$3 
 
 55 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 
 ov 
 
 MR. MERRICK, OF MARYLAND, 
 
 THE BILL TO REDUCE THE RATES OF POSTAGE 
 
 AS!) TO 
 
 REGULATE THE USE AND doRRECT THE ABUSE 
 
 T II E F R A NKING P R I V I L EGE; 
 
 Delivered in the Senate of the United States, January 27, 1815. 
 
 WASHINGTON : 
 
 Pttt.HTED TJT GALB8 AND SXATOiV. 
 

 
*er*esiing, R an I d , is T c(>^eqti^ , ni l p n a ( *J a ^JJ^ erat ' 0 ” “ l bolh ™l»r«m and 
 U,.n any «| tCT “hSelf i* «S I» bl “ 
 
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 =r sr i=SrS= sr r:rl 
 
 Xr,r “^ f ««*.pi. Le.jTf.srv ° r " u ^ >>»• 
 
 receive from "“7 be somewhaSoLs'^stri 
 
 characteristic of the body, pZ Z^doTnT T* indn, Sence wh’i!h ar l 
 them by prolixity or tmn^ssary SpetWon ’ ^ 1 ^ 1 sh *“ -eary 
 
 leading importance^a wisely^egulLtfd” 61 ' 31 T T arks “Pon *he great and 
 
 I*^«ssr4^ 
 
 here are none among those to’whom l f ,ence ’ and happiness of mankind 
 
 speedily and certain I vr ^ ■ e * extended surfacp nr ite * i 
 
 f atif/d by «d wished VUllti or 
 
 same country, or between differenTnart r u etWeen differenl Parts of the 
 fa-led to observe the easew U TXc u ^ ^ Neith <* have thev 
 science, and morality, by diffusing tbro! t P romotes ‘he ends of religion' 
 
 “ J *- • -tr 
 
 ^\S 
 
4 
 
 the republican body politic what the. arterial system is to the natural body_ 
 
 it circulates with regularity and in every direction that knowledge which 
 is as necessary to feed, invigofate* and keep alive, pure republicanism, as 
 blood is to invigorate and supply the waste in the human frame, and with¬ 
 out which it cannot exist. 
 
 All these topics, so rich as themes for discussion, and upon which a 
 treatise might be written, I pass as things familiar to the reflections of 
 honorable Senators, and therefore not proper to be dwelt upon here. 
 They have long been known to all reflecting men, and were well under¬ 
 stood by the framers of our Constitution, and therefore it is we find in that 
 sacred instrument the grant of exclusive power over the whole subject to 
 Congress; exclusive, because Congress alone can exercise powers coex¬ 
 tensive with the necessary extent of the operations of such a service, and 
 because unity of control and direction are essential to its efficiency in aii 
 and every quarter of the country. 
 
 Here, then, we find ourselves possessed of plenary and exclusive powers 
 over this whole subject, for the wise purpose of extending and preserving 
 to the whole people of the United States all the benefits and advantages of 
 as complete a system of postal arrangements as we are capable of devising; 
 and, possessing this power on the one hand, and feeling the obligations of 
 the correlative duty on the other, we come to the contemplation of the 
 actual condition of the existing system ; and thence may be deduced the 
 kind and extent of action it becomes us to take. We find, on looking to 
 the actual state of things, in the first, place, that the revenues of the de¬ 
 partment, instead of increasing with the increase of the population and 
 wealth of the country, and, of course, its increasing wants for such service, 
 arc and have been steadily and regularly declining for several years past, 
 and still continue to decline. We find also that the laws heretofore en¬ 
 acted to give efficiency and security to its operations, and secure its legiti¬ 
 mate revenues, have ceased to be effectual, and no longer answer the ends 
 for which they were enacted. We also find that the workings of this sys¬ 
 tem, if not the system itself, have fallen into disfavor in many parts of the 
 country, and serious complaints are made of the rates of postage charged ; 
 of the unequal arid unjust operation of laws exempting the Government 
 correspondence from a fair and equal contribution towards the support of 
 the service, as well as of the grant to certain classes of our citizens of the 
 special privilege to frank, or send their correspondence by mail free of 
 postage; and still louder complaints are made of alleged abuses of the 
 franking privilege. We find, too, as a consequence of the disfavor with 
 which the workings of the system are regarded, that where the existing 
 laws would seem upon their face to contain effective provisions, they are 
 reluctantly or not at all enforced. Private competitors for the perform¬ 
 ance, and of course for the profits of the service, are springing up upon ait 
 the important and valuable routes, and, under the public countenance, are 
 superseding the mails of the United States, to the great present detriment 
 of the service, to the injury of the public morals, to the great real disad¬ 
 vantage of the very public by whom they are countenanced and encour¬ 
 aged, and, if not checked, to the certain ultimate prostration of the whole 
 post office system. These are grave and alarming evils, and demand the 
 most serious and grave consideration, to be followed by the most prompt 
 and effectual remedies. What are these remedies? Why, plainly and 
 broadly, a thorough reform of the system ; by relieving it of all just cause 
 
5 
 
 of complaint or dissatisfaction, and an adaptation of it, and the laws for 
 its government and security, to that altered state of things which has ot 
 late produced these discordances. But how this reformation and adapta¬ 
 tion is to be reached is the great practical question to be settled; and here 
 at once we meet all that diversity of opinion which is incident to the in¬ 
 dependent action of divers minds upon the same subject, and which, 
 though it may seem, and really does to some extent, embarrass correct 
 action, is nevertheless salutary in its general effects, and ultimately leads 
 to the adoption in most cases of the wisest course. Many of these con- 
 trarient opinions have been carefully weighed and examined by myself 
 and by the members generally of the committee which reported this bill; 
 and I will now proceed to state some of them, and the conclusions to 
 which I have come in reference to them, hoping that it will not be found 
 altogether unprofitable towards enabling the Senate to make up its judg¬ 
 ment. 
 
