The principles of cheap postage have been recognized from the beginning of
our government, in reference to the postage on newspapers—the charge being
regulated, neither by weight nor distance, but, with a single exception,
by the rule of simple uniformity. The postage on newspapers is one cent
for each paper, within 100 miles, or within the state where printed, and a
cent and a half for greater distances. The act of 1844 allowed all
newspapers within 30 miles of the place where issued, to go free, but this
militated so directly against every principle of equity, that it has been
repealed. But cheap postage on newspapers, for the sake of the general
diffusion of knowledge of public affairs, has always been the policy of
our government. Even during the war of 1812, when it was attempted to
raise a revenue by letter postage, the postage on newspapers was not
raised. No proposition whatever, to increase the cost, or lessen the
facility of the circulation of newspapers by mail, would be sanctioned by
the people, under any conceivable exigency of the government.
Yet it has never been stated, to my knowledge, by any administration, that
the postage of newspapers was any help to the department, or even that it
paid for itself. Many of the unproductive routes, which add so much to the
expense, and so little to the income of the department, are demanded
chiefly for the facility of getting the newspapers, rather than for
letters. We are a nation, of newspaper readers. It is possible, indeed,
that the prodigious increase in the number of newspapers circulated by
mail, which has taken place within twenty years, and especially within ten
years, may have reduced the average cost of each, so that now the
newspapers may be productive, or at least remunerative. The
Postmaster-General states the postage on newspapers and pamphlets, for the
year ending June 30, 1847, at $643,160, which is an increase of $81,018,
or 14-½ per cent. over the preceding year, and an increase over the annual
average of the nine preceding years, of $114,181, or 21 per cent.
The newspapers passing through the mails annually, are estimated at
55,000,000. In 1843, they were estimated at 43,500,000, of which 7,000,000
were free. If the calculation is made on the whole number, the increase is
20 per cent. in four years. But if, as is probable, the 55,000,000 in 1847
are chargeable papers, the increase is 33-½ per cent. If anything can make
the newspaper postage pay for itself, it will be the multiplication of
newspapers, as it is well known that a great reduction of cost of
individual articles is produced by the great number required. What
fortunes are made by manufacturing cotton cloth, to be sold at six or
eight cents per yard; and by making pins and needles, which pass through
so many processes, and yet are sold at such a low rate. Each yard of
cloth, each needle, each pin, is subjected to all those several steps, and
yet the greatness of the demand creates a vast revenue from profits which
are so small upon each individual article as to be incapable of being
stated in money; the cheapness of production extending the sale, and the
extent of sale favoring the cheapness of production. An establishment like
the post-office requires a certain amount of expenditure and labor, to
keep the machinery in operation, though the work be but little, not half
equal to its capacity, and it can often enlarge its labors and its
productiveness, without requiring, by any means, a corresponding increase
of expense; and enlarged to a considerable extent, perhaps, without any
increase at all. Thus the cost of the British post-office, which was
£686,768 in 1839, when the number of letters was only 86,000,000, was
increased only to £702,310, but little more than 10 per cent. in the
following year, when the number of letters was increased to 170,000,000.
That is, the quantity of business was doubled, while the expense was only
increased one-tenth. And in 1846, when the letters were 322,000,000, or
nearly fourfold the former number, the expense was only £1,138,745, an
increase of but 65 per cent., and the greater part of this—almost the
whole—was for increased facilities given, and not owing to the increased
number of letters. Had the cost kept pace with the increase of business,
it would have been, in 1847, nearly £3,000,000 sterling.
