Newspaper Postage
| Postage on Daily Papers to subscribers when prepaid quarterly or yearly in advance, either at the mailing-office or office of delivery, | per quarter | (three months) | 35 cts. |
| Six times per week, | ″ | ″ | 30 ″ |
| For Tri-Weekly, | ″ | ″ | 15 ″ |
| For Semi-Weekly, | ″ | ″ | 10 ″ |
| For Weekly, | ″ | ″ | 5 ″ |
Weekly Newspapers (one copy only) sent by the publisher to actual subscribers within the county where printed and published, free.
Postage per Quarter (to be paid quarterly or yearly in advance) on Newspapers and Periodicals issued less frequently than once a week, sent to actual subscribers in any part of the United States:
| Semi-monthly, | not over 4 oz. | 6 cts. |
| ″ | over 4 oz. and not over 8 oz. | 12 ″ |
| ″ | over 8 oz. and not over 12 oz. | 18 ″ |
| Monthly, | not over 4 oz. | 3 ″ |
| ″ | over 4 oz. and not over 8 oz. | 6 ″ |
| ″ | over 8 oz. and not over 12 oz. | 9 ″ |
| Quarterly, | not over 4 oz. | 1 ″ |
| ″ | over 4 oz. and not over 8 oz. | 2 ″ |
| ″ | over 8 oz. and not over 12 oz. | 3 ″ |
Publishers of Newspapers and Periodicals may send to each other from their respective offices of publication, free of postage, one copy of each publication, and may also send to each actual subscriber, enclosed in their publications, bills and receipts for the same, free of postage. They may also state on their respective publications the date when the subscription expires, to be written or printed.
Religious, educational, and agricultural newspapers of small size, issued less frequently than once a week, may be sent in packages to one address at the rate of one cent for each package not exceeding four ounces in weight, and an additional charge of one cent is made for each additional four ounces or fraction thereof, the postage to be paid quarterly or yearly in advance.
Newsdealers may send newspapers and periodicals to regular subscribers at the quarterly rates, in the same manner as publishers, and may also receive them from publishers at subscribers’ rates. In both cases the postage to be prepaid, either at the mailing- or delivery-office.
Publications issued without disclosing the office of publication, or containing a fictitious statement thereof, must not be forwarded by postmasters unless prepaid at the mailing-office at the rates of transient printed matter.
A letter over 500 miles cost thirty-seven and one-half cents in 1815; now it is carried to the extreme portion of our country, traversing mountains, passing deep ravines and rivers, for the small sum of three cents!
Harpers’ Magazine, had it been in existence in 1815, would have cost for each one twenty-seven cents, whereas now they only cost three cents to all parts of the country. What an age for literature! what an era in learning!
In 1779, in consequence of the increased nature of the postal business and the necessity for a more extended ramification of the system, the postmaster-general was to receive $5000 per annum, and the comptroller $4000,—meaning, of course, Continental money. Besides these two offices in the postal department, there was a secretary who acted as clerk to the postmaster-general. The comptroller settled the accounts, and was the book-keeper. There were three surveyors, who were to travel and inspect the conduct of the riders, agents, &c. There was also an inspector of dead letters, at a salary of $100 a year.
What is now called the post-office department was established in 1789 as the “post-office,” and subsequently as the “general post-office,” under the power given to Congress by the Constitution “to establish post-offices and post-roads,” and the exclusive privilege and control of all postal affairs, &c.