 I shall not stop to say any thing of those opinions which deny exclusive 
 control over the postal arrangements of the country to the Government of 
 the United States; nor of those which have been occasionally expressed in 
 favor of abandoning them altogether to private enterprise. The contrary 
 of both these views rests upon principles and reasons already briefly alluded 
 to, and in themselves too plain and obvious to admit of controversy. But 
 it is alleged that the mode of raising the necessary revenue to defray the 
 expenses of the department is erroneous : and if that be not erroneous, that 
 the rates of taxation by which they are raised are too high, and also une¬ 
 qual in their operation. If the mode of raising this revenue (namely, by a 
 tax operating equally upon all persons directly receiving benefit or service 
 from that department, according to the amount of service rendered) be er¬ 
 roneous, it will be unnecessary to inquire into the justice of those rates or 
 the inequality of their operation. First, then, as to the mode of raising 
 the revenue, which it is said should be altered, and the mail establishment, 
 like all other departments of the public service, be left to depend for its 
 support upon the general Treasury. That wisdom and sound policy both 
 forbid that reliance for the defrayment of its expenses, will, I think, suffi¬ 
 ciently appear by considering only one or two of the reasons against such 
 a policy, and in favor of leaving it to be sustained by its own revenues. In 
 the first place, it is in strict accordance with the principles of equal justice 
 and the theory of our republican Government, that each citizen should con¬ 
 tribute to the support of Government in proportion to the benefits and ad¬ 
 vantages he enjoys under it; and by supporting your post office establish¬ 
 ment by a small contribution collected for each particular service rendered, 
 graduated by a just scale, and so arranged as in the aggregate to amount 
 to enough, and not more than enough, to defray the necessary expendi¬ 
 tures for the whole establishment, this beautiful and most equitable princi¬ 
 ple will be carried out in this branch of the public service with as near an 
 approximation to accuracy as is attainable in the application of general 
 principles to the affairs of multitudes of individuals. If these expenditures 
 be made a charge upon the general Treasury, no such principle of equal 
 justice can obtain ; on the contrary, it may and will often happen that 
 citizens will contribute largely in the shape of duties on imports, or other 
 general taxes, to the support of this department, who derive little or no 
 direct benefit from it; whilst others, who use largely the mail facilities, 
 and derive large and daily personal advantages from them, will contribute 
 
6 
 
 nothing to its support. Again: if the Post Office Department be left to de¬ 
 rive the means of its support from the general Treasury, the great regulat¬ 
 ing principle of its operations will be lost forever, and there will be no se¬ 
 curity for that steady and uniform advance and extension of the service in 
 proportion to the gradual increase and spread of our population westward, 
 and the augmentation of the business and wealth, and the development of 
 the resources of our country, which all those great and progressive interests 
 do and will absolutely require; but it will be subject to all the constantly 
 recurring fluctuations in the condition of our National Treasury, which we 
 know by experience, owing to the mode in which almost all the general 
 revenues are raised, is in one season suffocating, as now, with plethora, 
 and in the next languishing from inanition. In these seasons of plethora 
 the mail service will be unduly extended ; advantages will be sought and 
 obtained by such extensions for this and that section, and for this and that 
 individual, as the present interests of political parties, or individuals, or as¬ 
 sociated members of the National Legislature, may dictate ; and in this way 
 any amount of plethora in the national fisc may be relieved, any amount 
 of surplus expended apparently for national purposes, and the expenses of 
 this department may be swelled from five or six to ten or fifteen or more 
 millions annually. Then, to say nothing of the corruptions generated by 
 this state of things, let the season of adversity come, a season of pecuniary 
 embarrassment, of deficient and decreasing revenues, and the Post Office 
 establishment be seen to be absorbing a third or a half of your whole na¬ 
 tional resources; and, as certainly as the pendulum vibrates in opposite direc¬ 
 tions, hasty, indiscriminate, ill-judged, and inordinate reductions of the 
 service will be made, to the great detriment of the efficiency and usefulness 
 of the system, to the great inconvenience of the whole public, and to the 
 wrong and injury of many citizens and of many branches of business; 
 whereas, if left to rely upon its own revenues, and they be now wisely and 
 properly adjusted to the wants and convenience of the country, it will 
 grow with the growth and strengthen with the strength of the whole 
 country—the increasing revenues naturally and necessarily to be derived 
 from the increasing population and business, and consequent increase of 
 mailable matter transported, furnishing the steady and certain means of 
 extending and increasing the service as the wants and interests of those it 
 serves are extended, and of following on closely and steadily in the march 
 with our enterprising people, as they multiply and spread out over our al¬ 
 most boundless West, until it and they shall reach and flourish on the 
 shores of the Columbia river and the distant Pacific ocean. Let us look to 
 these great results, and let us, I pray you, sirs, preserve the great and only 
 principle which will easily, naturally, and certainly, by steady and regular 
 progression, lead to them ; and by all means avoid unnecessarily exposing 
 so valuable and important a branch of the public service to the inevitable 
 and pernicious fluctuations in the condition of our general revenues. 
 
