NOTES.

The Postal Commission's Report. Under an act of Congress, approved June 26, 1906, a joint Postal Commission to consist of three Senators and three Representatives was appointed to inquire into and report to Congress its conclusions on the effect of existing laws relative to mail matter of the second class-the periodicals of the country.

The reasons for bringing this Commission into existence were, generally speaking, two in number:

First: undue, rapid, and wasteful expansion of this class of mail since the enactment of the statute establishing a very low pound-rate of postage for it.

Second: difficulties of an administrative nature, almost insuperable in character, in dealing with it.

The Commission met first at the Holland House, New York, in October last, and later in Washington, and directed its inquiries to determining:

(1) Whether the revenue from second-class mail should not be made sufficient to cover the actual cost of the service rendered.

(2) If that were not done, what limitations should be placed upon its production.

(3) What amendments of existing law might be needed to give effect to such changes as were deemed advisable.

As it was impracticable for the Commission to grant a hearing to any very great part of the large number of publishers enjoying second-class privileges, a plan was outlined by which duly appointed representatives of the various classes might appear in the interests of their respective organizations. Official statements of the attitude of the Post-Office Department in the matter were also made by the postmaster-general and two of his assistants. Representatives of several business organizations, and individuals not connected with publishing affairs also appeared before the Commission. The report of this Commission was made to Congress, and on January 28, 1907, was ordered printed.

In the act which contained the appointment of the Commission referred to above (the Appropriation Act for the Post-Office Department for the year ending July 1, 1907), and included for a similar purpose, was a paragraph requiring the postmaster-general to cause

a record to be kept for six months from July 1, 1906, to December 31, inclusive, of second-class mail received for distribution either free or at the one-cent-a-pound rate. This record was to show not only the total weight of this matter in pounds, but also weights by sub-classes showing character, as agricultural, scientific, educational, religious, magazines, trade journals, miscellaneous, etc. It was also to be classified under the heads of dailies, weeklies, monthlies, and quarterlies; a distinction was also to be made between paid and sample copies. Finally an estimate was to be made as to the average length of haul of each class. The report of weighings of second-class matter was made to Congress by the postmastergeneral on February 1, 1907, in which report it was found that the average length of hauls of the daily papers was not much more than one-quarter the average length of haul of the magazines.

The report of the Postal Commission was a pamphlet of some sixty odd pages, which briefly summarized the testimony and some of the lines of argument that had been presented before it by the various interests referred to above, by officials from the Post-Office Department, and by representatives of the publishers and of various business organizations.

The report presented at some length the views of the Commission that cardinal defects exist in the present system of charges for second-class matter.

First: "The difference between the second class and the next higher, the third class, is too great; in other words, the second is relatively too low."

Second: "Wholly dissimilar services are performed for the same rate."

Third: "Substantially similar services are charged for at different rates."

Fourth: The second class is probably too low, speaking absolutely rather than relatively.

Fifth: "The fact that the next higher rate, that for printed matter, is 800 per cent. greater, creates an almost irresistible temptation to give to all printed matter the periodical form for the bald purpose of accomplishing its distribution at the cent-a-pound rate.' Therefore, in view of these contentions, the Commission made recommendations under two captions:

(1) For immediate action, to check the growth of existing abuses. (2) For further investigation, that more radical and far-reaching changes may be made and made intelligently, so that this great

business enterprise, involving an expenditure of about two hundred million dollars a year, may be placed on a more scientific business basis.

Previous to 1875, postage on periodicals was paid by the recipient at the office of delivery in quarterly installments, small in amount, and hence difficult to keep track of. Then an act was passed requiring the postage to be paid in advance by the publisher. The rate at first adopted was three cents for magazines, and two cents for daily papers. This was later reduced to two cents for all, and still later, to the present tariff of one cent per pound. The rate was so low that it proved an unexpected and marvelously powerful stimulus to the over-production of this class of mail. The total volume of the second class in 1875 was only 40 million pounds, but by 1906 it had reached 708 million pounds. If it is claimed that this growth is due to national development, answers both numerous and forceful are easily to be found. One is, that since 1790 the population of the country has increased only twenty-fold, but the business of the post-office has multiplied twenty-four hundred fold. Thus is explained the fifth contention referred to before, namely, that the mailing rate for ordinary printed matter being eight times as great, a very insistent temptation is constantly causing immense quantities of printed matter to be put in the periodical form in spite of the fact that that form is not a necessary concomitant of its production, and is adopted solely because it diminishes the rate. This abnormal difference is found to exist only in the United States and Canada. In other countries, it may be stated in a general way, the rate for magazines is the same as it is for books. In England, e. g., it is four pence to the pound (8¢), which is the same as our own book rate. Newspapers, rigidly restricted, however, by statutory limitations to the true disseminators of information about current events, pay, no matter how light the weight, a single copy rate of a half-penny, equal to one cent. The only way in which the publisher can avoid this rate is by combining enough copies to make a pound or more and sending them through the Parcels Post to one addressee, the rate then being the same as for parcels of other merchandise.

The Postal Commission in its suggestions for immediate action recommended many amendments of the statutes relating to secondclass matter. Some of the more important of these were that publications must have title and date on every page, must be issued for the dissemination of current information, must not consist mainly of fiction, must not contain more than 50% of advertising matter,

nor be permitted to send out free sample copies to an extent greater than 10% of the paid-for subscription list; that no reduction from the published price should be made by rebates or premiums, that all publications must be registered, and such registration must be accompanied by a fee, and a small fee should be yearly paid also. An advance in rates was also recommended, though very slight in amount.

But Macaulay once said that if the law of universal gravitation had a pecuniary interest arrayed against it, it would still be disputed, and the pecuniary interests arrayed against the reform of the postal laws are so powerful that, when the report of the Commission appeared, although it contained only remedies of the mildest sort, yet such a flood of protests poured into Washington that its recommendations, under the first head, viz.: for immediate action, were precipitately withdrawn, and the Postal Bill as passed by Congress shows no trace of these suggestions.

As to the recommendations of the Postal Commission for further action, what has happened?

The newly enacted Postal Appropriations Bill for the year from July 1, 1907, to 1908, carries provisos for the appointment of a further joint Commission to consist of three Senators and three Representatives whose duty it shall be to make a more extended and thorough examination of the entire service in all of its departments with a view to gaining more exact information than now exists as to the expense of carrying on the service, and as to the true costs of doing the work of distribution for each of the various classes. To this end the bill provided for further weighings of the various classes, not alone the second, but first, third, and fourth as well; this for a period of six months from July 1st next. For seven days, too, a record is to be kept by count as well as by weight of the number of pieces of each class and sub-class. Franked and penalty matter and equipment weights are also to be carefully estimated. It is a fair assumption, by the way, that the number of free sample copies placed in the mail during that six months will be as conspicuously a minimum as it was during the similar period last year. The previous Commission in its report showed ability to disentangle misleading and specious arguments, and it is a fair presumption that at least a part of its excessive caution was due to the fact that it needed more definite knowledge than it possessed. From the new weighing bill, let us hope that a most valuable set of statistics may be compiled for the use of all interests involved.

When these are once in hand, careful study will be given them in many quarters, and good must result.

"Fortune leaves always some door open to come at a remedy," and there is need, serious need, for our country to be relieved of the wasteful burden of annually producing and distributing an amount of periodical literature that is one and one-half times greater than the aggregate produced in all other civilized nations of the entire globe, while at the same time we have as a nation sunk so low, intellectually, that even Russia surpasses us in the number of new books and pamphlets published per million inhabitants per annum. CHARLES WILLIAM BURROWS.

Cleveland, Ohio.