To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, in Congress assembled: —
The undersigned, citizens of the United States, residing in the county ofOntarioin the state ofNew York, respectfully represent the great inequality now prevailing in the rates of postage
on newspapers, the smallest being chargeable with the highest rates.
Whereas the principle of size and weight is now adopted in the laws of the United
States as the basis of post office charges; and whereas newspapers not exceeding 1900
square inches are chargeable at the rate of 1 cent for 100 miles, and 1 1-2 cents
for all greater distances, if without the state in which they are published; your
petitioners would urge the importance of reducing said charges at least ONE HALF on
all papers not containing more than 500 square inches.
Your petitioners represent that, within a few years past, numerous juvenile papers
have sprung up in different sections of the United States, for the instruction of
the young in science, morals, and religion, which papers are now extensively patronized
by children, who, notwithstanding these papers are usually not one quarter the size or weight allowed by law, have to pay on them the same postage that is charged
on the largest sheets that pass through the mails. Besides the manifest injustice
of this regulation, your petitioners represent that many thousands of children and
youth are deterred from subscribing to these useful papers solely by the comparatively
excessive postage chargeable on the small sheets they desire to obtain.
A reduction therefore of postage, in favor of juvenile newspapers of small dimensions,
would not only tend greatly to diffuse knowledge and piety, the bulwarks of our national
prosperity, but would increase the revenues of the post office department.
For an immediate and proportionate reduction of postage, therefore, on all newspapers
not containing more than 500 square inches, your petitioners respectfully and urgently
pray.
| NAMES. | NAMES. |
| A P Waterman. | Daniel Sutton |
| James GAustin | James E. Ketchum |
| C A Coflin | Edwin Bannister |
| David Waterman | |
| E. Latimer | Joseph June |
| F L Thompson | E H Nichols |
| John Wm [Bund?] | S. Baldwin |
| Jarret Aandine | Wm H Nelson |
| Andrew S. Bounds | Richard H Barclay |
| Marion Edmonston | Jacob Vanderhoof 2nd |
| V. V. Draper | |
| Edward R Holmes | Wm M. Finch |
| L. Davis. | E. Case |
| D. Temple | Alonzo Swan |
| H D Waterman | |
| H McLoud | Charles E. Hobby |
| Wm H. Griffith | Wm Ottley |
| J. Beale | Enoch Peck |
| B B Zimmerman | |
| C. Horton | James Edmonston |
| W. H. Helms | |
| O B Ford | Jno Watson |
| Geo H Gates | |
| Wm P. Dimick | B C Cooper |
| Benjn Gates | A. C. Gifford |
| Philip Fox | Peter Hendrick |
| Daniel Steward | William H. Crawford |
| A. Northam | J R Snow |
| M Phillips | A T Bailey |
| Geo W Swift | John Reed |
| Jos M Prescott | Jas [Bluer?] |
| Simeon D Streeter | W. S. Hough |
| Elisha M. Holmes | J W King |
| Harey Cary | S. Wilson |
| John Bennett | John Page |
| Benjamin F Baker | R W Stevens |
| [?] Hough Jr | W. H. Sharrack |
| Cornelius McMillen | |
| T. W. W. Washburn | Levi Briggs |
| Francis Root 2d | C Phillips |
| C. Halliday | |
| Horatio N Frazer | Lewis Peck |
| C. H. Wirt | |
| Harrison Baggerly | J. B. Armstrong |
| L. S. Bannister | Benjamin Westfall |
| T. M. Nelson | |
| Carso Crane | Isaac E. Peake |
| Alonzo Stearns | Andrew White |
| Chas A Bloomer | A. H. Root |
| Horatio T. Myers | A Thompson |
| John Gifford | Manning Redfield |
| John E Roberts | |
| Jesse L. Bennett | Samuel Pearce |
| Albert Westfall | C B Eaton |
| John Bement | |
| John. F. Willy | Enoch Mack |
| F. C. Mack | Samuel. E. Norton |
| E Willard Frisbie | Harvey Barber |
| Thomas J Moore | |
| B. F. Hawks | J HSpencer |
| B P Beardsley | E Beardsley |
| L Redfield | |
| Asahel Bannister | [?] P. Short |
| Marvin Cline | Cornelius Spoor |
| Geo [?] | S Hildreth |
| Albert Briggs | H Pardee |
| O. Scofield | Jas Gilbert |
| E. Sims | Chaney Egleston |
| Ezekiel K Egleston | |
| E. N. Phelps | J. Arden Wade |
| Thomas N White | Geo Hubbell |
| Date Dutton | James M. Crosby |
| Henry Drumond | |
| David N. Smith | David Reynolds |
| John. E. Barber | |
| Calvin Durkel | Franklin Edgerton |
| Hiram Armstrong | Isaac Clark |
| Wm Hildreth Jr | L W Crosby |
| James Snow | Simeon Phillips |
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Memorial of A. P. Waterman and 140 other citizens of the county of Ontario in the state of New York praying a reduction of postage on juvenile newspapers.
Memorial of A. P. Waterman and 140 other citizens of the county of Ontario in the state of New York praying a reduction of postage on juvenile newspapers.
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Presented by H. C. Murphy
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February 8, 1848 Referred to the Committee on the Post Office & Post Roads
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Murphy
Partially Printed Document Signed, 2 page(s), RG 233, Entry 367: Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, Thirtieth Congress, 1847-1849, Records of Legislative Proceedings, Petitions and Memorials, Resolutions of State Legislatures, and Related Documents Which Were Referred to Committees, 1847-1849, NAB,