 It is a curious fact, and well worthy of remark, though perfectly natu¬ 
 ral, and to be expected in a growing country like ours, with rates of postage 
 rightly adjusted , and the revenues thence arising devoted solely to the sup¬ 
 port and extension of the service, that always heretofore, (until the opera¬ 
 tion of the disturbing causes now requiring the interference of Congress,) 
 the increase in the revenues and expenditures of the Post Office Depart¬ 
 ment, and in the extension of its operations and public accommodation, 
 have generally been just about at the same annual rate with the increase 
 
7 
 
 of our population, (viz: from four to five per cent, on an average,) illus¬ 
 trating the excellence and harmonious operation, as a regulating principle , 
 of the policy requiring the expenses of the department to be defrayed by 
 revenues derived from the service itself, which both insures and provides 
 for an extension of the service in proportion to the increase in the number 
 and wants of the people. This proposition, therefore, either as openly 
 avowed or under its more specious guise of extreme reduction, will not, I 
 trust, find favor with the Senate. 
 
 Let us return, then, to the other inquiry, whether the existing rates of 
 charge are too high ? There is but one opinion here as to the propriety 
 of raising no more revenue front this source than is necessary to defray the 
 proper and legitimate expenses of the service; and all will therefore agree 
 that the lowest point at which the rates can be fixed consistently with that 
 object is the true one. All the arguments which have been or can be ad¬ 
 vanced in favor of the system generally, drawn from considerations either 
 of a wise national policy, the purposes to advance morality, diffuse reli¬ 
 gion, science, and knowledge, to strengthen and spread republican princi¬ 
 ples, or from the wish to foster and gratify the virtuous emotions and kindly 
 affections of the human heart, apply with increased force in favor of cheap¬ 
 ening the rates of postage as much as possible, consistently with the gen¬ 
 eral and equal diffusion of its advantages by means of the revenues derived 
 from the service itself. All rates are too high which go beyond or militate 
 with these fundamental principles, and all are too low which fill short of or 
 greatly endanger their attainment. The first and chief question, then, to 
 be determined, is, what is the loioest rate at which we may safely calcu¬ 
 late upon receiving a sufficiency of revenue to defray the expenses of the 
 existing establishment, and secure a progressive increase sufficient to ex¬ 
 tend the service pari passu with the increase and extension oi our popula¬ 
 tion and business pursuits? We must assume that the existing amount of 
 mail facilities are sufficient, or very nearly so; or, at any rate, such an 
 addition to them as would be afforded by an annual revenue of $4,500,000, 
 (the amount stated by the Postmaster General in his annual report of De¬ 
 cember, 1843, to be requisite for the full efficiency of the department,) 
 would make them sufficient for the existing wants, in this regard, of the 
 community; and, consequently, it rates of postage lower than those now 
 established by law can be fixed upon, which it shall be shown will, accord¬ 
 ing to every prudent mode of calculating, yield that amount of revenue 
 (viz : $4,500,000) armuaily, and progressively increase with the growth of 
 the country, those, it will be instantly conceded by all, are the rates to 
 which we should come. 
 
 We may, I think, with great certainty, rely, when we have once fixed 
 upon the rates that will produce the requisite amount of revenue for the 
 present., upon the increase of revenue at those rates, keeping pace, as the 
 increase of the revenues of the department were above shown to have for¬ 
 merly done, with the general growth and increase of the population and 
 wealth of the country, and their increasing demands for mail accommoda¬ 
 tion. Before I proceed in the endeavor to ascertain what those rates are 
 which shall answer the purposes above stated, allow me to premise, that it 
 has sometimes been said, and has now almost become a truism in political 
 economy, that two and two do not always make four; in other words, the 
 higher rate of taxation does not always yield the greater amount of reve¬ 
 nue, because the temptation to evade the payment may be more than pro- 
 
8 
 
 portionate to the risk of detection and punishment. And this has been 
 strikingly the case recently in many parts of the country, as regards .the 
 charges for postage, as is apparent from the fact, that notwithstanding ijnt 
 progressive growth of the country, and consequently certain increase in the 
 amount of business properly belonging to this department, its revenues 
 have been constantly and rapidly declining for several years last past, oi 
 since the year 1S40, except during the year 1842, when there was a shghf 
 increase over the year 1841, owing, it is believed, to the large correspond¬ 
 ence occasioned during that year by the operation of the bankrupt law, 
 and therefore not indicating any abatement of the causes of the regular 
 decline of the revenues, but rather, from the trifling amount of the increase, 
 proving their existence in full force. The receipts of the department were 
 for the year— 
 
