HOUSE—No. 118.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, in Congress assembled:Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The Memorial of the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
represents—
That, believing the original design, in the establishment of the post-office department,
was not to increase the revenues of the general government, but, by furnishing greater
facilities for correspondence by letters, and otherwise, to advance the interests
of commerce, trade, manufactures, the arts and sciences, and thereby promote the pecuniary,
the intellectual and moral welfare of the whole people:
Believing, also, that the result of the experiment, already made by our government
in the reduction of letter-postage, is such as to warrant the belief that a still
further reduction may be made without endangering the revenue, and that the voice
of the people of this Commonwealth demands such reduction,—even, if need be, at the
expense of the revenue,—your memorialists submit the following considerations:—
First. As it was not originally intended to make the post-office department a source
of revenue to the government, the rates of postage should at least be so far reduced
as only to enable the department to meet its current expenses.
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Our system of postage was copies essentially from that of the English government.
In the statute of 12th Charles II, it is distinctly laid down that the object of the
post-office establishment was to afford advantages to trade and commerce.
It was anticipated that it would effectually subserve the ends of government, contribute
to “the advancement of trade, commerce, manufactures, and the arts, the diffusion
of knowledge, and the progress of general improvement, and thus permanently increase
the revenues of the government.”
Besides this incidental advantage, which proved far greater than was anticipated,
the department became a source of very considerable revenue. From £10,000 in 1653,
the net revenue amounted, in 1840, to £1,649,088.
In the progress of the discussion in Parliament, in 1839, on the subject of postage
reform, we find the following, among other sentiments, relating to revenue from postage:
Mr. O’Connell said,—“All the government should have required was, to be indemnified
against the expenses of the post-office. If the postage on letters was not sufficient
for that, government ought to make a sacrifice for the purpose of facilitating communication.”
Mr. Warburton stated that “the post-office was established not as a branch of the
revenue, but for the advantage of trade and commerce.”
Further: “all the advantage of post-office communications ought to be accessible to
the whole community, and ought not to be made matter of taxation at all.”
Dr. Lardner said,—“I look upon the post-office revenue to be a most iniquitous tax
upon the affections, the morals, upon every social good, and upon every thing that
is desirable among a people in a state of progressive civilization. It is a tax on
knowledge, a tax on science, and a tax on literature.”
Lord Ashburton said,—“I think few, if any taxes, have so injurious a tendency, as
the tax upon communication by letter; it is, in fact, taxing the conversation of the
people who live at a distance from each other.”
These sentiments, your memorialists believe to be equally applicable to the system
under our own government.
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Furthermore: they know of no valid reason why the post-office department should be
required to sustain itself, any more than any other department of the government.
The constitution gives to congress power “to establish post-offices and post-roads,”
leaving the extent to which the system shall be carried, and the means by which it
shall be sustained, entirely to their discretion.
Admitting that the government ought not to be taxed for letter communication, it does
by no means follow that all the expenses of the post-office department, so called,
should be imposed upon letter-postage.
The franking privilege, designed to aid the officers of government in discharge of their respective duties
in connection with the various departments, has far less necessary connection with
the post-office than with the treasury, the army, or the navy. The same may be said
of other burdens which have been imposed upon letter-postage.
From the last report of the postmaster-general, it appears that more than five millions of letters have passed through the mails, during the last year, which have brought
no income to the department. At six and a quarter cents, probably about the average
rate of letter-postage, the amount of loss sustained by the department, or, allowing
this sum to be the actual cost of transmission, the amount of tax imposed upon letter-postage,
to promote the general interests of the government, was $312,500. To this is to be
added the public documents with which the mails are burdened, constituting a very
large portion of the mail matter on all the routes; also, the expense of mailing and
transmitting nearly two millions of letters, which find their way into the dead-letter
office, amounting, in all, to at least one million of dollars annually, assessed upon letter-postage.
Among the effects of high rates of postage are the following, viz.:
1. It interferes with the physical, intellectual, and moral improvement of all classes.
2. It throws obstacles in the way of trade and commerce, and thus injures the national
prosperity.
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3. It retards the progress of the arts and sciences, and paralyzes the hands of the
educator.
4. It circumscribes the operations of the benevolent and the humane, and thus injures
the poor and the needy.
5. It imposes grievous burdens upon the learned professions, and prevents that free
interchange of thought, which progress in the arts, literature, morals, and religion,
and th general good of society, demand.
6. It leads to frequent and most extensive violations of the statutes for the protection
of the post-office revenue, and thus impairs respect for the laws.
The result of the experiment, already made by our government, in the partial reduction
of the rates of postage, warrants the belief, that a still further reduction may be
made, without endangering the revenue, and with like beneficial results to the whole
people.
The postmaster-general, in his last annual report, speaking of this experiment, says,
“It is gratifying to find that, within so short a period after the great reduction
of the rates of postage, the revenues of the department have increased much beyond
the expectations of the friends of the cheap-postage system, while the expenditures,
for the same time, have diminished more than half a million of dollars annually, and
that the department is in a condition to sustain itself, without further aid from
the treasury.”
