CHAP. in. THE CONVEYANCE OF THOUGHT. 19 



effects, but are the starting-points of various unforeseen 

 developments. It was founded in this case on a careful 

 estimate of the various items which make up the cost of 

 the carriage and delivery of each letter, and it was shown 

 that the actual conveyance, even for the greatest dis- 

 tances, was the smallest part of the cost when the num- 

 ber of letters is large, the chief items of expense being 

 the office work the sorting, stamping, packing, etc. 

 and the final delivery, all of which are quite independent 

 of the distance the letter is carried. The old system, 

 therefore, of increasing the charge for postage in propor- 

 tion to distance was altogether unreasonable, because the 

 cost of conveyance was hardly perceptibly increased; 

 and if the Post Office was considered to be a public 

 service for the public benefit only, the people had a right 

 to demand that they should pay only in proportion to 

 the cost. Yet the principle was not at first, and is not 

 even now, fully carried out. For thirty years, from 

 1840 to 1871, the postage was increased equally with 

 each successive increment of weight, the half-ounce let- 

 ter being a penny, while one of two ounces was four- 

 pence. But as the chief items of expense the office 

 work and delivery were the same, or nearly the same 

 in both cases, the double or quadruple charge was en- 

 tirely opposed to the principle on which the uniform rate 

 was originally founded. Accordingly, in 1871, when 

 an ounce letter was first carried for a penny, the charge 

 for two ounces was fixed at three halfpence, while four 

 ounces was taken for twopence. This accepted and 

 common-sense principle, however, has not yet been ap- 

 plied to the charges of the Postal Union, so that a letter 

 which is a fraction over the half-ounce is charged five 



