Postal reform

“ By the time the postal reform had come to be an established institution, not a few former adversaries loyally aided the reformer to carry out its details, by their action tacitly confessing, even when they made no verbal acknowledgment, that their earlier attitude had been a mistake. Now that all are dead their opposition may rightly be regarded with the tenderness that is, or should be, always extended to the partisans of a lost cause. ”

“ For many years my father's attention had been turned towards the question of postal reform; although in that respect he was far from standing alone. The defects of the old system were so obvious that with many people they formed a common subject of conversation; and plans of improvement were repeatedly discussed. So far back as 1826 Rowland Hill's thoughts had outgrown the first stage on the road to “betterment”—that of mere fault-finding with the things that are. ”

“ Much evidence was produced before the Parliamentary Committee appointed in 1837 to inquire into Rowland Hill's scheme of postal reform, of the hardships which the high rates of postage caused to the poor. ”

“ The consequences of this postal reform are marvelous to think of. The year before the new plan was adopted in Great Britain, one hundred and six millions of letters and papers were sent through the post-office. Year before last the number was one thousand four hundred and seventy-eight millions. In other words, the average number of letters per inhabitant has increased from three per annum to thirty-two. The United States, which ought to have taken the lead in this matter, was not slow to follow, and every civilized country has since adopted the system. ”

“ But with the advent of the new system, the Post Office straightway became the paid servant—and a far more faithful and efficient one than it is sometimes given credit for being—of the entire nation, since upon every man, woman, and child in the United Kingdom were henceforth conferred equal rights to postal intercourse.
Strange to say, the passing of the Penny Postage Bill had, to some extent, depended upon the successful making of a bargain. ”

“ The postal reform not only gave a vast impetus to trade and education, but even created new industries, among them the manufacture of letter-boxes and letter-weighing machines—which were turned out in immense quantities—to say nothing of the making of stamps and of stamped and other envelopes, etc. ”

“ If a completely developed international postal system were incidentally to deliver some nations, and especially the English, from the depressingly ugly postage stamps they are now condemned to use, this reform would possess a further advantage almost as great as its practical utility. ”

“ Nothing that is likely to be done in the way of legislation to this end seems to us to make so possible a general change for the better along these lines as the postal measures recommended by the Postmaster-General, supported by the President and now recognized by Republicans and Democrats alike as a reform that will not be downed, no matter how powerful are the interests opposing it. ”

“ These facts arrested the attention of many minds. But the [247] sagacious Rowland Hill probed to causes and devised remedies. He published his scheme for postal reform in 1837. Its outlines were these. The controlling idea of the post-office establishment should be, the convenience of the people, and not Governmental revenue. It was extortionate for the Government to tax as much for carrying a letter from London to Edinburgh, as a merchant charged for transporting a barrel of flour. ”

“ The nett revenue showed an increase the second year of £100,000, and the inland letters were found to be the most profitable part of the Post Office business. [134] It is a marvel that the new system should have fared as well as it did, when we take into consideration the bitter hostility of the postal authorities, the frequent hindrances thrown in the path of reform, to say nothing of the terrible poverty then existing among many classes of our fellow country people under the blighting influence of Protection and of the still unrepealed Corn Laws ”

“ Here, then, closes my narrative of postal reforms. It must not be supposed, however, that no work will remain for a future historian; for not only is the course of postal improvement, like that of any other great department of human affairs, absolutely without limit, but various important changes may be regarded as distinctly in prospect, however uncertain may be the time of their accomplishment. ”

“ The American policy has been to unify the people by encouraging publications of nation-wide circulation, to inform them of their Government's doings and to promote its constant reform by stimulating intelligent criticism.
In place of the present uniform rate of one cent a pound for second class matter, the House proposes a graduated rate of 1 1-6 cent for the first parcel zone ranging up to 6 cents for the eighth zone. Its purpose is frankly to compel publishers to pay the full cost of carriage without regard to the profitable postal business of other kinds which they develop. ”

“ Whereas, These propositions of the Postoffice Department deserve only the strongest condemnation, and as a means of making this protest effective, we hereby invite the working people of the United States to unite with us in a movement having for its purpose the overhauling and readjustment of the postal affairs of this country, to the end that the service may become one of greater convenience to our people and be an instrument of promotion to the industries of our country instead of a leaden handicap on our industrial progress and the educational improvement of all the people ”

“ It seemed that the nation would be sufficiently fortunate were it to be born with promise of maintaining existence, and it was neither possible nor advisable to scrutinize its powers of which future necessity or expediency might require an extension for the purposes of the nation. And, moreover, the growth of postal facilities, from their first manifestation up to the adoption of the Constitution was not sufficiently pronounced to augur a great deal for the future. ”

“ But we do not think that Congress possesses the power to prevent the transportation in other ways, as merchandise, of matter which it excludes from the mails. To give efficiency to its regulations and prevent rival postal systems, it may, perhaps, prohibit the carriage by others for hire, over postal routes, of articles which legitimately constitute mail matter, in the sense in which those terms were116 used when the Constitution was adopted,—consisting of letters, and of newspapers and pamphlets, when not sent as merchandise,—but further than this its power of prohibition cannot extend. ”