There is one difficulty, however, in the case of newspapers, arising from
their weight. The Postmaster-General says, in his last report: “The weight
and bulk of the mails, which add so greatly to the cost of transportation,
and impede the progress of the mail, are attributable to the mass of
printed matter daily forwarded from the principal cities of the Union to
every part of the country.” Some of these newspapers, he says, weigh over
two and a half ounces each. For more than twenty years, the weight of
newspapers has been a cause of complaint in the department, for which no
remedy has yet been devised, neither has any man been bold enough to
propose to exclude them from the mails. At one time, rules were made,
allowing mail carriers to leave the newspaper bags, to be carried along at
another time. But this produced too serious a dissatisfaction to be
continued. The newspapers must go, and they must go with the letters, for
people are quite as sensitive at the delay of their newspapers as at the
delay of their letters. Seven or eight years ago, there was a clamor at
the weight of certain mammoth sheets, as the New World and the Brother
Jonathan, weighing each from a quarter to half a pound. But this
extravagant folly of publishers has in a great measure cured itself, and
the grievance has ceased. The law of 1845 undertook to make a
discrimination against papers of exorbitant size, by charging extra
postage on all that were larger than 1900 square inches. I cannot learn
that any papers are taxed at this extra rate, and I venture to predict
that, whenever the public convenience shall be found to require newspapers
of a larger size than 1900 inches, the postage rule will have to be
altered to meet the public demand. The people have so learned the benefits
of uniformity and cheapness of postage on newspapers, that they will never
relinquish it.
In Great Britain no difference is made among papers on account of their
weight, although their paper is almost twice as heavy as ours. And even
when a supplementary sheet is issued, the whole goes as one newspaper,
covered by one stamp. I have a copy of the London Herald, with three
supplements, the whole weighing half a pound, which passed free in the
mail, with only the principal sheet stamped. And the whole comes by the
steamer’s mail, the postage prepaid by a single 2_d_. stamp. In that
country, however, it is not compulsory to send newspapers or supplements
by mail, and a very large proportion are not sent in that way, but for
convenience by carriers. Their method of circulating newspapers, by sale
instead of yearly subscription, has led to a difference in this respect. I
believe there is no restriction upon the carriage of newspaper packages
out of the mail, by the same contractors, and the same carriages that
convey the mails. It is probable that the interests of the department
would be promoted, rather than injured, by such a rule, liberally
interpreted, in this country.
Twenty years ago, when our mails were all carried in coaches drawn by
horses, there were some routes on which the weight of the newspaper mails
was a serious incumbrance. But at present, so great has been the extension
of steam power, that I question if there is a single route to which the
number of newspapers sent would be a burden, unless, perhaps, it may be
the route by the National Road, from Cumberland to Columbus.
So great are the advantages of uniformity of rate, in facilitating the
administration of the post-office, that there would be a greater loss than
gain in attempting to introduce any rule of graduation in the postage of
newspapers. It is easily seen that the difference of distance is no ground
for such graduation, for the same reasons which are conclusive in regard
to letters. And as to the difference of weight, if you deduct from the one
cent postage what it costs to receive and mail and deliver each paper, and
to keep the accounts and make the returns, the difference in the actual
expense is too small to be made of any practical account, between a
newspaper weighing two ounces and one weighing half an ounce. The Journal
of Commerce and papers of that size weigh less than two ounces. And the
number of newspapers printed on a sheet weighing over two ounces, is too
small to be of any account.
The only point respecting the postage on newspapers, on which the Cheap
Postage Association are inflexibly fixed, is that the postage shall be
uniform, irrespective of distance, and not exceed one cent per paper,
prepaid. If not prepaid, the postage is to be doubled.
It is supposed that a practical rule will obtain, like that which now
prevails, of allowing regular subscribers to pay their postage quarterly
in advance, at the office where they receive their papers. Only, the rule
of prepayment will be enforced, because double postage is to be exacted in
all cases where there is not actual prepayment.
It will follow that all occasional papers will pay two cents postage, that
is the same as a letter, unless the postage is prepaid by the sender, at
the office where the paper is mailed.