 1840 ------ $4,539,265 
 
 1841 
 
 1842 
 
 1843 
 
 1844 
 
 4,379,317 
 
 4,546,246 
 
 4,295,725 
 
 4,237,2S5 
 
 And notwithstanding the great curtailment of its expenses since 1340, 
 first by curtailments in the service, and more recently by important savings 
 in the lettings of contracts, from the sum of $4,759,110 in 1840, to the sum 
 of $4,296,867 for the year ending 30th June, 1844, the revenues were Still 
 short of the amount of expenditure for the year 1844 by $59,582. The 
 correspondence of the country, it is evident, has not thus diminished, but it 
 goes by other channels than the mail, to what extent will be more particu¬ 
 larly shown presently, when its total amount comes to be estimated ; the 
 simple fact is enough here. Curtailments of the service and savings by 
 reductions of the contract price of the service are probably now at an end 
 as a means of bringing the expenditure down to a level with the revenue ; 
 the condition and wants of the country calling for an increase rather than 
 admitting of any further curtailment of the service. Whence is this alarm¬ 
 ing decline in the revenues of this department? The answer is easy, and 
 is already known to every one. The rates charged are too high. The 
 public judgment has been so pronounced, and under its countenance means 
 are openly resorted to of evading the payment of those charges. Private 
 enterprise is successfully competing with the Government in the perform¬ 
 ance of the service on all the important and valuable routes, and deprive 
 it of the income necessary to support the existing post office establishment, 
 leaving no hope for means to extend it or its operations in proportion to 
 the spread of our population westward, where the service is, and must 
 continue for a long time to be, expensive to the department, and which it 
 is nevertheless indispensably necessary to perform, and which must be 
 performed, for reasons and considerations in comparison with which all 
 mere questions of dollars and cents sink into utter insignificance. 
 
 The laws now on the statute book for the regulation of this service, and 
 for the security and certain collection of its revenues, have become inope¬ 
 rative or inefficient; they are disregarded and despised ; and so general is 
 now the belief that the rates charged upon this kind of service are unne¬ 
 cessarily high, and that the practical operation of the whole system from 
 thivS cause, and in consequence of privileges and exemptions enjoyed,both 
 by Government and individuals, is unequal and oppressive, that, sustained 
 
9 
 
 by this public opinion, these private competitors a,re daily extending their 
 operations, and unless the power and authority of Congress is wisely, and 
 prudently, and promptly interposed, they must soon prostrate the depart¬ 
 ment. The very general conviction that the rates of postage are too high, 
 imposes, in my judgment, the necessity of modifying them, even if it were 
 not (as it is) capable of proof that more revenue than is now collected 
 would be derived from a reduced scale of charges. 
 
 But some have asserted and contend that any reduction of rates will 
 cause a still further diminution of revenue, and of necessity will only aug¬ 
 ment the evils of existing or present deficiency; and therefore they recom¬ 
 mend a resort to more stringent enactments alone for the purpose of put¬ 
 ting down private competition and enforcing the monopoly of the Gov¬ 
 ernment. I have been unable to perceive the correctness of this assump¬ 
 tion, or the wisdom of the policy recommended, if not coupled with proper 
 concessions to the public will. It is certainly most wise and prudent, nay, 
 it js our duty, to defer to public opinion in all cases safely admitting of such 
 deference. And though we possibly might, by the rigorous exertion of 
 power, for a time put down the private expresses and enforce the collec¬ 
 tion of the existing rates, it would be but for a short time, and at the ex¬ 
 pense of greatly extending an already serious disaffection and spirit of 
 resistance to the laws. This course I am deeply convinced is pregnant 
 with evil in every aspect, besides being based upon an assumption which 
 is unsound in theory, as it will prove to be untrue in practice. Others, again, 
 advance the opinion that extreme reduction of rates is the only means of 
 putting down this private competition, and advise a reliance solely upon 
 underbidding by the Government as the means of securing to it the whole 
 business, and repudiate the idea of deriving any aid from penal enact¬ 
 ments. In this opinion also, as well as the recommendation, I am far, very 
 far, from concurring. What produces the private competition? The 
 chance of gain. On what routes does it interfere with the business of the 
 regular mails? On those only which afford a large amount of business, 
 and are therefore profitable. And can the Government reduce their charges 
 so low as to underbid and drive off all private competitors by a failure 
 of profits, and yet realize a profit for itself ? For, be it remembered, the 
 Government must derive a profit from these great routes to meet, the 
 charges upon those which are unprofitable, or the system fails as a whole. 
 And, besides, can the Government, operating only by agents, as it necessa¬ 
 rily must, perform this or any other work more cheaply than individuals 
 operating in their own persons and for themselves ? The argument de¬ 
 feats itself, and the mere statement of it must suffice to show that it is un¬ 
 sound, and the policy it recommends utterly incompatible wilh the end 
 professedly aimed at, and leading, if adopted, inevitably and certainly 
 either to the total prostration of the Post Office Department or to its reli¬ 
 ance upon the general Treasury for support, the evils of which I have al¬ 
 ready pointed out in part. The correct opinion and the true policy lies, in 
 my judgment, between these two extremes, I have before admitted that 
 the existing ratesof postage are too high ; and we have seen, as one effect 
 of it, the continued falling off' of its revenues from year to year, by eva¬ 
 sions of the spirit and letter of our laws. We have seen, too, that these 
 evasions are countenanced 10 some considerable extent by public dissat¬ 
 isfaction with the workings of the system ; and the conclusion to which I 
 have come is, that we should first reform all the evils complained of, so far 
 as they have any real existence, and by this means satisfy and propitiate an 
 
10 
 
 enlightened public. Remove all just causes for dissatisfaction, and the dis¬ 
 satisfaction will soon cease ; and that public which is now in some quarters 
 willing to see your post office establishment go down, nay, are even ready 
 to aid in its destruction, will soon begin to look upon it with very different 
 feelings ; and, perceiving and appreciating its great and manifold advan¬ 
 tages to the whole Republic, they will come with one voice to its support, 
 and give that aid without which your laws made for its protection could 
 be but very imperfectly executed. 
 
