The Development of Rates of Postage Part 10

This reduction of rate, together with the reduction for other printed matter, for samples, and for commercial papers, resulted in a large increase in the number of bulky packets sent by post. In order to ensure prompt delivery, it was found necessary in Paris to separate to some extent the letter-post traffic from the traffic sent at the lower rates, and the principle of providing a separate staff of postmen for the delivery of newspapers, magazines, samples, etc., was introduced.[369]

The application of this principle has since been extended, and the two kinds of traffic are now dealt with in Paris altogether separately, by separate staffs of officers.

The newspaper rates were next revised in 1878. The discrimination between political and non-political newspapers was abolished, but the privilege accorded to local newspapers was continued. The new rates were:--

1. Two centimes for the first 25 grammes and 1 centime for each further 25 grammes or fraction of 25 grammes for newspapers published in the departments of Seine and Seine-et-Oise and circulating outside the department where published; and for newspapers published in other departments and circulating outside the department where published and the adjacent departments.

2. One centime for the first 25 grammes and 1/2 centime for each additional 25 grammes or fraction of 25 grammes for newspapers published in the departments of Seine or Seine-et-Oise and circulating within the department where published.

3. One centime for the first 50 grammes and 1/2 centime for each additional 25 grammes or fraction of 25 grammes for provincial papers other than those of Seine and Seine-et-Oise, circulating within the department where published or adjacent departments.

The existing rate for inland newspapers, which is based on the law of the 16th April 1895, is as follows:--

Two centimes for each copy up to 50 grammes, and 1 centime for each 25 grammes or fraction of 25 grammes above 50 grammes.

Only half these rates is charged when the papers circulate within the department in which they are published or the adjacent department.

In 1908[370] the rates in respect of newspapers sorted and bundled according to the offices of destination and the post routes, were reduced to 1 centime for the first 50 grammes and 1 centime for each additional 25 grammes or fraction of 25 grammes--half this rate being charged for papers circulating within the department of publication or the adjacent departments.

The value of a centime is roughly one-tenth of a penny. It is hardly necessary, therefore, to point out that these rates are divorced entirely from economic considerations, and are to be explained only on political and administrative grounds.[371] It has been estimated that in 1895 the loss on printed matter of all kinds was 36 million francs.

In France, as in other countries, the privilege of transmitting periodical publications at a specially low rate of postage was much availed of for the transmission of advertising matter, of publications which were essentially of the character of catalogues or prospectuses rather than newspapers properly speaking. A law of 1908,[372] pa.s.sed with a view, among other things, of minimizing this abuse of the privilege, restricted the application of the reduced rate to publications issued not less frequently than once a month. The new regulation had good results, restricting, as was desired, the number of periodical publications not legitimately ent.i.tled to the privilege. It had also a result which was regarded by Parliament as undesirable: it shut out from the privilege the numerous quarterly journals of scientific and learned societies.[373]

By the same law the minimum rate of postage for small packets of printed matter sent under loose band, the _imprimes non urgent_, was raised from 1 centime to 2 centimes. The result of this was a little unsatisfactory.

In order to evade the higher charge, advertisers took to printing in newspapers, circulating at 1 centime, announcements formerly sent out separately as loose leaflets, a man[oe]uvre which struck doubly: not only was the legitimate rate of postage evaded, but instead of dealing with the matter as non-urgent at its convenience, the Post Office was obliged to treat it in the same way as all other newspaper matter--that is, to give it the benefit of equal treatment with matter sent at the letter rate.

NOTE ON SUPPLEMENTS.

A decree of the 24th November 1860 gave to the two Chambers the const.i.tutional right of discussing the policy of the Government at home and abroad, and as a natural corollary of this it was desired to secure the untrammelled publication and distribution of reports of the debates.

This was attained by exempting from postage the supplements of journals when they were devoted entirely to the reproduction of the official reports of the proceedings of the Chambers, the _motifs des projets de lois_, reports of parliamentary commissions, or official doc.u.ments deposited by the Government at the office of the Chambers.

The Press law of the 11th May 1868 extended the exemption to supplements devoted to the extent of one half to the publication of reports of parliamentary debates or doc.u.ments, but only on condition that the supplements contained no advertis.e.m.e.nts. The privilege was continued by the law of 1878.[374] In order to obtain the privilege the supplements must be printed on sheets detached from the main publication, but they must be enclosed with the publication. They must not exceed in size that part of the paper subject to postage, and if sent separately, they are liable to postage at the ordinary rate. In 1869 the official reports of parliamentary debates were exempted from postage when sent by the printer to the editors of country papers, or by those editors to their subscribers, if enclosed with the local paper.

