus the railroads have been able to exact exorbitant allowances for services which cost them next to nothing. Were the whole mails of the country to be sent at once by a single railroad, what would be the amount? The average number of letters mailed in a day is 142,857; which, at the average weight of ⅓ ounce, would weigh 2976 pounds. The average number of newspapers in a day is 150,685, which, at the average weight of 2 ounces, would give 18,834 pounds. The whole together make 21,815 pounds, equal to 109 passengers, averaging, with their baggage, 200 pounds each. These passengers would be carried by railroad 200 miles, from Boston to Albany for $545. The daily cost of railroad service is $1637, which shows that it is distance, not weight, that is chiefly regarded. Or, in other words, that the weight of the mails is of very little account to railroads. It is well known that the corporations regard the carriage of the mail as almost clear profit. The whole daily mails of the United States could be carried by the inland route from Boston to New Orleans, by the established expresses, at their regular rates on parcels, for a little over $3000; while the whole daily expense of mail transportation is $6,594. The expresses will carry from Boston to New York, for $1.50, an amount of parcels, which the post-office would charge $150 for carrying as letters, or $18.40 as newspapers—and all go by the same train, of course involving equal cost of transportation to the company. The inference is unavoidable, that the government is charged exorbitantly by these companies, from the entire absence of competition on almost every railroad route. While human nature remains the same, it is to be expected that corporations will take this advantage[pg 062]unless some counteracting interest can be brought to bear upon them as a restraint against extortion.Now, let the post-office present itself to the people as a system of pure and unmingled beneficence, studying not how it can get a little more money for a little less service, but how it can render the greatest amount of accommodation with the least expense to the public treasury, and it will at once become the object of the public gratitude and warm affection; men will study how to facilitate all its transactions, will be conscientiously careful not to impose any needless trouble upon its servants, and will generally watch for its interests as their own. Such is the benign effect upon all the considerate portions of society in England. Then the government will be fully sustained in insisting that all railroads shall carry the mail for a compensation which will be just a fair equivalent for the service performed, in reasonable proportion to other services. And if the corporations are perverse in throwing obstacles in the way, the people will expect that such coercive measures should be employed, as wisdom may prescribe, to make these creatures of their power subservient to the public good, and not to mere private aggrandisement.In January, 1845, a document was communicated to congress by the Postmaster-General, containing replies by the British post-office to certain queries which he had proposed to them. This document gives the distance travelled daily by mail trains on railways at 1601 miles, at a cost per mile of 1s. 1-18/32d. per mile. But this“distance”is the number of miles between place and place. The total number of miles that the mail travels by railroad daily is 5808, which would make the real cost per mile of travel about 5-¼d. The number of miles travelled by railroad in this country is 4,170,403, at the cost of $597,475, which is about 12 cents per mile. But the English trains are driven at much greater speed than ours, the expense of running is much greater in all respects, the cost of the roads is vastly higher, the weight of mails is much greater, and therefore the price of transportation might be higher than with us. But it is lower. The average weight of mails sent daily from London alone is 27,384 pounds, which is 5569 pounds more than the whole daily mails of the United States. By act of parliament, the Postmaster-General is authorized and empowered“to require of every railway company that they shall convey the mail at such times as he may deem proper; and the amount paid for such services is settled by a subsequent arbitration.”Railroad service is performed in New Hampshire for a fraction over 4 cents per mile. The average in New England is 10-½ cents per mile. The average price of passenger fares, for short distances or long, is but 3 cents per mile. There can be no doubt that it is within the constitutional and proper prerogative of congress to take the use of a railroad for the public service, leaving the just compensation to be awarded by arbitration. Neither can it be doubted that enlightened arbitration would greatly reduce the price from what is now paid.Comparative Cost of other Transportation with Letter Postage.The following table shows the cost of passage from Boston to the places named, and the cost of transportation of parcels of usual weight by Express, with the price per half ounce at the same rates.