700 



FARMER S' REGISTER, 



bounty is denied, and which nevertheless pay 

 otherwise the heaviest charges of the general ex- 

 pense of the post-office department, so (ar as de- 

 Irayed by the transportation of printed papers. 



That one efl'ect of the unjust and impolitic dis- 

 criaiinalion between magazines and newspapers, 

 serving, as it does, as a prohibitory tax on the for- 

 mer class, and a protecting duty f^r the latter, has 

 been to cause sundry monihly and other periodical 

 magazines to assume so much of the outward 

 form of newspapers, (though still altogether differ- 

 ent in law and in fact,) as to pass for, and to be 

 charged as newspapers, by the misconstruction or 

 favor of the post-oflice department. Thus, every 

 publisher of a monthly magazine who can obtain 

 this favor, thereby secures for his publication an 

 indirect bounty from government, equal in amount 

 to the great existing difference of^ the rates of 

 postage. 



That the inducement to obtain the benefit of 

 this bounty is so great, that, if the present law and 

 its construction remain unaltered, every agricultu- 

 ral, scientific and literary periodical, which has not 

 already been degraded in its mechanical execution 

 and Ibrm of publication, by assuming the disguise 

 of a newspaper to secure this bounty, will be com- 

 pelled to make the change of form necessary for 

 that purpose; and thus, by a great sacrifice of 

 good appearance and of real value in such publi- 

 cations, and to the lessening of their permanent 

 utility, the post-offii^e department will lose even 

 the poor gain now derived from ihediscriminating 

 and unjust burthen imposed on periodical maga- 

 zines in pamphlet fjrm. 



That your petitioner, neither for himself, nor for 

 the great agricultural class to which he belongs, and 

 which his publication aims to serve, asks (or any 

 bounty or exclusive benefit ; but merely that such 

 publications as his shall be placed on equal ground 

 as to postage charges with others now more fa- 

 vored ; and he respecifuliy submits to the consi- 

 deration of your honorable body, whether, as a 

 matter of governmental policy, it is proper that 

 every newspaper, of whatever character or ob- 

 ject, should be aided in its establishment and subse- 

 quent support by the bounty of receiving (ree ex- 

 change papers, and the more extended protection of 

 lower postage on all their issues, while other perio- 

 dicals, designed to instruct and to improve, whether 

 in agriculture, in the arts, or in literature and 

 science, shall be subjected to a tax operating either 

 as greatly discouraging, or altogether prohibitory. 



Therelbre, for the reasons set forth, your petition- 

 er prays for such modification of the post-office law, 

 as shall, on all periodical publications, whether 

 newspapers or magazines, make the charges of 

 postage equal, according to their weights, or to 

 the extent of surface of sheets conveyed by mail. 



All which is respectfully submitted.' 



Edmund Ruffin, 



Editor and Proprietor of the Farmers^ Register, 

 Petersburg, Va. 



[The foregoing petition was sent on last winter 

 to be presented to both houses of congress; but 

 the members of those bodies, and friends of the 

 petition, to whom the presentation was entrusted, 

 thought it best to deler it, as no such matter could 

 possibly be acted on, or even heard, during the 

 last eession. Perhaps the shortness of the ap- 



proaching session may operate to prevent a hear- 

 ing as much as did the business of the last long 

 session. A{ any rate, the petition will be present- 

 ed ; and, so far, the humble efforts of the petitioner 

 used to induce the removal of the enormous in- 

 justice and bad policy which exists, and which 

 presses so injuriously upon every periodical publi- 

 cation, other than newspapers^ and those which, to 

 evade the discriminating tax, assume something 

 like the form of newspapers, and are favored in 

 that evasion by the partial and palpably erroneous 

 construction of the post-office department. 



All publishers of periodical pamphlets, on lite- 

 rature, science, or any of the useful arts, as well 

 as on agriculture, are equally interested in the ob- 

 ject of this petition ; and it is probiible that the 

 excess of tax imposed on them by the existing un- 

 just law, and incorrect and still more unjust usage, 

 over and above what newspapers would pay in 

 postage, amount to more than all the clear profit 

 on these publications. And though this tax is le- 

 vied upon, and paid by, the individual subscribers, 

 it is not the less at the cost and to the injury of 

 the publication, as its amount just so much in- 

 creases the expense to subscribers, and discou- 

 rages their purchasing such publications. 



All subscribers to periodicals, also, as payers 

 of this excess of postage, are interested individu- 

 ally in having it reduced to fair and equal rates ; 

 and still more the community at large, who, by 

 the prohibitory operation of the tax, are debarred 

 from a large portion of the benefits which might 

 be otherwise obtained from the circulation of ma- 

 gazines. 



The petititioner, therefore, hopes that he will 

 not be permited to act alone in this matter, but be 

 strengthened by the concurrence and influence of 

 the many publishers who are alike interested in 

 the object, and by some of the many thousands 

 of other persons who, as readers, and members of 

 the community, have a still more important inte- 

 rest in the result. — Ed. Far. Reg. 



WORCESTER [MASS.] AGRICULTURAL SO- 

 CIETY. 



From the New England Farmer. 

 Report on fat cattle and milch cows. 



The committee having attended to the duties 

 assigned them, beg leave to offer the following 

 report : 



The number of fat cattle offered for premiums 

 were ten, viz: 



By Gardner Wilson, of Leicester, one fat ox, 

 weighing 2285 lbs., six years old. 



By Luke Baker, of Rutland, two fat oxen, 

 weighing, 2215 lbs., the other 2285 lbs., seven 

 years old. 



By Jedediah Estabrook, of Rutland, two fat 

 oxen, weighing, one 2195 lbs., the other 2125 lbs., 

 seven years old. 



By L. & E. L. Barnard, of Worcester, three fat 



