administration feared that a complete reform of the rates on the
English model would have a disastrous effect on the postal revenue, and
so upset the equilibrium of the State finance. They had, of course, the
experience of England to guide them, and they had not failed to note the
large reduction of net revenue which the adoption of the reform of 1840
had entailed. In the following year, however, a great step was taken in
the direction of the new system. By the law of the 21st December 1849
the following simplified rates of postage, to take effect from the 1st
January 1850, were established:--
For a single letter not exceeding 1/2 oz. (1 zollloth)--
Up to 10 miles 1 silver groschen
10 miles to 20 miles 2 "
All other distances 3 "
For a letter weighing--
From 1/2 oz. to 1 oz. 2 rates
" 1 " 1-1/2 " 3 "
" 1-1/2 " 2 " 4 "
" 2 " 4 " 5 "
" 4 " 8 " 6 "
and so on, until the rate became less than the parcel rate (1 zollloth =
1-1/8 loth).
The reductions in Prussia were in all cases made with careful regard to
the possible financial results. The desire to remove all trace of the
fiscal tradition did not extend to a desire to relieve the Post Office
of its revenue-producing function, and the actual loss of net revenue
which resulted in Prussia from the introduction of cheap postage was
much less than the loss in England.[240] The set-back to the revenue
consequent on the reduction of 1844 was recovered in 1847; the set-back
consequent on the reduction of the rates of value letters and parcels in
1848 (on the average some 66-2/3 per cent.) was recovered in 1852; and
that occasioned by the reform of the 1st January 1850 was recovered in
1853. But the reform of 1850, which retained the three distance charges,
was far from being a complete reform of the character of that in
England.
No change of importance was made in the ordinary letter rate between
1850 and 1860. In the latter year the maximum weight for packets passing
by letter post was fixed at half a pound (15 loth).[241] A further step
towards simplicity and reduction of the letter rate was taken in
1861,[242] when the weight scale was revised and the three steps
established in 1849 abolished, two only being substituted. Letters up to
half an ounce in weight were to pass at the single rate, and letters
exceeding that weight at double rate. The three distance zones were
maintained.
The special fee for delivery which was collected from the addressee by
the post office of destination was still in force. It was, of course, in
effect, an increase of the normal rate of postage, and as such it lay as
a heavy burden on the letter traffic. In the case of packets of printed
matter not exceeding half an ounce in weight it amounted to 100 per
cent. on the normal rate. It was, moreover, disproportionate to the cost
of the service of delivery.[243] Since 1850 the Prussian administration
had incessantly urged the abolition of the charge. Special charges for
delivery had already been abolished in England, in France, and in other
of the larger States. The efforts of the administration were, however,
frustrated by the Minister for Finance, who was unable, from regard to
the needs of the national exchequer, to abandon the revenue obtained
from this source. These financial considerations delayed the abolition
of the charge by at least a decade.[244] The existence of the charge was
found to be especially unfortunate in regard to foreign letters, since
its collection was regarded by foreign administrations as an addition to
the ordinary postage and consequently an evasion of the terms of
agreements under which foreign rates had been fixed. The charge was
ultimately abolished in 1862.[245] In order to avoid inconvenient
reduction of revenue, it was arranged that the abolition should be
effected gradually: for certain classes of traffic as from the date of
the coming into force of the Act, for other classes as from the 1st July
1863, and for the remainder as from the 1st July 1864.
The political events of the years 1864 and 1866 occasioned far-reaching
modifications of the postal service in Germany. After the expulsion of
Austria from the German league, Prussia took over the administration of
the postal service in the duchies of the Elbe. Prussia had also absorbed
the kingdom of Hanover. The territory of the Prussian postal
administration was thus largely extended; and in addition the Prince of
Thurn and Taxis relinquished in favour of the Crown of Prussia the
control which he had exercised over the postal service in eighteen
States.[246]
The North-German Union was established in 1867, and the postal
arrangements for the whole territory of the Union were unified. Up to
this time ten independent postal administrations had existed in this
territory,[247] and the rates of these administrations differed in
various particulars. The Prussian rates were applied temporarily to all
postal traffic passing between the old and new Prussian territories, and
the rates of the Union service were applied to traffic passing between
the territories forming the North-German Union.
The continuance of these conditions was not consistent with a unified
administration of the postal affairs of the whole North-German Union,
and a reform of the rates became necessary. Germany was in 1867 almost
the only one of the great States of the world which still maintained a
scale of rates of postage for letters graduated according to distance.
Prussia had already repeatedly endeavoured to introduce the principle of
uniformity of rate irrespective of distance which had been adopted by
all others, or at least to secure further simplification; but advance in
this direction had always been hindered by financial
considerations.[248] The political developments now opened the way for a
thorough reorganization of the rates, and this was achieved by the law
of the 4th November 1867. This law, which took effect from the 1st
January 1868, established uniform rates for letters, irrespective of
distance, of the following amounts--1 sgr. (= 10 pf.) for letters not
exceeding half an ounce in weight, and 2 sgr. for all letters of greater
weight.