 The first thing, then, to be done is to reduce your rates of postage as low 
 as can safely be done, consistently with the principle of raising by it rev¬ 
 enues sufficient to sustain the department; and this, I think, will be from 
 the present average rate of fifteen cents upon all letters, to an average rate 
 of seven and a half cents, or one-half. I shall presently submit the data 
 and calculations upon which I have brought my mind to this conclusion. 
 The next thing to be done is totally to abolish the franking privilege, or so 
 to circumscribe and regulate it as effectually to prevent its abuse, and to 
 subject the correspondence of the Government and its functionaries to the 
 payment of postage equally with the citizens. This is due to the service 
 itself, and it is also due to public opinion. All privileges are odious in 
 themselves, and are at best only tolerated among a republican people; but 
 when any privilege comes to be denounced, and felt and complained of as 
 a grievance, by such a people, the sooner it is renounced and surrendered, 
 the better. It cannot be denied that the franking privilege has too often 
 been abused and perverted to ends and uses foreign to the purposes for 
 which it was established; and much of the aversion now felt to its longer 
 continuance is ascribable to these abuses. So far as the members of Con¬ 
 gress are concerned, it is but a small affair ; but, small or large, and whether 
 considered as their privilege or the privilege of their constituents, as is 
 sometimes alleged, such is the odious light in which it is now generally 
 regarded by the constituency, that the members should be eager to sur¬ 
 render it. As regards the Government correspondence, properly so called, 
 there does not appear to be any good reason why it should not be subject 
 to postage, or the Government required in some form to contribute to the 
 support of the department, in proportion to the service rendered by it, 
 equally with all private citizens, who obtain and pay for similar service. 
 Indeed, equal justice seems to require the Government thus to contribute; 
 for, this department being supported by contributions from that portion of 
 the ciiizens only who send or receive communications by mail, it is as un¬ 
 just to burden them with the cost of transporting the Government corres¬ 
 pondence, which is the effect of sending it free, as it would be to tax any 
 other particular class of citizens exclusively for any of the other great 
 national objects. These things accomplished, then I think we may safely 
 call in the aid of penal enactments to enforce respect for and observance of 
 the indisputably exclusive rights of the Government in this regard. Some 
 have ridiculed the idea of resorting at all to the use of penal enactments, 
 as being, under any circumstances, unavailing and incapable of execution; 
 but it is plain, however completely all the existing evils of the system may 
 be removed and corrected, and however perfect the satisfaction thereby 
 given to'the great public may be, that the practice of competing with the 
 Government mails having already obtained a footing, and been to a con¬ 
 siderable extent successfully practised for years, it will not be at once 
 abandoned by those whose cupidity has been so long fed by it, without 
 the use of something stronger and more cogent than mere persuasives. 
 
11 
 
 Besides, if it has come to this, that penalties prescribed for infractions of 
 wise and salutary laws, promotive of the common good, and framed in 
 accordance with the sober public judgment of the country, cannot be en¬ 
 forced, then, indeed, have our hopes and speculations about the strength 
 and power of republican institutions been delusions all, and our great ex¬ 
 periment upon the capacity of man for self-government has signally failed. 
 But, Mr. President, the positions I am combating are utterly untenable ; 
 the penal sanctions by which I propose to protect this service in future 
 from the interference of private cupidity are necessary to that object, and 
 if preceded by the other material amendments of the law proposed by this 
 bill, will be as certainly enforced as the feelings and principles of self-inter¬ 
 est and self-preservation, regulated by morality, continue to be exciting 
 motives of human action. 
 
 1 come now to submit more particularly the data and calculations which 
 have induced me to fix upon the rate of reduction proposed by the bill— 
 namely, to five cents for every single letter transported not more than one 
 hundred miles, and to ten cents for any greater distance. This involves 
 two questions, namely: Can we reduce to this point without the danger 
 of reducing the annual revenue below the amount required for the efficient 
 support of the department? And is this the lowest poiut to which reduc¬ 
 tion can safely be carried, consistently with this indispensable requisite of 
 sufficient revenue, stated on authority to be the sum of $4,500,000 a year? 
 We have already seen what has been the amount of annual revenue for 
 the last five years ; and we have also seen that it is insufficient, and, for 
 the last year, short of the sum above stated to be requisite by $203,133. 
 Let us see what is probably the actual amount of correspondence which 
 would pass through the mails, but for the disturbing causes I have men¬ 
 tioned, and consequently what the amount of revenue likely to be annually 
 derived from it, those causes being removed, at the reduced rate proposed. 
 I have before stated that, the average annual increase of the revenues of 
 the Post Office Department, prior to the operation of those causes which 
 are now destroying it, had been at the rate of about five per cent.; at which 
 rate it is certain the correspondence by mail would have continued to in¬ 
 crease up to this time but for these causes—if, indeed, the increase had not 
 been at a much greater rate; but take that rate of regular increase as one 
 we can certainly rely upon, and we find that in the year 1836, the number 
 of chargeable letters sent by mail, according to the report of 
 the then Postmaster General, was .... 29,360,992 
 
 The year 1836 is selected because for that year only I have 
 been able to find a report of the number of letters ; any of 
 the subsequent years up to 1840, if for them we had reli¬ 
 able accounts, would answer my purpose as well. 
 
