by Rowland Hill

“ There would be nothing to undo, except to amend an Act which had not been carried into effect, as the practicability of the proposed reduction of postage in the metropolitan district is undoubted, the whole cost of management, even under the present expensive arrangements and restricted correspondence, being only two-thirds of a penny per letter. To effect such a relief from taxation, and to render the facilities of communication adequate to the wants of the people in a district containing about one-twelfth of the population of the United Kingdom, would of itself be an immense improvement. ”

“ The best test to apply to the several existing taxes for the discovery of the one which may be reduced most extensively, with the least proportionate loss to the revenue, is probably this: excluding from the examination those taxes, the produce of which is greatly affected by changes in the habits of the people, as the taxes on spirits, tobacco, and hair-powder, let each be examined as to whether its productiveness has kept pace with the increasing numbers and prosperity of the nation. And that tax which proves most defective under this test is, in all probability, the one we are in quest of. ”

“ At a rate of postage so low as one penny, a great number of explanatory letters on business, and letters on matters of detail, would be written. Occasions are of constant occurrence in which we do not write, and are not written to, because the matter, though important enough to write upon, is not important enough to pay, or to cause others to pay, the postage. I refer here to questions as to the mode of conveyance of goods, as to the colour or pattern of articles ordered, or to an ambiguous or an illegible phrase in a letter received, and a thousand other matters. ”

“ To so extensive a change there are, of course, many obstacles; some sacrifices are necessarily required; any plan, therefore, which holds out a fair prospect of surmounting the difficulty must justly be considered, even if not free from objection, as entitled to a careful and candid examination.
The essential elements of such a plan are, first, a very low rate of postage, to neutralize the objections on the part of the public to its being demanded in advance; and, secondly, a uniform rate of postage, to simplify the mode of accounting for its receipt. ”

“ But the law constitutes the Post Office a monopoly. Its conductors are, therefore, uninfluenced by the ordinary motives to enterprise and good management; and however injudiciously the institution may be conducted, however inadequate it may be to the growing wants of the nation, the people must submit to the inconvenience; they cannot set up a Post Office for themselves. ”

“ I may add, that there is no instance within my knowledge in which reduction of postage has, after a while, been attended by loss to the revenue.
There is a fact supplied by the Post Office accounts which illustrates in a curious manner the truth of the principle that small demands will, from their superior number, produce as great an aggregate as large ones. Most of my readers are aware that the fine paid with a letter at the General Post Office after the appointed hour for receiving letters is sixpence, while the fine paid for a newspaper, under similar circumstances, is only a halfpenny. ”

“ These facts show that when a reduction of taxation is about to take place, it is exceedingly important that great care and judgment should be exercised in the selection of the tax to be reduced, in order that the maximum of relief may be afforded to the public, with the minimum of injury to the Revenue. ”

“ Perhaps, indeed, without requiring payment in advance, the rates of postage might be reduced to twopence, but the delivery could not be rapid; and surely there can be no doubt whether the public would prefer a delay in payment entailing a slow delivery and a postage of twopence, or a payment in advance that would secure a rapid delivery at the postage of one penny. The wish of the public is only the aggregate of the wishes of individuals ”

“ When the hurried manner in which these complex operations have to be performed is considered, it is manifest that errors must frequently arise. There is also an obvious danger of extensive frauds on the Revenue from collusion between some of the Deputy Post-masters and those whose duty it is to charge them with the postage. The examination of each letter by a candle, too, by revealing the contents, creates temptations to theft, which have too often been irresistible. ”

“ Still your Memorialists are unwilling to rest a question, affecting in so high a degree the education of the people, on any purely financial consideration; and they feel assured, that an enlightened government will not consider it sound policy, for the sake of avoiding the risk of some injury to a comparatively unimportant branch of the revenue, to continue a system so prejudicial to the best interests of society. ”

“ It is believed, therefore, that the proposed reform, if undertaken by Government, would not meet with opposition. Its object is not to increase the political power of this or that party, but to benefit all sects in politics and religion; and all classes, from the highest to the lowest. To the rich, as to the less wealthy, it will be acceptable, from the increased facilities it will afford for their correspondence. To the middle classes it will bring relief from oppressive and irritating demands which they pay grudgingly ”

“ If, therefore, the charge for postage be made proportionate to the whole expense incurred in the receipt, transit, and delivery of the letter, and in the collection of its postage, it must be made UNIFORMLY the same from every post-town to every other post-town in the United Kingdom, unless it can be shown how we are to collect so small a sum as the thirty-sixth part of a penny. ”

“ In order that the public may be induced to employ them, it would be necessary that the minimum rate of postage, when collected in the ordinary manner, should at all times be rather greater than the price of stamps. Thus, the price of the stamp being one penny, the minimum postage should be twopence. This lower charge for stamped covers is not an artificial contrivance for forcing them into use, but is an equitable reduction, consequent on the simple and economical arrangements to which their employment would lead. ”

“ Conceding, however, for the sake of argument, that more slowness in the change is desirable than would be necessarily attendant on reducing the plan to practice, even if it were at once adopted by the Legislature in its full extent, there are various modes by which the approach may be made as gradual as the caution or timidity of the controlling authorities may dictate. It cannot be doubted that a reduction in postage to a certain extent would benefit the Post Office revenue, and an opinion to this effect is very general in the Post Office itself. ”