After the refounding of the German Empire in 1870, there was fresh
legislation in regard to the Post Office.[249] Among other changes, the
limit of weight for the single letter was fixed at 15 grammes, and the
limit of maximum weight at half a pound. This law also abolished the
charge for rural delivery, a long-desired reform which had been
frequently urged upon the Reichstag. In order to assist further the
interests of residents in the country, it was arranged that on payment
of a monthly fee of 5 sgr. letters might be handed to and delivered by
the post messenger, in a closed pouch, at places on his route.
The rates established under this law have remained in operation
substantially unchanged up to the present time. The most important
modification was made in 1900, when the maximum limit of weight of the
single letter was raised from 15 to 20 grammes. Under these rates the
letter post has developed continuously. In 1872 the total number of
letters passing by post within the territory of the Imperial Post Office
was 422 millions, and in 1910 the number had increased to 2,026
millions. As in other countries, the letter rate has proved extremely
profitable. The net revenue of the Imperial Post Office in 1872 amounted
to 4.7 million Marks, and in 1910 to 88 million Marks. In Germany,
however, the railways are State-owned, and the Imperial Post Office is
not required to pay to the railways a full equivalent for the services
performed. The value of the service performed by the railways on behalf
of the Post Office for which no charge is made against the Post Office
is not definitely known.[250] The newspaper traffic, the parcel post,
and the Imperial Telegraph Service are carried on at heavy loss. The
Post Office also performs numerous services, such as those in connection
with the National Insurance schemes, for which it receives no monetary
credit; and there is no doubt that taken by itself the letter traffic
is largely profitable at the existing rates, even when full allowance
has been made for all legitimate charges against the service.
NOTE ON RURAL DELIVERY
Until the eighteen-thirties there was no State provision for the letter
traffic in country districts. Residents in the country must deliver all
their letters at, or fetch them from, the nearest post office, which was
done on market-day or by messengers. In 1824 a beginning was made in
Prussia by the introduction experimentally of a delivery service at
certain post offices. In the following years the number of rural
deliverers and the number of posting-boxes in the villages were
increased, and a uniform delivery fee (_Landbestellgeld_) of 1 silver
groschen instituted. The delivery fee was abolished on the 1st January
1872 (law of 28th October, 1871). This meant the abandonment of a yearly
revenue of 1-1/2 million Marks.
In spite of the increase in the number of post offices there were still
in 1880 as many as 19 million people, the greater half of the whole
nation, and 17,000 localities, outside the limits of the postal
service.[251]
In 1880 a great step forward was taken. The number of rural deliverers
was largely increased, and also the number of postal stations in the
country (_Posth[:u]lfstellen_).[252] A daily delivery was extended to the
greater number of places, the rural routes in most cases being so
arranged that the deliverer returned by the same route, thereby enabling
an answer to be sent the same day to letters received on the outward
journey.[253]
* * * * *
II
THE RATE FOR NEWSPAPERS
NEWSPAPER POST IN ENGLAND
In England newspapers have enjoyed special privileges in regard to
transmission by post since about the middle of the seventeenth century.
The origin of the privilege is to be looked for in the special
circumstances under which the early newspapers, and the newsletters and
newsbooks from which they were derived, were issued, and the means by
which the news included in them was obtained.
At that period the post was the chief means by which news could be
collected or distributed. The newsletters were distributed by post,[254]
and the news which they contained was for the most part obtained through
the agency of the Post Office from correspondents in various parts of
the country. It was, indeed, an important part of the function of the
Post Office to furnish news to the Court, and to the other departments
of State, as well as to the general public.[255]
In 1659 General Monck appointed Henry Muddiman, a journalist who had
already issued the _Parliamentary Intelligencer_ and the _Mercurius
Publicus_, to write on behalf of the Royalist cause. In consideration of
his services he was, after the Restoration, given the privilege of free
transmission for his letters.[256] This gave him an advantage over other
journalists, and his newsletters and newsbooks became extremely popular.
In 1663, however, he was supplanted by Roger L'Estrange, a Royalist who
had not to that time been properly recompensed for his faithfulness.
L'Estrange was an able writer, who after the passing of the Licensing
Act of 1662 had been requested to draw up proposals for the regulation
of the Press. As a reward for his services in that connection he was
given the office of Surveyor of the Press, his remuneration being the
sole privilege of writing and publishing newsbooks and advertisement.