In Great Britain, newspapers are required to be stamped at the Stamp
Office, for which they pay 1_d_. each sheet. And all such stamped papers
are carried in the mails postage free. Whatever be their date, or how many
times soever they may have been mailed, they always go free by virtue of
the stamp. Some attempts have been made by the post-office to limit the
time after date, in which stamped papers are transmissible free of
postage. But the restrictions have all been borne away by the public
convenience and the public will. The amount received for newspaper stamps,
in the year ending January 5, 1844, was £271,180. This goes to the
treasury, and not to the post-office, although the 1_d_. stamp duty was
retained solely with a view to the postage. This sum ought, therefore, in
strictness, to be added to the gross annual receipts of the post-office;
and indeed, to the net income of the post-office, for the whole expense of
mailing, transporting and delivering is included in the yearly
expenditures of the post-office, so that the amount of stamp duty is all
gain to the treasury, saving the trifling cost of stamping.
The cost of stamping paper for the newspapers was stated before the
Parliamentary Committee, by John Wood, Esq., Chairman of the Board of
Stamps and Taxes. He says, “A great deal of time is employed in attaching
the stamp to each sheet of paper, because each has to be separated from
the quire or bundle, and the stamp separately applied to it. I calculate
that sheets of paper might be stamped and delivered in London, at an
expense not exceeding 1_s_. per thousand. In that I include what is called
the telling out and telling in, the counting the paper before it is
stamped, the stamping it, the counting it after it is stamped, and the
packing and delivery of it in London.” As to the question of the liability
to forgery, he said that “the newspaper proprietors are all registered at
Somerset House, they are all under bond, and the use of the stamps is
confined to comparatively a small number of persons, so that they are very
much under our eye.” This stamp duty is paid by the publisher, who of
course charges a price accordingly to his subscribers. There is no law
against sending newspapers through any other channel, and no rule
requiring them to be sent only by mail.
It is thought that a practice something like this might be introduced in
this country. The plan proposed, is to allow any publisher of a newspaper
to have the paper stamped before printing, for his whole issue, by paying
therefor at the rate of half a cent per sheet. This would be but half the
rate paid by subscribers, at the office of delivery. But as an offset to
this, many sheets would be stamped which would never be carried by mail.
In Boston there are above thirty millions of newspapers printed yearly.
The stamps on all these, if paid in advance by the publisher, would come
to $150,000. I do not suppose the Post-office Department realizes from all
the Boston papers one hundred thousand dollars. The cost of stamping, even
in the British mode, would be less than a quarter of a mill per sheet. And
Yankee ingenuity would soon devise some labor-saving plan, to reduce the
cost of stamping to ten cents per thousand, or one-tenth of a mill per
sheet.
This plan would secure the department against losses. It would greatly
increase the business of the post-office, and its income from newspapers.
It would lessen the number of dead newspapers with which our offices are
now lumbered. It would aid in inducing and helping the publishers of
newspapers to get into the cash system of publication; and thus assist in
training the whole community to the habit of prompt payment. All
newspapers, weekly or daily, that have or expect any thing like a wide
circulation by mail, would soon find it for their interest to fall in with
this plan. A weekly paper would pay 26 cents for each yearly subscriber.
In what way could he do so much with the same money to extend and
consolidate his subscription list? A daily paper would cost $1.55 a year
for postage. Most daily papers would find their advantage in paying this,
to have their papers go free, even though they might economize or retrench
in something else. It would greatly facilitate the circulation of
intelligence, the diffusion of knowledge, the settlement and harmonizing
of public opinion, and all in a manner to produce no burden in any quarter
which would be felt.
It is demonstrable that the post-office, under its present regulations,
receives but a small part of the papers which are printed. The
Postmaster-general, in his last report, estimates the whole number of
newspapers mailed yearly at 55,000,000, and of pamphlets 2,000,000, total
57,000,000, yielding to the department only the sum of $653,160. I have
never seen any calculation of the cost of circulating newspapers, to
determine whether the business is profitable to the department or not. If
it pays to circulate newspapers at a cent apiece, surely two cents apiece
is enough to pay on letters, which do not weigh on the average a quarter
as much as newspapers. If it does not pay the cost to carry newspapers in
the mail, then the loss on newspapers ought to be a tax upon the treasury,
and not a tax upon correspondence.