 , To this number of letters add for the years since elapsed five 
 per cent, per annum, the rate of increase previous to that 
 rime - 13,212,441 
 
 And it gives as the number of letters that would now be passing 
 
 by mail, but for their diversion by private competitors - 42,573,433 
 
 To this, I think no one will deny, it is very moderate to add, 
 as the probable amount of increase consequent upon the 
 proposed reduction of rates, twenty per cent., or - - 8,514,686 
 
12 
 
 And thus we have a total of chargeable letters to pass 
 through the mail, independent of all that correspondence 
 now free, amounting to ----- 51,088,115 
 
 And these, at the average rate of 7£ cents, as proposed by 
 the bill under consideration, will produce an annual reve¬ 
 nue of ------ - 
 
 Add to this the amount to arise from the postage proposed 
 by the bill to be charged upon what are called drop letters 
 Then add the postage on the correspondence of the State, 
 Treasury, War, and Navy Departments, and the Attorney 
 General’s office, which, it appears from House Document 
 No. 477 of the last session of Congress, would, at the ex¬ 
 isting rates, have amounted during the year then last past 
 to the sum of $>254,511 ; but which, under the reduced 
 rates now proposed, amount to but half that sum, or 
 To this must further be added, the amount to be saved by 
 correcting the abuses, or abolishing the use of the frank¬ 
 ing privilege, which cannot be less, if the provisions on 
 this subject contained in the bill are adopted, than 
 To all this add for postage on newspapers, magazines, and 
 pamphlets—the rates on which it is proposed to reduce 
 about one-third, and which now yielding $549,743, (per 
 last annual report of Postmaster General,) may safely be 
 relied on for at least two-thirds of its present amount, or 
 the sum of - 
 
 $3,S30.606 
 
 50,000 
 
 127,255 
 
 125,000 
 
 366,495 
 
 Exhibiting a total annual revenue of 4,499,358 
 
 which is within a very small fraction of the amount before said to have been 
 stated by the Postmaster General in his annual report of December, 1843, 
 to be adequate to the support of the department in full efficiency ; and it^ 
 is greater than the revenues of the last year by the sum of $262,073. If 
 these calculations be correct, (and they are based upon authentic data, ex¬ 
 cept in the single instance of the allowance of 20 percent, increase oi 
 the amount of correspondence, to be occasioned by the reduction of rates 
 proposed, which allowance is certainly reasonable and moderate,) then is 
 the problem solved, and these are the rates which will yield sufficient, and 
 not more than sufficient revenue; and of course they are the rates which 
 should now be adopted. 
 
 But, further, as chairman of the committee which reported a similar bill 
 at the last session of Congress, I was at some pains during that session to 
 make several other statistical calculations, and to lay before the Senate 
 some comparative estimates of the business and correspondence of the 
 people of this country and of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, where the experiment of cheap postage has been successfully 
 tried, with the view of showing how improbable it was that the amount 
 of epistolary correspondence carried on by the people of the United States 
 was as little as the number of letters passing through our post offices 
 seemed to indicate * and I sought thence to deduce the conclusion that, to 
 justify the reduction of the rates I proposed, it was only necessary to take 
 the proper steps to bring the actual correspondence of the country into the 
 mails, without relying upon an increase of letter writing, to be stimulated 
 
13 
 
 and brought about by the cheapening of the charges for postage. Those 
 comparisons and calculations seemed to me then, and seem to me now, to 
 be just and appropriate to the questions in hand. I beg therefore here 
 again briefly to recapitulate them. It was shown by those comparisons 
 and calculations, that, while the people of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 amounting to only 26,711,059 souls, were sending annually through their 
 mails 204,000,000 of letters, it appeared from our last Post Office returns 
 that the people of the United States, amounting in 1840 to 17,068,666 
 souls, sent through their mails only twenty four or twenty-seven millions 
 of letters. This great disparity in the number of letters of the people of 
 the two countries, as compared with the amount of the population of each, 
 appeared amazing, and was and is in fact incredible. The solution of this 
 mystery could not be found in any difference in the capacity of the people 
 of the two countries to correspond by letter; for, upon examining into 
 that matter, it became and was made apparent that,in this respect, the ad¬ 
 vantage was greatly on the side of the people of the United States ; for, 
 of the whole people of the United States, (free negroes and slaves includ¬ 
 ed,) it was found that the free whites above the age of twenty years, who 
 could read and write , constituted more than one-third; and that, ex¬ 
 cluding colored people, free and bond, those whites over the age of twenty 
 years who could read and write , constituted about three-sevenths ; whilst 
 m Great Britain and Ireland, those above the age of twenty years who 
 could read and write , were found to be little more than one-fourth of the 
 population ! Yet the people of Great Britain send by mail annually, for 
 the 7,155,169 who are over the age of twenty years and can read and 
 write, an average of 28$ letters each ; and the 5,892,806 free white citi¬ 
 zens of the United States over the age of twenty years who can read and 
 write, correspond by letter through the mails only at the rate of 4 T let¬ 
 ters each per year ! 
 
 Again: thecommerce of the people of the United States, which has been 
 said to be the prolific parent of letter writing,, was found to be-equal to 
 about two-fifths of that of Great Britain and Ireland, but their corres¬ 
 pondence by mail is not one-eighth of that of the people of Great Britain 
 and Ireland. The total annual productions of Great Britain and Ireland 
 were also found to amount to about $2,290,598,944, while those of the 
 United States amount to $1,063,134,736, or are just about equal to one- 
 half the amount of their productions. 
 
