The postage on pamphlets was regulated on the principles of cheap postage,
with a special discrimination in favor of those pamphlets which were
published periodically. This latter distinction was construed so
liberally, that it was allowed to include among periodicals all pamphlets
published annually, such as almanacs, college catalogues, reports of
societies, and the like. The law of 1845 abolishes the distinction between
periodical and occasional pamphlets, but makes a difference in favor of
large pamphlets, by charging two and a half cents on all pamphlets
weighing less than one ounce, and one cent for each additional ounce.
I have a letter from the proprietor of a quarterly review, stating the
effect which this change in the mode of rating pamphlet postage had upon
its own circulation. Before the act of 1845, the post-office charged 14
cents per number, or 56 cents a year. Now it is 10 cents per number, or 36
cents a year. The consequence is, that where he formerly sent 100 copies
by mail, yielding $56 postage, he now sends 500 copies, paying $180,
increasing the income of the department $124. As there has been a material
reduction in the expenditure of the department, notwithstanding a great
extension of the mail routes, it is plain that the expense to the
department is not at all enhanced by this additional service. As the labor
of management is much diminished in the case of such large pamphlets, it
is possible that future experience may show the practicability of a still
greater reduction in the case of such periodicals—perhaps allowing
publishers’ to _prepay_ at four cents for each half-pound.
In Great Britain, there has hitherto been no separate rate of postage for
pamphlets, but they have been charged at the rate of letter postage, 1_d._
per half-ounce. This is about double the present rate of pamphlet postage
in the United States. The delivery of parcels by stage-coaches, railroads,
and common carriers, is much more thoroughly systematized in that old
country, with its dense population and limited extent, than it can be with
us, on our vast territory, so new and so unfinished. Consequently, there
is less necessity there for sending pamphlets by mail, and the thing is
rarely done except in the case of small pamphlets, of an ounce or two
weight, or in cases where despatch in transmission is important. Within
the present year, however, a new rule has been introduced into the British
post-office, by which “any book or pamphlet, exceeding one sheet, and not
exceeding two feet in its longest dimensions, may be transmitted by post
between any two places in the United Kingdom, at the uniform rate of
sixpence, prepaid in stamps affixed, for each pound weight and fraction of
a pound. Except in the extreme length of two feet, and that, of course, no
envelope shall contain more than one copy, there is no restriction
whatsoever. Families residing in the remote parts of Scotland, Wales, and
Ireland, where perhaps there is no good bookseller within forty or fifty
miles, may henceforward procure for themselves, direct from London,
Edinburgh, or Dublin, within four or five days at furthest, any work they
may happen to require, from the largest sized Bible or Atlas, to the most
trifling pamphlet or school-book. A delay of twenty-four hours in the
despatch, after posting, is rendered indispensable by the possibility
there is of an overplus of such bulky packages on particular occasions.”
A rate of 6_d._ per pound, is at the rate of .75, or ¾ of a cent per
ounce, being prepaid in all cases. The rate I have proposed for large
periodicals, prepaid, is one-fourth of a cent below this, or less by
one-third of the English rate. It is doubtful whether a lower rate would
be consistent with a due regard to the necessary speed of the mails, until
railroad conveyance shall be more generally extended than it now is.
There is one class of pamphlets of extensive circulation, which come
within a liberal construction of a newspaper. But the Postmaster-General,
always vigilant to take care of the pecuniary interests of the department,
has ruled out most of them, to the inconvenience of the publishers, and
the lessening of the income of the post-office. At the time when there was
an attempt to compel the sending of all publications through the mail, a
statement was made in regard to one of these periodicals, the Missionary
Herald, that the postage on 2500 copies which are regularly sent to New
York, would be $1050 a year; while they are carried by Express for one
dollar a month. At this rate the difference on all the routes would be
more than $3000 a year. The rule was soon altered, and these periodicals
were allowed to be carried through private channels. I think, considering
the great numbers of these publications, and the many important interests
connected with them, there ought to be a rule allowing all periodical
pamphlets, published as often as once a month, and weighing not over three
ounces, to be mailed, if prepaid by the publisher, for one cent each. This
will include, I believe, that highly valuable publication, Littell’s
Living Age, and I hope give it a circulation as wide as it deserves.
Almost all the religious denominations in the country have one or more
magazines, cherished by them with much interest, which will obtain greatly
increased circulation and influence in this way. I need not speak of the
desire which every patriot must feel, to secure for our federal
government, by whomsoever administered, the respect and affection of the
religious portion of the people.
I do not know that any complaint is made against this rate of postage, as
regards pamphlets in general. But the fraction of a cent is an absurdity,
on account of the great additional labor it occasions in keeping accounts
and making returns, and settling balances. Few persons can realize the
labor and perplexity occasioned to clerks in the General Post-Office, by
having a column of fractions in every man’s quarterly return which they
examine. The simplification of business would probably save to the
department all they would lose by striking out this paltry fraction, so
that the general pamphlet postage will stand at two cents for the first
ounce, and one cent for each additional ounce. At this rate, the
president’s annual message, with the accompanying documents, weighing as
sent out about four pounds, would be 65 cents, and the 10,000 copies
circulated by congress would bring the department, if the postage was paid
as it ought to be, the pretty sum of $6500, for only one of the hundreds
of documents now sent from Washington by mail, as a tax upon the letter
correspondence of the country. The postage on the report of the
patent-office, in 1845, mentioned on page 36, would have yielded $27,500
if the postage had been paid. This is to be added to the $114,000 which it
cost to print the document.