“ Men so situated are the natural guards against reckless innovation; but it is almost proverbial that they find it difficult to believe that any change can be for the better, and are, above all, suspicious of reform from the hand of a stranger. To examine with care proposals so tendered is an excellent rule; to reject them without examination most erroneous. ”

“ With regard to the administration of the Post Office, it may be remarked, that so long as the office of Post-master General is a political appointment, it is impossible that the individual selected, however anxious he may be efficiently to discharge his duty, can do more than acquire a general knowledge of the vast and complicated mechanism he is supposed to direct. ”

“ The only objection which occurs to me to the universal adoption of this plan is the following: Persons unaccustomed to write letters, would, perhaps, be at a loss how to proceed. They might send or take their letters to the Post Office with* out having had recourse to the stamp. It is true that on presentation of the letter, the Receiver, instead of accepting the money as postage, might take it as the price of a cover, or band, in which the bringer might immediately inclose the letter, and then re-direct it. But the bringer would sometimes be unable to write. ”

“ The wish to correspond with their friends may not be so strong, or so general, as the desire for fermented liquors, but facts have come to my knowledge tending to show that but for the high rate of postage, many a letter would be written, and many a heart gladdened too, where the revenue and the feelings of friends now suffer alike. ”

“ If government can give up the revenue, there is no difficulty in the matter; but if not, the adoption of this principle must lead to an increase in the charge on all letters. There is no eligible medium between a penny and twopence, therefore the universal charge would become twopence: but twopence per letter, or a penny in addition to the primary charge, would, in all probability, suffice for the secondary distribution, as in very remote places there might be a delivery on the alternate days only, as at present. ”

“ Nothing is more common than for persons in comfortable circumstances to write letters simply because they have had the good fortune to obtain franks, or to find opportunities of sending by private hand; and when it is considered that a person residing in a distant town, a gentleman upon a tour, or a commercial traveller on his journey, could, at the expense of 30s. per annum, send a daily bulletin of his health and progress, some faint idea may be formed of the extent to which this species of correspondence is likely to increase. ”

“ Judging from the rapid growth of public opinion which we have recently witnessed with regard to other institutions, we may expect that in a few years, or even months, if "the still small voice" which, at present, gives scarcely audible expression to half-formed desires, be neglected, it will swell into a loud, distinct, and irresistible demand ”

“ Upon the point on which you desire my opinion, with reference to the productiveness of the Post Office Revenue under a greatly reduced scale of charges, I have no hesitation in believing that if the rate of postage throughout the country were reduced to a penny, many hundreds of thousands of prospectuses of new books, and of publishers1 catalogues, would be annually circulated. ”

“ The charge for weights exceeding half an ounce should not, perhaps, in strict fairness, increase at so great a rate; but strict fairness may be advantageously sacrificed to simplicity; and it is perhaps not desirable that the Post Office should be encumbered with heavy parcels.
As, however, to adopt this scale for the present twopenny and penny posts would in certain instances considerably advance the postage in these departments, it might be well to allow greater weight here, as for instance, two ounces for a penny, four for twopence, &c, and the maximum might be placed as high as a pound. ”

“ Supposing, however, that the Post Office revenue should suffer even a serious diminution, it can scarcely be doubted that the cheap transmission of letters and other papers, particularly commercial documents, would so powerfully stimulate the productive power of the country, and thereby so greatly increase the revenue in other departments, that the loss would be more than compensated. ”

“ If 2000 such lists could be circulated monthly for about £8, — which they would be under your plan, — I should be too glad to spend £100 a year in placing these lists periodically in the hands of country booksellers, professional men, and literary societies; — and I have no doubt that every publisher in London would feel it his interest to adopt the principle. Advertisements in the newspapers, however efficient and indispensable for attracting public attention to new books, are random shots which may or may not reach the individuals and classes for whom they are meant. ”

“ The Post Office has too generally lagged behind other institutions in the progress of improvement, instead of being, as it might be, an example to the country of skilful and energetic management. Previously to the improvements of Mr. Palmer, the mail was about twice as long in proceeding from town to town as the stage-coaches. Mr. Palmer's improvements brought up the Post Office to an equality with other commercial institutions of his day, and, as stated by the Commissioners, led to an enormous increase of revenue. ”

“ That it is of high importance to the success of the Commerce, Manufactures, and Agriculture of this country, and to the promotion of civilization in every form, that communication by post should be swift, certain, and cheap. ”

“ The increase of MS. letters alone would be very great, for, in the first place, many more would be written, especially by the poorer and more numerous classes; and, in the next place, all, or nearly all, would be distributed by the Post Office; but the great increase would probably be in the transmission of printed circulars, prospectuses, catalogues, and prices current. In the opinion of commercial men, enormous numbers of such papers would be distributed by the Post Office, if the rates of postage were low. ”

“ And the cost of receipt, delivery, &c., two-thirds, or 56 hundredths of a penny.
But it must be recollected that the cost of transit for a given distance will, under ordinary circumstances, be in tolerably direct proportion to the weight carried; and as a newspaper or franked letter weighs on an average as much as several ordinary letters, the average expense of transit for a letter chargeable with postage, is probably about one-third of the amount above stated, or nine hundredths of a penny. ”