“ The full measure of postal progress which might be realized has long been hampered and obstructed by the heavy burden imposed on the Government through the intrenched and well-understood abuses which have grown up in connection with second-class mail matter. ”

“ The reformed system of postage was not the work of one year nor of one man. For some years prior to 1837 the abuses and mismanagement of the post office were a constant theme of complaint, both in and out of Parliament—many able and earnest men combined to bring about some reform demanded by men of business and public opinion. ”

“ It has been contended, indeed, that the word establish, in this clause of the instrument, comprehends nothing more than a mere designation of postroads. But if this be true, the important powers conferred on the general government in relation to the postoffice, might be rendered in a great measure inefficient and impracticable.... If the power to establish confers only the authority to designate, Congress can have no right either to keep a ferry over a deep and rapid river for the transportation of the mails, or to compel the owners of a ferry to perform that service ”

“ If such second-class matter paid merely the cost of its handling, our deficit would disappear and a surplus result which might be used to give the people still better mail facilities or cheaper rates of letter postage. I recommend that legislation be at once enacted to correct these abuses and introduce better business ideas in the regulation of our postal rates.
Experience and observation have demonstrated that certain improvements in the organization of the Post-Office Department must be secured before we can gain the full benefit of the immense sums expended in its administration. ”

“ It was besides essential to the stoppage of the private conveyance of letters. The post-office was thus to be restored to its ancient footing of an institution, whose primary object was public accommodation, not revenue.”
The adoption of this simple principle, of Uniform Cheap Postage, was a revolution in postal affairs. It may almost be called a revolution in the government, for it identified the policy of the government with the happiness of the people, more perfectly than any one measure that was ever adopted. ”

“ Last, but not least in importance, comes the farmer. To-day, cut off from parcel delivery, he is the victim of bad government, both in his bad roads and lack of postal facilities. The one step of progress that the United States post-office has made of recent years, that is worthy of respect, is the rural postal delivery. ”

“ Every postoffice, the disposal of which he loses, will be so much gain to his working power, to his freedom and moral independence, to his usefulness and dignity as a legislator. He will, therefore, not only do the utmost in his power to aid the Postmaster-General in the work of reorganizing the postal service according to the President’s order, but he will zealously promote the passage of a law bringing under effective Civil Service Rules those postoffices which the President’s order cannot reach. ”

“ Under the power to establish post offices and post roads it has made a Government monopoly of the entire postal service, established a money-order system, and provided for free delivery of mail in all cities and in many rural communities. ”

“ Palmer, who afterwards became Controller-General of the Post-Office, proposed that mail-bags should be sent by passenger-coaches with trusty and armed guards. His advice, after some opposition, was acted on, and thus the mails came to travel six miles an hour, instead of three or four—the result being an immediate increase of correspondence, despite an increase of postage. Rapidity, security, regularity, economy, are the great requisites in a healthy postal system. ”

“ The growth of the postal system is a sure measure of the progress of industry, commerce, education, and all that goes to make up the sum of civilization; and there is no more striking illustration to be found of the strides which our country has made in that direction since the century began than the introduction of a cheap and rapid delivery of letters, and the craving which it has at once satisfied and augmented. ”

“ In short, if the merchant had to correspond with neighbouring places he was compelled to employ the post office. With a country so extended and so highly civilized as the American colonies were at that day, a postal system was an absolute necessity; and if the system maintained by the government were protected by a monopoly, its charges were a tax on the users of the system in so far as those charges exceeded the strict cost of carrying on the service. ”

“ Slowly, step by step, labour in the Post-Office has gained something of a recognition of its value; but it has been forced to fight its way ofttimes with manacled hands and tape-tied feet. Happily, however, the story of postal agitation and the spread of combination throughout the postal service is not made up entirely of failures, contumacies, inflictions, and punishments. That combination in this branch of the public service has had to fight hard for its very existence from the beginning till now is perfectly true. ”

“ Have you made Mr. Baring sufficiently aware of the numerous—I might say numberless—innovations, which your plan of necessity implies? The reduction of postage and the modes of prepayment are, no doubt, the principal features of your plan; but you lay great stress, and very properly, in my opinion, on increasing the facilities for transmitting letters; and this part of the reform will, I apprehend, cause you more labour of detail than that which more strikes the public eye. In this department you will be left to contend with the Post Office almost alone. ”

“ The committee, in its Report, referred especially to my evidence, and, in the main, adopted my view, expressing an opinion “that the companies should afford to the Post Office, at the same charge as would be paid by private individuals for similar services, every assistance which might add to the convenience of the public. [230] They think that no railway should have any claim to be considered as fulfilling its obligations to the district in which it is situate which fails to facilitate in this way the postal communications of that district.” ”

“ But this will not be the case if the post-office department does not support itself. The cheap postage system may injure the poor man, instead of helping him.”—Philad. North American.
“As for the matter of post-office reform, and reduction of the rates of postage, there are not one thousand considerate and reflecting people, in the Union, who desire or demand anything of the kind. ”