[pg 063]The average weight of passengers with their baggage is set at 230 pounds. This would be equal to the weight of 7360 letters, at half an ounce each, the postage on which, at two cents, would be $147.20, irrespective of distance.From BostonPassengerPer half oz.ExpressPer half oz.Fare.Mills.Freight.Mills.230 pounds.To New York,$4.005-10ths$1.502-10thsTo Philadelphia,7.009-10ths3.505-10thsTo Baltimore,10.001 3-10ths5.507-10thsTo Cincinnati,25.003 2-10ths10.501 4-10thsTo St. Louis,35.004 7-10ths12.001 6-10thsTo New Orleans,45.006 1-10th14.001 9-10thsTo Liverpool,120.0016 3-10ths7.209-10thsper Cunard SteamersRowland Hill discovered that the cost of transporting a letter from London to Edinburgh was 1-36th of a penny; and the Parliamentary Committee ascertained by a different calculation, that this was the average cost per letter of all the mails in England.Penny Papers. The establishment of penny papers in this country is a very striking illustration of the principles here involved. It is now just fifteen years since the New York Sun was commenced by a couple of journeymen printers, one of whom had just been in my employ. They were intelligent and enterprising, and began by writing their editorials and police reports, which they then set up in type, and worked from an old Ramage press, with their own hands. They printed seven hundred papers, of a very small size, which they sold to boys at 62-½ cents per hundred, and the boys sold them in the streets at one cent each. Soon their editions increased, and they enlarged their sheet, and hired it printed on a Napier press which I owned. Again their business increased, so much that it became necessary for them to have a press of their own, driven by steam power. One of the partners then sold out his interest for $10,000, went to the West, studied law, and has been twice a candidate for Congress, with strong prospects of success. The concern has since passed into other hands, and has continued to prosper. For many years it has been printed on a sheet larger than could be bought for a cent, making a constant loss on the paper alone; besides which, it has cost $25 a week to the editor for the leading articles alone; and I know not how much for other editorial labor, market and commercial reports, ship news, foreign news, lightning expresses, correspondence, &c. And yet the amount received for advertising has covered all these expenditures, and enabled the present proprietor to realize, as is supposed, a splendid fortune.A man in Boston buys 200 copies of the New York Tribune and other papers daily, for which he pays 1-¼ cents each. The Express brings him the parcel for 50 cents, which is one quarter of a cent for each paper. The post-office would charge $3.00 for postage alone. For the half cent remaining to him after expenses paid, the carrier delivers his papers to subscribers all over the city, collects his pay once a month, and runs all the risk of loss of bundles and bad debts. Each paper weighs about an ounce and a half—equal to three single letters of full weight, the postage on which would be fifteen cents, making $30 in all. It is impossible to doubt the practicability of cheap postage.[pg 064]In Scotland, with but 2,628,957 inhabitants, and no great commercial centre, no political metropolis, and but little foreign commerce, such is the effect of cheap postage that 28,669,169 letters are sent in a year. Even inpoorIreland, where the people die of hunger by thousands, where there are millions of people who never taste of bread, and where the majority of the people are said to be unable to read or write, with a population of 8,175,124, less than half the population of the United States—there are 28,587,996 letters mailed under the influence of penny postage. The population of Scotland and Ireland together is 10,804,081, not half the present population of the United States; the number of letters in a year is 57,257,165, being more thanallthat are sent in the United States, franks included.Concluding Remarks. I am brought to the close of this essay, with only a brief space left to be filled, and with many subjects of remark untouched—the Exclusive Right of the Post-office—the History of Postage in this country—the Sectional Bearings of Cheap Postage—the Postage Bill now before Congress—the Moral and Social Benefits of Cheap Postage. This pamphlet has been wholly written since the vote of the Publishing Committee, which must be my apology for some repetitions. The main arguments cannot be overthrown, until men disprove arithmetic.Who can doubt that cheap postage would bring three times as many letters as are now sent by mail in this country. And that would give a greater revenue to the post-office than it now receives. It is impossible to doubt the success of cheap postage, when once it is established.Now is the favorable time for its adoption. The astonishing success of cheap postage in Great Britain is opening people's eyes. The rapid progress which public opinion has made in the last six months in favor of cheap postage, creates a confident expectation that congress will yield to the first resolute motion that shall be made, and adopt a well-considered system, of which two cents letter-postage shall be the basis, with a general provision for prepayment. The details will be easily adjusted when the principle is adopted. Let us have no evasions, no half-way measures, to delude with false hopes, and to stand as obstacles in the way of the only true system.Why should I enlarge upon the benefits of cheap postage? The only question to be asked is—What shall every man do to obtain it? The answer is, You must understand its merits; you must talk with your neighbors, and get them interested in its favor; you must write, if you can, for the papers; you must unite, without delay, in signing and forwarding the following petition to congress:To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled:The undersigned, Citizens of:respectfully petition Congress to pass a Law to establisha uniform rate of Postage, not to exceedone cent on Newspapers, andTWO CENTSon eachpre-paid Letterof half an ounce, for all distances; and for other corresponding reforms.