From the same document, we learn that the whole number of letters which passed through
the mails, during the year
| ending June 30th, 1847, was | 52,173,480 |
| The whole number of newspapers, | 55,000,000 |
| ""pamphlets and magazines, | 2,000,000 |
| ""dead letters, | 1,800,000 |
| ""franked letters, | 5,000,000 |
| The revenue of the department | $3,880,337[.]76 |
| Of this sum, was derived from letter-postage, | 3,188,957[.]43 |
| Leaving but | $691,380[.]33 |
for all the other resources of the department.
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The same officer estimates the revenue, for the current year, at $4,313,157, which
will exceed the expenses of the department, the last year, $333,587, and the average
expenses, for the nine years next preceding the reduction, by the sum of $51,407[.]65.
From these facts we infer,—
1. That a further reduction may be made in the revenues of the department, without
endangering the national treasury.
If it be the settled policy of the government, that the post-office shall be sustained
by its own resources, it ought not, certainly, to be required to pay into the public
treasury, annually, the sum of $333,587, in addition to at least $312,500, in the
way of franked letters, and $200,000 more in the transportation of franked public
documents, and $125,000 more for dead letters,—making, in all, nearly one million
of dollars, which the department is now taxed for the special benefit of the general
government.
2. That reducing the rates of postage tends to increase the revenues of the department,
while it reduces the expenditures.
The estimated revenue of the current year, exceeds the average annual revenue of the
nine years next preceding the reduction, by $51,407[.]65, while the expenditures of the year ending June 30th, 1847, are less than the annual
average of the nine years next preceding the reduction, by $520,022.
3. That the franking privilege is as essentially a tax upon letter-postage for the
benefit of the general government, as it would be, were the same amount of money derived
from letter-postage put into the public treasury, to be used for public purposes.
4. That letter-postage, which, we think, should bear no burdens but its own, is now
taxed, 1. For the transmission of letters and public documents, franked by public
officers for the benefit of the general government. 2. For the transmission of newspapers
and pamphlets, the postage of which defrays but a moiety of the expense they impose
upon the department. 3. The expense of maintaining mail routes in new and sparsely
peopled territories. With as much propriety might the expenses of military posts,
in those regions, be made chargable upon the post-
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office department, as that of sustaining post-offices and transmitting mail bags to
letter-postage.
The results of the experiment now being made in Great Britain, as far as developed,
are still more conclusive in favor of cheap postage.
Their present system of postage, which owes its paternity to Rowland Hill, went into
operation in 1840. The rates of postage there corresponded very nearly to those of
our government before the reduction made in 1845. They were at once reduced to a uniform
rate of one penny for all printed and written letters weighing not more than half an ounce; on all
pamphlets and magazines letter-postage for every half ounce; all newspapers, printed
on stamped paper, to go free. The charge to be the same for all distances, and, in
all cases, doubled, if not prepaid. The franking privilege was abolished, and provision
made for the transmission of money in sums not exceeding five pounds.
As was anticipated, a great reduction took place in the receipts of the post-office
department.
The net proceeds for 1839, was £1,544,224. The average net proceeds for the twelve
years next preceding, was £1,577,520. But from 1815 to 1835, a period of twenty years,
the net postage revenue had diminished £17,000; while the revenue from stage-coaches
had increased 128 per cent., and that too while, in population, wealth, manufactures,
commerce, arts, the sciences and general intelligence, the nation was progressing
faster than for the like time in any other portion of its history.
| In 1841, the net receipts of the department were only | £495,914 |
| Showing a loss, from 1840, of | £1,153,174 |
| or nearly six millions of dollars. | |
| In Ireland, the expense of management exceeded the receipts | £19,670 |
| But, in 1846, the net receipts of the department amounted to | £760,588 |
| Showing an average annual increase, from the commencement of the reform, of | £44,112 |
| And a difference between the receipts of 1840 and 1846 | £264,674 |
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It is worthy of remark, that, under the new law, the receipts for newspaper-postage
are enumerated under the head of stamps, and enter not among the resources of the
post-office department.
But there is another aspect of this subject. In 1839, the whole number of letter which
passed through the mails was but 99,000,000.
In 1840, the first year of the reduction, it amounted to 192,000,000, nearly double.
In 1845 the number was 329,161,511, an increase, in six years, of 234 per cent. Of
this number, 271,904,646, passed through the offices of England proper, 28,669,169,
through those of Scotland, and 28,587,996, through those of Ireland; while not more
than fifty-three millions passed through the offices of the United States, with a
population little less than that of England, Scotland and Ireland, combined, and with
a greater proportion of readers and writers than any other people on the globe; a
people, too, who print and read more than half the newspapers that are published.