L'Estrange also secured the privilege of free postage from Lady
Chesterfield, one of the farmers of the Post Office.[257]
L'Estrange's privilege put an end to Muddiman's newsbooks, but in no way
interfered with his newsletters and his right to free postage. He was
able, therefore, to continue his newsletters, and did so with great
success. After the Restoration Muddiman had attached himself to Sir
Edward Nicholas, one of the principal Secretaries of State, and his
Under-Secretary, Joseph Williamson, from whom he had been in the habit
of obtaining part of his news. Williamson was a grasping man, who became
jealous of the success of the newswriters, and finding that L'Estrange
was unpopular, conceived the idea of getting the control of the whole
business into his own hands. He therefore suggested that Muddiman should
go to Oxford, where the Court had removed owing to the plague, and
publish a new journal in opposition to L'Estrange. While Muddiman was at
Oxford, Williamson would obtain by an agent in the Post Office, James
Hickes, the names of all his correspondents.[258] The plan was eminently
successful, and on the 16th November 1665 the _Oxford Gazette_ appeared,
to be transformed a few months later, with its twenty-fourth issue (5th
February 1665-6), into the _London Gazette_. Muddiman, however, gained
knowledge of Williamson's designs regarding his correspondents, and on
the 8th February 1666 left the _Gazette_. Williamson thereupon took
control of its publication, and, with the assistance of Hickes,
continued its issue. He appointed correspondents in all the leading
seaports, and in a few other English towns, and also in continental
cities, who were required to furnish accounts of passing events. In
return for their services the correspondents received regularly copies
of the _Gazette_. Both the letters from correspondents and the
_Gazettes_ which were their reward passed free of postage.[259] The
regular supply of a copy of the _Gazette_ was so great a privilege that
it was often regarded as sufficient wages for a post-messenger or even a
deputy-postmaster.[260]
This became a recognized practice before the end of the seventeenth
century, and the privilege was regarded as forming part of the ordinary
emoluments of the deputy-postmasters.[261] The _Gazettes_ were sent out
from London by officers known as Clerks of the Road, under the frank of
these officers; and the privilege of franking these _Gazettes_ became
extended so that the Clerks of the Road ultimately became entitled to
frank any newspaper to whomsoever addressed.[262] In the eighteenth
century the Clerks of the Road developed the exercise of their
privilege. They accepted subscriptions and undertook the supply of
newspapers generally throughout the country. They became, in fact,
newsagents. Their newspaper business was something quite apart from
their duties as officers of the Post Office. It was conducted in a
separate building, by a separate staff, and they found it very
lucrative.[263] The postage on newspapers at the letter rate would have
been prohibitive. Hence newspapers either went under frank or did not go
by post at all, and the whole business of distribution through the post
fell into the hands of the Clerks of the Road. Their profits were in
part applied to the discharge of certain payments--the salaries of some
of the inferior clerks and some charitable payments--in connection with
the Post Office.[264]
In 1764 the privilege was explicitly recognized by statute,[265] but the
same Act gave a severe blow to the whole system by authorizing members
of Parliament to send newspapers free of postage. The members did not
confine the exercise of the privilege to newspapers sent by or to them
for their own use, but granted orders for free postage to booksellers
and newsagents on a liberal scale.[266] The booksellers naturally cut
the prices charged by the Clerks of the Road. The charge of the latter
had been [L]5 a year for a daily paper, and [L]2 10s. a year for an evening
paper. The booksellers in 1770 advertised a charge of [L]4 a year for a
daily paper, and [L]2 a year for an evening paper.[267] As a result a
large part of the traffic went to the booksellers, and the profits of
the Clerks of the Road fell so rapidly that it was soon found necessary
to relieve them of the charges on their profits.[268]
Efforts were made to check the abuse of the privilege of franking of
newspapers held by members of Parliament under the Act of 1764. An Act
of 1802 (42 Geo. III, cap. 63) required not only that the member should
sign the newspaper packets, but that the whole superscription, together
with the date of posting and the name of the post-town in which the
paper was intended to be posted, should be in his handwriting. The
member must, moreover, himself be in the post-town where the paper was
posted on the date shown on the paper. These regulations were not long
maintained. They were probably too stringent to be enforced, and in the
course of a few years the appearance on the newspaper or wrapper of any
member's name, whether written by himself or by any other person, or
even printed, was sufficient to secure free transmission through the
post. In 1825 the conditions were definitely repealed, and newspapers
became legally entitled to free transmission by post.[269]
There were reasons why the Government and the Post Office did not
suppress the extension of the privilege accorded to newspapers. At this
time heavy general taxes were imposed on newspapers--the paper duty,
the advertisement duty, and the stamp duty.
