The undersigned, citizens of the County of Edgar, in the State of Illinois, respectfully represent that 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 1,900 square inches are chargable at the rate of one Cent for 100 miles, and one and a half 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 newspapers not containing more than 500 square inches. Your petitioners represent that, within a few years past, numerous juvinal 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 thousand children and youth are deterred from subscribing to these useful papers solely by the comparative excessive postage chargeable on the small sheets they desire to obtain.

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A reduction, therefore, of postage, in favour of juvenile news papers of small dimensions, would tend greatly to diffuse knowledge and piety, the bulwarks of our national prosperity, 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.