“The direction to the Postmaster-General to contract with the lowest bidder, without the allowance of any advantage to the former contractor, as had been the[pg 061]case before its passage, had the effect of enlarging the field of competition, and reducing the price of transportation, except on railroads and in steamboats, to the lowest amount for which the service can be performed; and will reduce the cost of transportation, when the other section is let to contract under it, but little less than a million of dollars per annum from the former prices.”In other words, our letter postage is no longer taxed as it used to be, to give the people of other sections of the country, stage coaches which they do not support, as well as mails which they do not pay for. There will doubtless be still further reductions in this branch, in proportion as the knowledge becomes diffused among the people, of the profits of this business and the freeness of the competition for it. As Mr. Dana suggested in his valuable Report in 1844:“The difference must arise from want of competition, and a reluctance to engage in the business of transporting the mail. When the attention of the North shall be called to the subject, and the difference in price pointed out, we cannot doubt that contracts will be made nearly as cheap for transportation at the South as at the North. If southern men will not engage in the business, let it be generally known that such increased pay can be had, and an abundance of yankee enterprise will be ready to engage in the business.”Railroad Transportation. One of the most difficult points in the administration of the post-office, has been the dealing with railroad corporations. As these are bodies without souls, they can only be dealt with on the footing of pecuniary interest. And as they are state institutions, and local favorites, public opinion has been generally predisposed to take sides with the railroad, and against the department. And thus the railroads have been able to exact exorbitant allowances for services which cost them next to nothing. Were the whole mails of the country to be sent at once by a single railroad, what would be the amount? The average number of letters mailed in a day is 142,857; which, at the average weight of ⅓ ounce, would weigh 2976 pounds. The average number of newspapers in a day is 150,685, which, at the average weight of 2 ounces, would give 18,834 pounds. The whole together make 21,815 pounds, equal to 109 passengers, averaging, with their baggage, 200 pounds each. These passengers would be carried by railroad 200 miles, from Boston to Albany for $545. The daily cost of railroad service is $1637, which shows that it is distance, not weight, that is chiefly regarded. Or, in other words, that the weight of the mails is of very little account to railroads. It is well known that the corporations regard the carriage of the mail as almost clear profit. The whole daily mails of the United States could be carried by the inland route from Boston to New Orleans, by the established expresses, at their regular rates on parcels, for a little over $3000; while the whole daily expense of mail transportation is $6,594. The expresses will carry from Boston to New York, for $1.50, an amount of parcels, which the post-office would charge $150 for carrying as letters, or $18.40 as newspapers—and all go by the same train, of course involving equal cost of transportation to the company. The inference is unavoidable, that the government is charged exorbitantly by these companies, from the entire absence of competition on almost every railroad route. While human nature remains the same, it is to be expected that corporations will take this advantage[pg 062]unless some counteracting interest can be brought to bear upon them as a restraint against extortion.Now, let the post-office present itself to the people as a system of pure and unmingled beneficence, studying not how it can get a little more money for a little less service, but how it can render the greatest amount of accommodation with the least expense to the public treasury, and it will at once become the object of the public gratitude and warm affection; men will study how to facilitate all its transactions, will be conscientiously careful not to impose any needless trouble upon its servants, and will generally watch for its interests as their own. Such is the benign effect upon all the considerate portions of society in England. Then the government will be fully sustained in insisting that all railroads shall carry the mail for a compensation which will be just a fair equivalent for the service performed, in reasonable proportion to other services. And if the corporations are perverse in throwing obstacles in the way, the people will expect that such coercive measures should be employed, as wisdom may prescribe, to make these creatures of their power subservient to the public good, and not to mere private