M. Jaccottey's view is that in order to conform to the spirit of the law, the rate for periodicals ought to be confined to newspapers and other periodical publications devoted to letters, science, and arts; and that it is an abuse of the privilege that commercial advertising should avail itself of the privilege by, say, publis.h.i.+ng at regular intervals successive editions of library catalogues, or by borrowing the t.i.tles of ill.u.s.trated journals, their outside covers, and the methods of distribution, and inserting in them prospectuses which are not of the nature of periodicals.[375]

Ordinary supplements may be enclosed in newspapers. They are weighed with the paper, and postage is charged according to the total weight. If sent separately, they are regarded as a number of the paper, and postage is charged accordingly. In order to obtain the benefit of the privileged rate, all supplements must bear printed indication of the fact that they are supplements, and must bear the t.i.tle and date of the main paper.[376]

These definitions were amplified by the administration in 1896 by an instruction (No. 468) which provided that detached advertis.e.m.e.nt sheets of any sort, issued exceptionally (feuilletons, fiction, stop press news, late articles, pictures, artistic engravings, or others), which are the genuine production of the publication, whatever the size and shape or pagination, ought to be regarded as fulfilling the conditions prescribed by law for supplements and to be admitted to the privilege of the reduced rate.

NEWSPAPER POST IN GERMANY

From the time of their first publication in Germany, newspapers have been distributed through the post. Little is known of the precise arrangements under which they were at first transmitted, but there is no doubt that they were accorded privileged conditions as compared with ordinary letters. The postmasters were themselves largely interested in the publication of newspapers.[377] By 1712 the conduct of newspaper businesses by postmasters had become recognized as a common and long-established arrangement.[378]

The distribution of the newspapers was largely made through the post, and a rate of charge, built up of two elements, came into existence. The first element was the "discount" (_der Rabatt_). This was a payment made by the publisher to the postmaster as remuneration for the work of the latter in connection with the posting and despatch of the papers and the collection of subscriptions. This discount was arranged between the postmaster and the publisher, and generally took the form of a fixed percentage proportion of the published price (_Erla.s.spreis_). The second element was the "percentage" (_die Provision_). This was in addition to the published price. It was collected from the addressee, and belonged partly to the postmaster at the place of destination and partly to the postmaster at the place of publication.[379] The rates were fixed by the postmasters at their discretion, and gross irregularities and anomalies in the rates resulted. Public complaint arose, and it was found necessary for the State to a.s.sume control of the traffic and fix definite rates of charge. This course was first adopted in Prussia in 1821, when the following rates were established[380]:--

4 pf. for each whole sheet of the primary publication (_Hauptblattes_) 2-1/2 pf. " half " " " "

1-1/2 pf. " quarter " " " "

1-1/2 pf. " whole " supplement 1 pf. " half " "

This method of charge did not, however, prove altogether satisfactory, because the term "sheet" was not defined with any degree of precision.

It was thought that a better basis for the rate might be found in the price at which the newspapers were sold to the public, because, it was argued, the price must stand in exact proportion to the number and size of the copies, and also to their real value. Accordingly, in 1848 the rate was fixed generally at 25 per cent. of the published price.[381] At a somewhat later date this rate was reduced to 12-1/2 per cent. of the published price in the case of newspapers appearing less frequently than four times a month.[382] In 1871 the minimum yearly rate payable in respect of any newspaper was fixed at 4 sgr.[383]

The application of this tariff resulted in many cases in considerable discrepancies between the amount charged and the service rendered. The improvements in the manufacture of paper and in the methods of printing, particularly the introduction of the rotary press, had cheapened the processes of production, and led to a great expansion of the newspaper trade. With this expansion came a more than proportionate expansion of the business of advertising. The result was that, as in England and America, the newspapers increased in bulk; but so far from there being a corresponding increase in price, there was in point of fact a very considerable decrease. Moreover, advertis.e.m.e.nts became a more important source of revenue than the subscriptions themselves. A rate of charge based on the selling price, which might have been reasonable when newspapers were produced under the old conditions, was totally inapplicable under the altered circ.u.mstances.[384]

The financial results proved extremely unsatisfactory. From the causes indicated, the average weight of the individual copies of newspapers continued to increase, while at the same time the price (and with the price, the postage) continued to decrease.

In 1897 the administration of the Imperial Post Office estimated that the total cost of the transmission of newspapers by post in Germany, for staff, post offices, transport, equipment, etc., was 6,178,362 M., or about 66/100 pf. per copy.[385] The number of newspapers transmitted by post in Germany was at that time about a thousand millions annually, and the total postage received in respect of them was less than 5 million M., or on the average about 1/2 pf. per copy;[386] in the case of a number of papers the postage was as little as 1/12 pf. per copy.[387]

The annual loss to the administration on account of the newspaper traffic was therefore on the average 16/100 pf. per copy, or a total of about 1,600,000 M. a year.

For many years the question was before the Budget Commission of the Reichstag, and a change soon followed the publication of this estimate.

New rates, based on entirely new principles, were established in 1899.