 The inequality with Great Britain and Ireland is greatest in the amount 
 of foreign commerce ; and even in that the relation is as two to five; and, 
 if the number of letters transmitted by our mails bears that relation to the 
 number sent by mail in the United Kingdom, our post office returns would 
 show the number of 81,600,000 letters annually, instead of about 
 27,000,000 ; and I entertain no doubt that eighty-one millions is much 
 nearer the true number written and transmitted by one conveyance and 
 another in this country than twenty-seven millions. One other view on 
 this point, Mr. President, and I will pass on. If we suppose the different 
 habits and pursuits of the x\merican people cause them to correspond by 
 letter only to one-fimrth the extent of the people of the United Kingdom, 
 then the comparative estimate would stand thus: In Great Britain and 
 Ireland, according to authentic information recently furnished to the Post¬ 
 master General by the British minister near this Government, with that 
 courtesy which characterizes him as a gentleman and a high public fime- 
 
14 
 
 tionary, the number of inland letters which passed through the British post 
 office in the year 1843 was - - 213,328,972 
 
 Which, at the uniform rate of one penny for postage, there 
 charged upon inland letters, would give not less than - $4,260,000 
 And probably more, as we know not how many of these let¬ 
 ters were double. 
 
 This bill proposes an average rate of cents postage, which 
 is, when we consider the lesser weight here proposed, at 
 least four times as great as their rate; therefore, one-fourth 
 the number of letters, or - - - - - 53,332,243 
 
 Here will give the same amount of revenue ; that is - $4,260,000 
 
 Thus showing that by this bill one-fourth the amount of the British epis¬ 
 tolary correspondence would yield us an amount of revenue from that 
 source, which, taken in connexion with that derivable from newspapers, 
 &c,, is admitted to be adequate and ample for all the wants of the service ; 
 and nobody will think or say that the American people do not correspond 
 by letter one-fourth as much as the people of the sea-girt isles. From all 
 which comparisons, estimates, and calculations, the conclusion appears to 
 me irresistible, that, if proper steps are taken to bring the correspondence of 
 the country into the mails for transmission, we shall not have less than be¬ 
 tween fifty and sixty millions of letters annually to be transported in that 
 way; and that we shall, at the reduced rates proposed, have adequate reve¬ 
 nue to sustain the Post Office Department in full efficiency. We can there¬ 
 fore safely reduce to these points; and it is expedient and wise to make 
 that reduction. 
 
 But can we not reduce lower than is proposed ? I think not, consist¬ 
 ently with that sage precaution which ought to characterize the legislation 
 of Congress. It is in this, as in other.things, easy to descend, but difficult 
 indeed will be the ascent, should an imprudent step now make that here¬ 
 after necessary. 
 
 It is at best an experiment, and to be made upon calculations and esti¬ 
 mates which, however carefully made, are exposed to the danger of errors, 
 which may be shown only by the tests of actual trial; and, although I 
 have great confidence myself in the favorable results, if fairly tried, yet it 
 is to be remarked that some, and those the most reliable calculations, barely 
 yield revenue enough, and leave but a very small margin to be filled by 
 extracts from the chapter of accidents. I have said I have great confidence 
 in the favorable results, and I repeat it; but even if I had less confidence 
 in the success of the scheme proposed, I should still recommend its adop¬ 
 tion, because the condition of the service will not allow us to stand still. 
 To forbear longer to take some action upon the subject is fatal. We must 
 therefore move forward in the way which, according to the best-lights we 
 have, appears most prudent; but let ns not go too far at once. To err on 
 one side is harmless, and, when experience shall have shown the error to 
 be that we did not reduce enough, and the revenues of the department are 
 greater than the wants of the service require, that error can easily be cor¬ 
 rected by a still further reduction. But to err on the other side will be 
 most pernicious, and may plunge this important branch of the public ser¬ 
 vice in inextricable difficulty. If, then, we are to err—as I will not say 
 we may not—let us take care to have the error on the safe side; and I 
 therefore entreat the Senate not to entertain any proposition for a greater 
 reduction than that proposed by the bill as reported from the committee. 
 It has been and may be urged, that the success attending the reduction to 
 
15 
 
 the low rate of two cents for postage on all inland letters in England proves 
 that to be the point to which we can reduce here; but it is to be remem¬ 
 bered, in this connexion, that, though there may justly be general compari¬ 
 sons instituted as to the operation of the post office system in the two coun¬ 
 tries, yet there are many material points of difference between the opera¬ 
 tions and expenses of the system in each, which forbid any well-founded 
 expectations of parallel results. In the first place, it is to be remembered 
 that there is a vast difference in the superficial extent of the two countries. 
 The area over which the mails of Great Britain and Ireland is transported 
 is only 122,000 square miles; that over which the mails of the United 
 States have to be spread is 1,033,000 square miles, or more than eight 
 times greater. The total length of mail routes in England would seem, 
 from the returns we have, to be only about 18,303 miles, while the total 
 length of the mail routes in the United States is 144,687 miles. Here, again, 
 the difference is about eight to one against ns. Again : the number of post 
 offices in the United States is 14,103, and the number of post offices in 
 England, sub-offices, receiving offices, and all, is but 4,785—the number in 
 the United States being three times greater. All these differences consti¬ 
 tute great elements of additional cost for the service in the United States; 
 and I hope they will be weighed well by the Senate before they lend a fa¬ 
 vorable ear to propositions to come down here to the British rates of post¬ 
 age. They have convinced me, as I hope they will convince the majority 
 of the Senate, that no such thing is practicable here, consistently with the 
 principle of making the service sustain itself by postages to be collected. 
 