aggrandisement.In January, 1845, a document was communicated to congress by the Postmaster-General, containing replies by the British post-office to certain queries which he had proposed to them. This document gives the distance travelled daily by mail trains on railways at 1601 miles, at a cost per mile of 1s. 1-18/32d. per mile. But this“distance”is the number of miles between place and place. The total number of miles that the mail travels by railroad daily is 5808, which would make the real cost per mile of travel about 5-¼d. The number of miles travelled by railroad in this country is 4,170,403, at the cost of $597,475, which is about 12 cents per mile. But the English trains are driven at much greater speed than ours, the expense of running is much greater in all respects, the cost of the roads is vastly higher, the weight of mails is much greater, and therefore the price of transportation might be higher than with us. But it is lower. The average weight of mails sent daily from London alone is 27,384 pounds, which is 5569 pounds more than the whole daily mails of the United States. By act of parliament, the Postmaster-General is authorized and empowered“to require of every railway company that they shall convey the mail at such times as he may deem proper; and the amount paid for such services is settled by a subsequent arbitration.”Railroad service is performed in New Hampshire for a fraction over 4 cents per mile. The average in New England is 10-½ cents per mile. The average price of passenger fares, for short distances or long, is but 3 cents per mile. There can be no doubt that it is within the constitutional and proper prerogative of congress to take the use of a railroad for the public service, leaving the just compensation to be awarded by arbitration. Neither can it be doubted that enlightened arbitration would greatly reduce the price from what is now paid.Comparative Cost of other Transportation with Letter Postage.The following table shows the cost of passage from Boston to the places named, and the cost of transportation of parcels of usual weight by Express, with the price per half ounce at the same rates.[pg 063]The average weight of passengers with their baggage is set at 230 pounds. This would be equal to the weight of 7360 letters, at half an ounce each, the postage on which, at two cents, would be $147.20, irrespective of distance.From BostonPassengerPer half oz.ExpressPer half oz.Fare.Mills.Freight.Mills.230 pounds.To New York,$4.005-10ths$1.502-10thsTo Philadelphia,7.009-10ths3.505-10thsTo Baltimore,10.001 3-10ths5.507-10thsTo Cincinnati,25.003 2-10ths10.501 4-10thsTo St. Louis,35.004 7-10ths12.001 6-10thsTo New Orleans,45.006 1-10th14.001 9-10thsTo Liverpool,120.0016 3-10ths7.209-10thsper Cunard SteamersRowland Hill discovered that the cost of transporting a letter from London to Edinburgh was 1-36th of a penny; and the Parliamentary Committee ascertained by a different calculation, that this was the average cost per letter of all the mails in England.Penny Papers. The establishment of penny papers in this country is a very striking illustration of the principles here involved. It is now just fifteen years since the New York Sun was commenced by a couple of journeymen printers, one of whom had just been in my employ. They were intelligent and enterprising, and began by writing their editorials and police reports, which they then set up in type, and worked from an old Ramage press, with their own hands. They printed seven hundred papers, of a very small size, which they sold to boys at 62-½ cents per hundred, and the boys sold them in the streets at one cent each. Soon their editions increased, and they enlarged their sheet, and hired it printed on a Napier press which I owned. Again their business increased, so much that it became necessary for them to have a press of their own, driven by steam power. One of the partners then sold out his interest for $10,000, went to the West, studied law, and has been twice a candidate for Congress, with strong prospects of success. The concern has since passed into other hands, and has continued to prosper. For many years it has been printed on a sheet larger than could be bought for a cent, making a constant loss on the paper alone; besides which, it has cost $25 a week to the editor for the leading articles alone; and I know not how much for other editorial labor, market and commercial reports, ship news, foreign news, lightning expresses, correspondence, &c. And yet the amount received for advertising has covered all these expenditures, and enabled the present proprietor to realize, as is supposed, a splendid fortune.A man in Boston buys 200 copies of the New York Tribune and other papers daily, for which he pays 1-¼ cents each. The Express brings him the parcel for 50 cents, which is one quarter of a cent for each paper. The post-office would charge $3.00 for postage alone. For the half cent remaining to him after expenses paid, the carrier delivers his papers to subscribers all over the city, collects his pay once a month, and runs all the risk of loss of bundles and bad debts. Each paper weighs about an ounce and a half—equal to three single letters of full weight, the postage on which would be fifteen cents, making $30 in all. It is impossible to doubt the practicability of cheap postage.