When the Act establis.h.i.+ng the new rates was in preparation, the Imperial Post Office administration based their proposals mainly on the principle that the charges should cover the cost of the service rendered.[388] The original proposals to the Reichstag were accordingly calculated to secure an increased revenue of 1-1/4 million M. The Budget Commission, however, so modified the proposals as to reduce this amount to 300,000 M., and further modifications were made in the Reichstag itself, with the result that under the new rates the administration was left to work with an even greater loss than formerly.[389]

The large publications of the great cities, supported as they were to a large extent by the advertis.e.m.e.nts they carried, had obtained a wide circulation, to the prejudice of the provincial Press.[390] With a view to affording some measure of protection to the provincial Press as against the Press of the large cities, proposals were made in the Reichstag for the adoption of a zone rate for newspapers on the ground that the cost to the Post Office for distributing newspapers at great distances was appreciably greater than the cost of distribution in the case of newspapers sent short distances only, and that a zone rate would therefore be just.[391] The authorities were not, however, prepared to adopt this proposal, which they characterized as retrograde and unnecessary.[392] They considered that if the rate were raised for the longer distances the traffic would be taken away from the Post Office by private enterprise, and if the rate for the shorter distances were further lowered, the revenue from newspapers would be still further, and undesirably, reduced.

The new scheme of rates of 1899 was based on three considerations: the length of time covered by the subscription, the frequency of issue, and the weight of the newspaper; and the rates were reckoned in the following way:--

(_a_) Two pf. for each month of sending.

(_b_) 15 pf. yearly for papers appearing once weekly or less frequently, and 15 pf. yearly more for each further publication weekly.

(_c_) 10 pf. yearly for each kilogramme of the yearly weight, subject to a free weight of 1 kilogramme yearly for each of so many editions as the rate (_b_) is applied to.[393]

The weight for any year was to be fixed according to the actual weight of the numbers of the paper during the previous year, and for new publications the rate was to be applied quarterly on the basis of the weight of such numbers as had appeared. The publisher was required to deposit with the Post Office a complete copy of each issue for the purpose of calculating the weight charge.

Financially, the result of the rates has been unsatisfactory; the amendments of the proposals of the postal administration which were made by the Reichstag could hardly have had any other effect. From the year 1871 to the year 1902 the increase in the number of newspapers was 508 per cent. (1871, 202-4/5 millions; 1902, 1,157 millions), but the increase in newspaper postage was only about 378 per cent. (1,760,326 M.

in 1871 and 6,659,735 M. in 1902); and if the cost of the service remained approximately the same as in 1897, which there is little reason to doubt, the loss to the administration was about a million Marks.

In the case of a number of papers a higher rate of postage became payable; but in the case of some of the expensive ill.u.s.trated and scientific publications the new rate represented a considerable reduction. Thus, in one case, the rate became 2 M. 9 pf. instead of 96 pf. yearly, while in another the rate was reduced from 7 M. 20 pf. to 50 pf. yearly.[394]

But the reduction of rate did not represent the whole disadvantage. The greater part of the issue of ill.u.s.trated and scientific journals and trade papers had formerly been distributed through the ordinary channels of the publis.h.i.+ng trade. Now that the postage rates were in many cases so largely reduced, it became cheaper in those cases to distribute a larger number by post, and this course was naturally adopted. Increase in the number sent by post in such circ.u.mstances simply resulted in increased financial loss.

An indication of the extent of the privilege which the newspapers enjoy as compared with other printed matter may be obtained by comparing the revenue which was actually obtained from the newspapers with the revenue which would have been obtained from the same number of packets of ordinary printed matter of similar size and weight. In 1900, in the inland service in Germany, some 440 million packets of ordinary printed matter were transmitted, and the postage on them amounted to 21,133,499 M. If the 1,150 million newspapers had yielded postage in the same proportion, they would have brought in a revenue of some 55 millions of Marks, whereas in actual fact they yielded only some 6-1/2 millions.[395]

The present rate rests on the two grounds of frequency of issue and weight of copies. It is therefore in practice more difficult to apply than the former rate based simply on the price, since the weight factor is variable and requires exact determination in every case. Moreover, the Reichstag forbade rounding up of the weight, which would be essential if a rate in even pfennigs were to be ascertained. The calculation of the actual rate must be carried to the second decimal place in pfennigs, and a rounding up of broken pfennigs is permitted only at the final settlement for the regular subscription period. This complexity has, of course, added largely to the cost of administration, without a corresponding increase in revenue.

It is antic.i.p.ated that with the growth of the newspaper traffic the loss to the postal administration will tend to increase rather than to diminish. There is, however, no disposition to restrict the privilege accorded to newspapers. The attempt made by the administration in 1899 to secure an increased revenue from them was, as explained, frustrated by the Reichstag. Since 1852 the Post Office has held the monopoly of the distribution of political newspapers, and the general advantage resulting from such an effective control of the dissemination of public intelligence no doubt explains the continuance of so favourable and unremunerative a rate.[396]

NOTE ON DELIVERY FEES FOR NEWSPAPERS.

House-to-house delivery of newspapers was introduced in 1828, the lowest charge (i.e. in addition to ordinary postage) being 30 pf. quarterly.

In 1872 a uniform delivery fee was fixed for town and country. For papers appearing weekly or less frequently the charge was 15 pf., for papers appearing two or three times weekly 25 pf., for papers appearing four to seven times weekly 40 pf., and for papers appearing more frequently than seven times weekly 50 pf. quarterly. The system of charging delivery fees has been continued, and those at present in operation are:--