 I will now, Mr. President, very briefly explain some of the leading spe¬ 
 cific features of the bill, and then leave the subject to be passed upon, as to 
 the judgment of the Senate shall seem proper. The first section of the bill, 
 which is the principal one, fixes the rates of letter postage; and these it 
 places at five cents for every single letter transported not more than one 
 hundred miles, and ten cents for every single letter transported any greater 
 distance; thus making but two rates, and they conforming to the decimal 
 coin of the United States, and apportioned with reference to the two great 
 elements of cost in the performance of the service, viz: office work and 
 transportation, and not with reference to distance, as the sole criterion for 
 fixing the rate of charge, as appears to have been heretofore unjustly the 
 rule. In determining what shall be rated a single and what a double let- 
 ler, the compound tests of weight and number of pieces of paper have been 
 adopted; and this seemed necessary to give to that large portion of our fel¬ 
 low-citizens who use cheap and coarse paper the benefit of the reduced rates, 
 and at the same time to protect the revenues from frauds on the part of 
 those who can afford to purchase and use very fine and light paper, and 
 some who would use it for the purpose of evading the payment of postage. 
 It is therefore provided, that a letter composed of a single piece of paper 
 weighing not more than half an ounce, which is more than the weight of 
 a single sheet of the coarsest paper, shall be charged with single postage 
 only; but no letter consisting of more than once piece of paper which 
 weighs over one quarter of an ounce shall be rated single, but double, 
 treble, and so on, according to the number of pieces of paper of which i; 
 may consist. One quarter of an ounce is a little over the weight of a sin¬ 
 gle sheet of such fine paper as we use here in the Senate, and that weight 
 therefore allows of the enclosure in an ordinary letter of a bank note, with¬ 
 out a duplication of the rate of postage, and is not open to much abuse ; 
 but if the weight were extended to half an ounce, and that alone were 
 
16 
 
 01 
 
 12 06 
 
 619844 
 
 regarded in fixing the rate, those so disposed, by using very fine French 
 paper, might practise extensive frauds upon the revenue, by enclosing half 
 a dozen different letters for different persons in the sarae envelope. This 
 would be confined to the correspondence between commercial and manu¬ 
 facturing towns and cities; but between them it might be extensively prac¬ 
 tised, and it is therefore prudent to gtiard against it. 
 
 If a letter consists of more than one, and not more than two pieces of 
 paper, and its weight exceeds one-quarter, and does not exceed half an 
 ounce, it is to be rated double. If a letter consists of not more than three 
 pieces of paper, exceeding in weight one-quarter of an ounce, and not ex¬ 
 ceeding three-quarters of an ounce, or if of one or two pieces of paper, 
 and exceeding half an ounce and not exceeding three-quarters of an ounce, 
 it is to be rated treble. If a letter consists of four pieces of paper, weigh¬ 
 ing more than one-quarter and not more than one ounce, or if of one,*) two, 
 or three pieces of paper, weighing more than three-quarters of an ounce 
 and not more than one ounce, it is to be rated quadruple. Above one ounce 
 in weight, the rate is exclusively regulated by the number of quarter 
 ounces, each quarter being counted as a single letter. \ 
 
 The second section relates to newspapers, and exempts all under the' 
 size of 1,900 square inches from postage, within thirty miles of the place 
 of printing, and leaves them for all greater distances than thirty miles 
 chargeable according to existing rates, but it subjects all papers of a greater 
 size than 1,900 square inches to the rates chargeable upon pamphlets and 
 magazines. Upon pamphlets, magazines, and other printed matter, the 
 rates fixed are according to weight, and are two and a half cents for the 
 first ounce if transported less than one hundred miles, and five cents if trans¬ 
 ported more than one hundred miles, and one cent additional in either case 
 for each additional ounce. As an example of the effect of these provisions 
 upon this kind of matter, I have selected the North American Review for 
 this month—January, 1845. This is, according to the present mode of 
 charging postage, an eleven-sheet pamphlet, and is therefore chargeable, 
 under existing laws, with sixteen and a half cents postage for any distance 
 under one hundred miles, and with twenty-seven and a half cents lor any 
 greater distance—average, twenty-two cents. Its weight is fourteen and a 
 quarter ounces, and the postage chargeable upon it under this bill would 
 therefore be, for one hundred miles 15% cents, and for any greater distance 
 18 cents ; averaging 16§, and being a reduction on the average of 5^ cents, 
 or about 25 per cent. The amount or rate of reduction will vary some¬ 
 what according to the weight of the pamphlet, the charge appearing to be 
 higher upon the lighter kinds, but the general average reduction on all the 
 periodicals is about 20 per cent. The other provisions I will not weary thfi 
 Senate by explaining in detail, but hold myself ready to make any that may 
 be called for while, the bill is in progress; they relate principally to the ab¬ 
 olition and regulation of the franking privilege, subjecting Government 
 correspondence to postage equally with that of individuals, the putting 
 down by penal sanctions of private expresses, &c., with a clause allowing 
 printed and lithographed circulars or advertisements sent unsealed to pass 
 any distance by mail for two cents postage. Trusting, sir, that this bill J 
 which has cost much pains and care in the preparation, and which seems 
 to be called for by the general wish of the country, as well as by the real 
 interests of the department, will meet the approbation of the Senate and 
 of the other House of Congress, I must now submit it in all its parts to the 
 test of their scrutiny.