[pg 064]In Scotland, with but 2,628,957 inhabitants, and no great commercial centre, no political metropolis, and but little foreign commerce, such is the effect of cheap postage that 28,669,169 letters are sent in a year. Even inpoorIreland, where the people die of hunger by thousands, where there are millions of people who never taste of bread, and where the majority of the people are said to be unable to read or write, with a population of 8,175,124, less than half the population of the United States—there are 28,587,996 letters mailed under the influence of penny postage. The population of Scotland and Ireland together is 10,804,081, not half the present population of the United States; the number of letters in a year is 57,257,165, being more thanallthat are sent in the United States, franks included.Concluding Remarks. I am brought to the close of this essay, with only a brief space left to be filled, and with many subjects of remark untouched—the Exclusive Right of the Post-office—the History of Postage in this country—the Sectional Bearings of Cheap Postage—the Postage Bill now before Congress—the Moral and Social Benefits of Cheap Postage. This pamphlet has been wholly written since the vote of the Publishing Committee, which must be my apology for some repetitions. The main arguments cannot be overthrown, until men disprove arithmetic.Who can doubt that cheap postage would bring three times as many letters as are now sent by mail in this country. And that would give a greater revenue to the post-office than it now receives. It is impossible to doubt the success of cheap postage, when once it is established.Now is the favorable time for its adoption. The astonishing success of cheap postage in Great Britain is opening people's eyes. The rapid progress which public opinion has made in the last six months in favor of cheap postage, creates a confident expectation that congress will yield to the first resolute motion that shall be made, and adopt a well-considered system, of which two cents letter-postage shall be the basis, with a general provision for prepayment. The details will be easily adjusted when the principle is adopted. Let us have no evasions, no half-way measures, to delude with false hopes, and to stand as obstacles in the way of the only true system.Why should I enlarge upon the benefits of cheap postage? The only question to be asked is—What shall every man do to obtain it? The answer is, You must understand its merits; you must talk with your neighbors, and get them interested in its favor; you must write, if you can, for the papers; you must unite, without delay, in signing and forwarding the following petition to congress:To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled:The undersigned, Citizens of:respectfully petition Congress to pass a Law to establisha uniform rate of Postage, not to exceedone cent on Newspapers, andTWO CENTSon eachpre-paid Letterof half an ounce, for all distances; and for other corresponding reforms.
“The direction to the Postmaster-General to contract with the lowest bidder, without the allowance of any advantage to the former contractor, as had been the[pg 061]case before its passage, had the effect of enlarging the field of competition, and reducing the price of transportation, except on railroads and in steamboats, to the lowest amount for which the service can be performed; and will reduce the cost of transportation, when the other section is let to contract under it, but little less than a million of dollars per annum from the former prices.”
In other words, our letter postage is no longer taxed as it used to be, to give the people of other sections of the country, stage coaches which they do not support, as well as mails which they do not pay for. There will doubtless be still further reductions in this branch, in proportion as the knowledge becomes diffused among the people, of the profits of this business and the freeness of the competition for it. As Mr. Dana suggested in his valuable Report in 1844:
“The difference must arise from want of competition, and a reluctance to engage in the business of transporting the mail. When the attention of the North shall be called to the subject, and the difference in price pointed out, we cannot doubt that contracts will be made nearly as cheap for transportation at the South as at the North. If southern men will not engage in the business, let it be generally known that such increased pay can be had, and an abundance of yankee enterprise will be ready to engage in the business.”