These charges had been first imposed in the early years of the
eighteenth century, when newspapers were changing character, and they
were in the nature of restrictions on the liberty of the Press, a
continuation of the restrictions which had previously been maintained by
means of Licensing Acts.[270] Newspapers were at that time ceasing to be
mere chronicles of events, and were beginning to publish comments and to
criticize persons and parties. A Bill to impose a tax of 1d. a copy on
all periodical publications was brought into Parliament in 1701, but was
abandoned owing to the opposition of the newspaper proprietors, who
represented that they were in the habit of selling their papers at a
1/2d. a copy.[271] In 1712 a message from the Crown, adverting to the
undesirable character of the new development of newspaper enterprise,
recommended that a remedy be found without delay. The result was the
imposition of a stamp duty of 1/2d. the sheet on all newspapers of a
sheet and a half.[272] The privileges with regard to their transmission
by post were, however, in no way interfered with.
In 1776 the tax was raised to 1-1/2d. a copy, in 1789 to 2d., in 1794 to
2-1/2d., and in 1815 to 4d., at which amount it stood until 1836. In
1819 onerous restrictions with regard to registration, bonds, and
sureties were imposed, mainly with the view of preventing the issue of
publications of undesirable character.[273]
In consideration of these charges the Government were prepared to allow
free transmission by post. Moreover, the franking privilege of the
Clerks of the Road was favoured as an economy. They argued that as these
officers received considerable sums from their newspaper business their
salaries from the Post Office were correspondingly low, and if the
newspaper business were taken from them it would be necessary for the
Post Office to make good the loss in income which they would
suffer.[274] It would seem that there was at this time no conception of
charging a rate of postage on newspapers; and so far the authorities
were right in thinking the abolition of the privilege would cause an
addition to the expenses of the Post Office, in compensation for which
there would be no increase in revenue. Whatever were the taxes paid to
other departments, it was clearly in the financial interest of the Post
Office, so long as newspapers passed free by post, to retain a system
which enabled certain of its officers to obtain part of their income
from special arrangements for the distribution of the newspapers,
instead of from Post Office funds.
The Clerks of the Road still held an advantage over the ordinary
newsagents. The local postmasters acted as their agents, and they had,
moreover, the important privilege of posting their papers later.
Newsagents were not permitted to post after seven o'clock, but the
Clerks of the Road could post as late as eight o'clock. They were able,
therefore, to retain a considerable business. In 1829 it was estimated
that as many as one-eighth of all the newspapers sent out from London
were sent by the Clerks of the Road.[275] The privilege of late posting
was withdrawn in 1834, and their business then ceased.[276]
It seems anomalous that at the same time that the Government, with the
object of restricting the publication and distribution of newspapers,
imposed a heavy stamp duty and a duty on advertisements, they should
have assisted, by allowing free transmission by post, the distribution
of such newspapers as were able to survive the impositions; but the
heavy taxes were intended to prevent the issue of cheap newspapers, and
expensive papers could only find sale among those who were not attracted
by dangerous doctrines, political or otherwise.[277] In the view of the
Government this aristocratic character ensured, moreover, a high moral
tone in the Press. Without such taxes the English Press might become a
moral danger and might conceivably sink to the level of the American
Press of the day, which, according to some eminent persons, was very low
indeed.[278] The question of free transmission by post received little
attention. Chief interest was centred on the allegation that the stamp
duty so raised the price of legitimate newspapers as to place them
beyond the reach of any but the well-to-do.
The question of allowing the free publication of newspapers, or of, at
least, reducing the heavy burdens under which they lay, became urgent
after the passing of the Reform Act of 1832.[279] The increase in the
number of people directly interested in political affairs through the
extension of the franchise, and the awakened general interest in social
and economic problems, not only produced a great demand for newspapers,
but made necessary provision for the dissemination of accurate political
intelligence.[280] Numerous unstamped papers, which found a ready sale,
were issued in various parts of the country, in defiance of the law.
Thus, in London, one of these papers, _The Poor Man's Guardian_, an able
and "Socialistic" paper, bore on its title-page a notification that it
was deliberately published contrary to law, in order to test "the power
of right against might."[281]
The Government took strong action against such publications. Numerous
prosecutions were undertaken, and a large number of persons in various
parts of the country were imprisoned; but the circulation of the papers
could not be checked. Popular sentiment was largely on the side of the
publishers and sellers of unstamped papers, sympathy being so strong
that frequently subscriptions for their benefit were raised.[282]
It became apparent very soon after the passing of the Reform Act that
the heavy duty could not be maintained. It was indeed so high, and the
sale of the unstamped publications was so great, that in the years after
1831 there was an actual diminution in the yield of the stamp duty. In
1836 the Government were constrained to deal with the question. They
introduced a Bill providing for the reduction of the duty from 4d. a
sheet to 1d. a sheet. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said that the
reduction was simply a concession to public necessity and expediency. If
the duty were maintained at its then existing level, public feeling
against it would increase, and might lead to a general disposition to
encourage illegal publications. The reduction would, moreover, assist
the moral improvement of the people.