The following table of newspapers and periodicals issued annually from the
Boston press, is given in Shattuck’s “Census of Boston,” published by the
city in the year 1846.
Class of Publications. Number. Square inches. Value.
Daily subscription 5,075,320 4,786,029,240 $106,076
Daily penny 11,408,000 7,018,617,000 110,400
Semi-weekly 1,460,448 1,442,010,336 58,748
Weekly 11,610,040 8,738,546,856 334,895
Semi-monthly 458,400 216,314,000 31,700
Monthly 2,583,600 1,522,477,200 127,100
Two months and quarterly 37,200 143,076,800 24,500
Annual 255,500 265,045,300 31,565
———— ———— ————
Total 32,890,508 24,132,117,132 $825,074
Here are 32,890,508 publications issued annually, averaging 109,098 daily,
and containing 3847 acres of printed sheets, or about twelve acres per
day. The newspapers alone, daily, semi-weekly and weekly, are 29,555,808,
producing $610,119 per annum. Add the semi-monthly issues, which are
mostly newspapers, and you have thirty millions of newspapers issued in
Boston alone, being nearly fifty-five per cent. of the whole number mailed
throughout the union.
A newspaper of the common size, say 38 by 24 inches, or 912 square inches,
will weigh from 1-¼ to 1-⅓ oz. with the wrapper, in the damp state in
which it is usually mailed. The New York Journal of Commerce, 28 by 46
inches, that is, 1288 square inches, weighs a little short of 2 oz. as
mailed. A lot of 100 papers received in exchange by a publisher, weighed
1.2 oz., that is less than an ounce and a quarter. The average weight of
all the newspapers published in the country is believed to be one ounce
and a half; which would give 1066 newspapers to every 100 lbs. weight.
The number of newspapers sent by mail was estimated in 1837, by Postmaster
Kendall, as follows:
Newspapers paying postage 25,000,000
Free and dead papers 4,000,000
———— ————
Total 29,000,000
The report in 1847, by Postmaster Johnson, estimates the paying newspapers
at fifty-five millions, dead papers two millions, and the pamphlets two
millions, being fifty-nine millions in all; paying postage to the amount
of $643,160, being an increase over the preceding year, of $81,018. The
increase of newspapers in seven years, from 1837 to 1844, by these
estimates, was eighty-nine per cent., or at the rate of about eight and
one half per cent. a year. The increase from 1844 to 1847 was about
twenty-four per cent. in three years, or eight per cent. a year. This may
be considered the natural rate of increase of newspapers, without any
increase of facilities. It may be reasonably calculated that the increased
facilities offered by this plan will make the increase of numbers much
more rapid.
And this increase of numbers will by no means be attended with a
corresponding increase of expense to the department. In 1837, when the
number of papers was twenty-nine millions, there were 11,767 post-offices,
and mails were carried 36,228,962 miles. In 1844, the post-offices were
15,146, an increase of twenty-nine per cent., and the mail transportation
was 38,887,899 miles, an increase of seven per cent., while the increase
of newspapers was eighty-nine per cent.; and yet the expenditure was
$3,380,847 in 1837, and $3,979,570 in 1847; an increase of less than
eighteen per cent. Deducting the necessary additional expense of adding
twenty-nine per cent. to the number of post-offices, and seven per cent.
to the distance of transportation, and it will be fair to conclude that
doubling the number of newspapers would not add above ten per cent. to the
cost of transportation. Make any reasonable allowance, even fifty per
cent. for the labor in the post-offices, and you have still a net profit
of forty per cent. on all the newspaper postage that shall be added. And
this in addition to the benefits of the diffusion of knowledge, increasing
the mutual acquaintance of the people of this wide republic, and thus
increasing the stability of our government, the permanence of our union,
the happiness of the people, and the perfection of our free institutions.