Railroad Transportation. One of the most difficult points in the administration of the post-office, has been the dealing with railroad corporations. As these are bodies without souls, they can only be dealt with on the footing of pecuniary interest. And as they are state institutions, and local favorites, public opinion has been generally predisposed to take sides with the railroad, and against the department. And thus the railroads have been able to exact exorbitant allowances for services which cost them next to nothing. Were the whole mails of the country to be sent at once by a single railroad, what would be the amount? The average number of letters mailed in a day is 142,857; which, at the average weight of ⅓ ounce, would weigh 2976 pounds. The average number of newspapers in a day is 150,685, which, at the average weight of 2 ounces, would give 18,834 pounds. The whole together make 21,815 pounds, equal to 109 passengers, averaging, with their baggage, 200 pounds each. These passengers would be carried by railroad 200 miles, from Boston to Albany for $545. The daily cost of railroad service is $1637, which shows that it is distance, not weight, that is chiefly regarded. Or, in other words, that the weight of the mails is of very little account to railroads. It is well known that the corporations regard the carriage of the mail as almost clear profit. The whole daily mails of the United States could be carried by the inland route from Boston to New Orleans, by the established expresses, at their regular rates on parcels, for a little over $3000; while the whole daily expense of mail transportation is $6,594. The expresses will carry from Boston to New York, for $1.50, an amount of parcels, which the post-office would charge $150 for carrying as letters, or $18.40 as newspapers—and all go by the same train, of course involving equal cost of transportation to the company. The inference is unavoidable, that the government is charged exorbitantly by these companies, from the entire absence of competition on almost every railroad route. While human nature remains the same, it is to be expected that corporations will take this advantage[pg 062]unless some counteracting interest can be brought to bear upon them as a restraint against extortion.
Now, let the post-office present itself to the people as a system of pure and unmingled beneficence, studying not how it can get a little more money for a little less service, but how it can render the greatest amount of accommodation with the least expense to the public treasury, and it will at once become the object of the public gratitude and warm affection; men will study how to facilitate all its transactions, will be conscientiously careful not to impose any needless trouble upon its servants, and will generally watch for its interests as their own. Such is the benign effect upon all the considerate portions of society in England. Then the government will be fully sustained in insisting that all railroads shall carry the mail for a compensation which will be just a fair equivalent for the service performed, in reasonable proportion to other services. And if the corporations are perverse in throwing obstacles in the way, the people will expect that such coercive measures should be employed, as wisdom may prescribe, to make these creatures of their power subservient to the public good, and not to mere private aggrandisement.
In January, 1845, a document was communicated to congress by the Postmaster-General, containing replies by the British post-office to certain queries which he had proposed to them. This document gives the distance travelled daily by mail trains on railways at 1601 miles, at a cost per mile of 1s. 1-18/32d. per mile. But this“distance”is the number of miles between place and place. The total number of miles that the mail travels by railroad daily is 5808, which would make the real cost per mile of travel about 5-¼d. The number of miles travelled by railroad in this country is 4,170,403, at the cost of $597,475, which is about 12 cents per mile. But the English trains are driven at much greater speed than ours, the expense of running is much greater in all respects, the cost of the roads is vastly higher, the weight of mails is much greater, and therefore the price of transportation might be higher than with us. But it is lower. The average weight of mails sent daily from London alone is 27,384 pounds, which is 5569 pounds more than the whole daily mails of the United States. By act of parliament, the Postmaster-General is authorized and empowered“to require of every railway company that they shall convey the mail at such times as he may deem proper; and the amount paid for such services is settled by a subsequent arbitration.”Railroad service is performed in New Hampshire for a fraction over 4 cents per mile. The average in New England is 10-½ cents per mile. The average price of passenger fares, for short distances or long, is but 3 cents per mile. There can be no doubt that it is within the constitutional and proper prerogative of congress to take the use of a railroad for the public service, leaving the just compensation to be awarded by arbitration. Neither can it be doubted that enlightened arbitration would greatly reduce the price from what is now paid.
Comparative Cost of other Transportation with Letter Postage.The following table shows the cost of passage from Boston to the places named, and the cost of transportation of parcels of usual weight by Express, with the price per half ounce at the same rates.
The average weight of passengers with their baggage is set at 230 pounds. This would be equal to the weight of 7360 letters, at half an ounce each, the postage on which, at two cents, would be $147.20, irrespective of distance.
Rowland Hill discovered that the cost of transporting a letter from London to Edinburgh was 1-36th of a penny; and the Parliamentary Committee ascertained by a different calculation, that this was the average cost per letter of all the mails in England.
