matter; but they were able to estimate the
cost in regard to certain items of the expenses of the Post Office. The
cost under those headings, which must, of course, be less than the total
cost, they found as 5-1/2 cents a pound for ordinary
paid-at-the-pound-rate matter and 5 cents a pound for free and transient
matter.[346] That part of the general expenses of the service which the
Commission were unable to assign satisfactorily between the various
classes of mail matter was estimated by the Post Office department to
amount to over 2 cents a pound for second-class mail matter.[347] On
this basis, of course, a heavy increase in the rate of postage would be
warranted; but in view of the uncertainty of the effect of the
competition of the express companies which would result from a large
increase in the rate of postage, of the fact that the publishers'
business established in faith of constancy of the postage would
seriously suffer from such a sudden increase, and of the well-known
policy of encouraging distribution of educational literature,[348] the
Commission hesitated to recommend any large increase, and contented
themselves with recommending that the rate be raised from 1 to 2 cents a
pound.

Given that the actual cost of the handling and transporting of
second-class mail matter is on the average 9 cents a pound (regarding
which the department is quite satisfied) and a rate of postage for such
matter of 1 cent a pound, the department has, on the face of things, a
strong case; and it is not necessary to ascribe other motives in order
fully to explain and justify the course it has adopted. But the
publishers felt that they were not favourably regarded by the Republican
Administration. They claim, and the claim is admitted in influential
quarters immune from pressure from them, that they are largely
responsible for the establishment of the insurgent wing of the
Republican party, whose action against the late Administration proved so
disastrous to the fortunes of the party. In the course of these
political activities they have made enemies; and they conclude that in
the Republican party, many of whose members have been disgraced, if not
indeed driven from public life, there has arisen a strong feeling
against the publishers. The activity of the department against the
second-class rate is alleged to have begun after the publication of
articles in the magazines exposing the corruption in the cities, and
incidentally refle