This disparity is obviously attributable to two causes:—
1. The increased facilities for communication by letter, have caused a much more frequent
and more general intercourse through this medium.
2. All inducements to evade the laws and defraud the revenue being removed, most of
the letters which are written find their way into the mails.
We further infer, that a system of postage which has operated so beneficially in England,
affording greatly increased facilities to commerce, trade, manufactures, literary
and benevolent operations, and, through these, securing a permanent augmentation of
the revenues of the government, would be productive of like benefits, and might, with
entire safety, be adopted in our own government.
From these considerations, your memorialists are induced to submit the following outline
of a plan for further reducing the rates of postage:—
1. That the rate of postage on letters, newspapers, and all printed documents, be uniform, irrespective
of distance.
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2. That the postage on all written or printed letters be two cents per half ounce.
3. That the postage of newspapers be one cent, in all cases to be prepaid.
4. That for all pamphlets, magazines, and other printed documents, letter-postage
be charged for every half ounce.
5. In all cases, the rates to be doubled, if not prepaid.
6. The franking privilege to be confined to business connected with the post-office.
The difference in expense between transporting a letter five miles and five hundred
miles, is so small as scarcely to be appreciable. A barrel of flour may be freighted
from Albany to Boston for forty cents. At that rate, 160 half-ounce letters may be carried two hundred miles for
one cent.
On all the mail routes, the mails are to be transported, whether there be few or many
letters. If a letter be mailed at Boston, we conceive that it can make no difference
with the carriers, whether the letter is stopped at New York, or continues on to Washington
or New Orleans, except it be the increase of weight, which, as we have seen, is so
near infinitessimal as to be inappreciable.
Furthermore, the letter which has travelled but one hundred miles may perform as essential
service to the recipient as that which has been carried one thousand miles; and, if
the expense to the department is the same in both cases, we know not why one should
pay more than the other.
Hence we are of the opinion, that, in estimating the expense of transmitting mail
matter, distance is not an essential element.
In recommending so great a change as, from an average of six and a quarter cents,
down to an English penny, or, what is nearly its equivalent, two cents, we are well aware that we shall awaken fears, lest the post-office department become
burdensome to the general government.
But the evils we would remove, we apprehend, cannot be reached by milder means. To
afford material and permanent relief, the reduction must be so great, as at once to
cut off all competition in the way of private conveyances, remove every
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temptation to defraud the revenue, and furnish all reasonable facilities for free
letter communication.
This, we feel confident, will be effected by reducing the postage, at once, to the
minimum rate.
The reasons urged in the British Parliament, for this rate, we think are equally applicable
here.
While the subject of postage reform was under discussion, Francis Baring, then chancellor
of the exchequer, said, “I find the whole of the evidence, the whole of the authorities,
conclusively bearing in favor of penny postage.”
“I conscientiously believe,” he adds, “that the public run less risk of loss, in adopting
the proposition for a penny postage than it would, if we introduced a two-penny postage.”
Mr. Goulburn, then leader of the opposition, said: “After reading the evidence, it
was with no little surprise, he found the committee proposing a postage of two pence, instead of one penny; for the whole evidence went to show, that a postage of two pence would fail, but a penny might succeed.”
Mr. O’Connell heartily supported the reduction, and thought “’twould be one of the
most valuable legislative reliefs that had ever been given to the people of his country,
since he had had a seat in Parliament.”
From the report of the postmaster-general, it appears that the average rate of letter-postage,
under our present system, is a fraction over six cents.
An increase of two hundred per cent. over the number, for the year ending June 30th,
1847, would give 159,000,000 of letters, which, allowing the expenditures to be no
greater, would give, at the rate of two cents, a revenue nearly equal to that of the last year.
In England, the increase was 234 per cent. in six years. Allowing as great an increase
here (and why should there not be a much greater?) in 1853, the number of letters
would amount to 175,000,000. This number, at two cents each, would yield a revenue
of three millions and a half of dollars; a sum exceeding the receipts of the department,
the last year, for letter-postage, by $311,043. Add to this $100,000, the proceeds
of five millions of letters now franked, together with $40,000, the post-
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age of two millions of dead letters—also the receipts from newspapers, pamphlets and
magazines, which would doubtless be much greater than under the present system, (the
whole number of newspapers reported, as passing through the mails, last year, is but
fifty-five millions, while, from Boston alone, more than thirty millions were issued,)
and a sum would be produced, which, it would seem, ought to quiet the fears of the
most timid.
And when there is superadded the incidental, but no less certain beneficial results
of cheap postage,—the greatly increased facilities secured to every branch of industry
and the consequent augmentation of the general revenue, new life and energy to all
reformatory, educational and benevolent movements, the speedy and general diffusion
of information upon all subjects calculated to improve the condition of society, and
diffuse the principles of republican freedom, and give permanency to our institutions,—your
memorialists, with confidence, most respectfully ask, for the subject of their memorial,
the candid consideration of your honorable bodies.
Printed Document, 10 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,