Penny Papers. The establishment of penny papers in this country is a very striking illustration of the principles here involved. It is now just fifteen years since the New York Sun was commenced by a couple of journeymen printers, one of whom had just been in my employ. They were intelligent and enterprising, and began by writing their editorials and police reports, which they then set up in type, and worked from an old Ramage press, with their own hands. They printed seven hundred papers, of a very small size, which they sold to boys at 62-½ cents per hundred, and the boys sold them in the streets at one cent each. Soon their editions increased, and they enlarged their sheet, and hired it printed on a Napier press which I owned. Again their business increased, so much that it became necessary for them to have a press of their own, driven by steam power. One of the partners then sold out his interest for $10,000, went to the West, studied law, and has been twice a candidate for Congress, with strong prospects of success. The concern has since passed into other hands, and has continued to prosper. For many years it has been printed on a sheet larger than could be bought for a cent, making a constant loss on the paper alone; besides which, it has cost $25 a week to the editor for the leading articles alone; and I know not how much for other editorial labor, market and commercial reports, ship news, foreign news, lightning expresses, correspondence, &c. And yet the amount received for advertising has covered all these expenditures, and enabled the present proprietor to realize, as is supposed, a splendid fortune.
A man in Boston buys 200 copies of the New York Tribune and other papers daily, for which he pays 1-¼ cents each. The Express brings him the parcel for 50 cents, which is one quarter of a cent for each paper. The post-office would charge $3.00 for postage alone. For the half cent remaining to him after expenses paid, the carrier delivers his papers to subscribers all over the city, collects his pay once a month, and runs all the risk of loss of bundles and bad debts. Each paper weighs about an ounce and a half—equal to three single letters of full weight, the postage on which would be fifteen cents, making $30 in all. It is impossible to doubt the practicability of cheap postage.
In Scotland, with but 2,628,957 inhabitants, and no great commercial centre, no political metropolis, and but little foreign commerce, such is the effect of cheap postage that 28,669,169 letters are sent in a year. Even inpoorIreland, where the people die of hunger by thousands, where there are millions of people who never taste of bread, and where the majority of the people are said to be unable to read or write, with a population of 8,175,124, less than half the population of the United States—there are 28,587,996 letters mailed under the influence of penny postage. The population of Scotland and Ireland together is 10,804,081, not half the present population of the United States; the number of letters in a year is 57,257,165, being more thanallthat are sent in the United States, franks included.
Concluding Remarks. I am brought to the close of this essay, with only a brief space left to be filled, and with many subjects of remark untouched—the Exclusive Right of the Post-office—the History of Postage in this country—the Sectional Bearings of Cheap Postage—the Postage Bill now before Congress—the Moral and Social Benefits of Cheap Postage. This pamphlet has been wholly written since the vote of the Publishing Committee, which must be my apology for some repetitions. The main arguments cannot be overthrown, until men disprove arithmetic.
Who can doubt that cheap postage would bring three times as many letters as are now sent by mail in this country. And that would give a greater revenue to the post-office than it now receives. It is impossible to doubt the success of cheap postage, when once it is established.
Now is the favorable time for its adoption. The astonishing success of cheap postage in Great Britain is opening people's eyes. The rapid progress which public opinion has made in the last six months in favor of cheap postage, creates a confident expectation that congress will yield to the first resolute motion that shall be made, and adopt a well-considered system, of which two cents letter-postage shall be the basis, with a general provision for prepayment. The details will be easily adjusted when the principle is adopted. Let us have no evasions, no half-way measures, to delude with false hopes, and to stand as obstacles in the way of the only true system.
Why should I enlarge upon the benefits of cheap postage? The only question to be asked is—What shall every man do to obtain it? The answer is, You must understand its merits; you must talk with your neighbors, and get them interested in its favor; you must write, if you can, for the papers; you must unite, without delay, in signing and forwarding the following petition to congress:
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled:
The undersigned, Citizens of:
respectfully petition Congress to pass a Law to establisha uniform rate of Postage, not to exceedone cent on Newspapers, andTWO CENTSon eachpre-paid Letterof half an ounce, for all distances; and for other corresponding reforms.