CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (REDUCTION OF POSTAGE.) 



185 



on conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not ex- 

 ceeding $5.000, or by imprisonment for a term not 

 exceeding three years, or by such fine and imprison- 

 ment both, in the discretion of the court. 



Reduction of the Rates for Letter - Postage. In 



the Post-Office Appropriation Bill, as reported 

 from the House Committee on Appropriations, 

 there was a provision for the reduction of post- 

 age on letters from 3 cents to 2 cents per half- 

 ounce, recommended by the Committee on the 

 Post-Offices and Post- Roads. The proposition 

 was discussed at some length in both branches 

 of Congress. Mr. Bingham, of Pennsylvania, 

 in advocating the measure, Dec. 14, 1882, be- 

 fore the House, said : 



"I desire, before the House passes judgment 

 upon the question of reduction of postage in- 

 corporated in the bill now before us, to submit 

 some facts as well as some figures (figures 

 which have been verified by the Post- Office 

 officials and found correct), warranting and 

 justifying the proposition, reported by the 

 Committee on the Post-Office and Post-Roads, 

 for a reduction of the rate of letter-postage 

 from 3 cents per half-ounce to 2 cents per half- 

 ounce, or fraction thereof, as the law for the 

 future, and that this measure should go into 

 effect on the 1st of January, 1884, that date 

 being fixed as the time the reduction could be 

 made without the necessity of a deficiency in 

 the present bill ; for at the end of the next fis- 



" year, June 30, 1884, there will be under a 2- 



nt rate no deficiency called for by the Post- 

 ce Department to be appropriated from the 



easury. 



"Taking the estimates submitted by the 

 epartment of the amount of business which 



ill be done during the next fiscal year, it will 

 ,000,000. The way that is reached is by 

 a sum total of the sales of postage-stamps and 

 stamped envelopes during the past year and 

 10 per cent, added for the current year and 10 

 per cent, of increase for the next fiscal year. 

 That 10 per cent, is an average estimate of the 

 increase of the postal business of the country, 

 and is added for this and the next year. 



" It is believed, Mr. Chairman, so far as an 

 examination of the discussion of this question 

 has been common to the newspaper press and 

 the great monthly leading publications of the 

 country, that in view of the vast sums of money 

 flowing into the 'Treasury of the Government 

 at the present time, not only from the Post- 

 Office Department but from the various other 

 sources of revenue which come to the Govern- 

 ment from the systems of taxation to whish 

 the people are subject, now is the time for the 

 reduction of letter-postage from 3 cents to 2 

 cents, and that such legislation will find a hearty 

 approval from every community and section of 

 the country. 



" Sir, in order that the House may under- 

 stand that 2-cent postage is not a temporary 

 expedient or an unduly considered proposition 

 of to-day, the Committee on the Post-Office 

 and Post-Roads in their bill reported to this 



House one week ago, asking that this reduction 

 might take effect on the 1st of January, 1884, 

 referred to the history of postage, and devel- 

 oped in the investigation information of a 

 character that can with directness, and to my 

 mind convincing force, be called to the atten- 

 tion of this House, without reference at this 

 time to the several reductions of postage on 

 letter matter since the first act of Congress 

 fixing rate of postage on domestic letters, 

 Feb. 20, 1792, was passed. It seems but just 

 that the recommendation under date of Nov. 

 30, 1850, of Postmaster-General N. K. Hall, 

 and the approval of the same by President 

 Fillrnore, should receive attention. 



"Ex-Postmaster-General Hall, in his report, 

 1850, makes the following recommendation : 



" A considerable reduction of letter-postage and the 

 adoption of a uniform inland rate are desired by 

 a large portion of the people of the United States. 

 ... 1 recommend that the inland letter- postage be 

 reduced to 3 cents the single letter when prepaid, and 

 be fixed at the uniform rate of 5 cents when not pre- 

 paid; and also that the Postmaster-General be re- 

 quired to reduce this prepaid rate to 2 cents the single 

 letter whenever it shall be ascertained that the rev- 

 enues of the department, after the reductions now 

 recommended, shall have exceeded its expenditures 

 by more than 5 per cent, for two consecutive fiscal 

 years. 



" President Fillmore, under date of Dec. 2, 

 1850, calls the attention of. Congress to the 

 recommendations of his Post-master General, in 

 this language : 



" I am happy to find that the fiscal condition of the 

 department is such as to justify the Postmaster-Gen- 

 eral in recommending the reduction of our inland let- 

 ter-postage to 3 cents the single letter when prepaid 

 and 5 cents when not prepaid. He also recommends 

 that the prepaid shall be reduced to 2 cents whenever 

 the revenues of the department, after the reductions, 

 shall exceed its expenditures by more than 5 per cent, 

 for two consecutive years. 



" Congress acted upon the recommendation 

 of President Fillmore and Postmaster-General 

 Hall, and for the first time gave to the people 

 a uniform inland rate and adopted the 8-cent 

 postage for all distances not exceeding 3,000 

 miles. 



" The conditions suggested in 1850 are now 

 almost literally fulfilled, and the reduction to 

 the 2-cent rate has found equally as able and 

 sincere indorsers in the several recommenda- 

 tions of gentlemen who have carefully investi- 

 gated the subject. 



"In 1862 a committee, appointed by the 

 merchants and business men of New York, 

 presented a petition to Congress asking for 

 postal reform and a reduction of rates in letter 

 matter. The paper is so able- and comprehen- 

 sive that I ask the indulgence of the House 

 while I read several paragraphs pertinent to 

 the question at issue. The committee use this 

 language : 



" The committee to whom it was referred to prepare 

 an address to the people of the United States upon 

 the necessity of postal reform, and also as 'to the na- 

 ture and extent of the changes that should be intro- 

 duced into our postal system, beg leave to report : 



