of 1898
legalizing the reduction to 1 cent, the gross revenue from local letters
surpassed that obtained under the 2-cent rate.

FRANCE

In 1658 a local service (_la petite poste_) was established in Paris by
M. Velayer. He obtained from the King the exclusive privilege of
erecting letter-boxes, which were opened three times daily, in various
parts of the city,[553] and set up an office in the royal palace at
which tickets bearing the words "Port-pay['e] le ... du ... de l'an 1653"
might be purchased at the price of a sou. No money was paid to the
letter-carrier by persons posting or receiving letters. A label was
affixed to the letter, which was then delivered without further
charge.[554] The service was not a success and was discontinued.

In 1759 a local postal service was re-established in Paris by M. de
Chamousset. The new service was avowedly in imitation of the London
penny post. The rate was 2 sous for a letter not exceeding 1 ounce in
weight, delivered in Paris, and 3 sous if delivered in surrounding
villages not served by the general post. This venture proved more
successful than the earlier service of M. Velayer. At the outset it
employed about two hundred men, and the profits for the first year were
50,000 livres. But its founder, M. de Chamousset, met with no better
fate than Dockwra, the founder of its prototype. Such large profits
could not escape the notice of the Government, and the service was taken
over by the King, Chamousset being given a pension of 20,000 livres as
its inventor.[555] The service was continued, and its success led to the
establishment of similar local services in other towns--Bordeaux, Lille,
Lyons, Nancy, Marseilles, Montpellier, Nantes, Rouen, Strasburg,
etc.[556]

The ordinary letter rate in France remained at a moderately high level
until a comparatively late date, and a special rate for local letters
continued until 1878. In that year the ordinary rate for letters was
reduced to 15 centimes, the level of the existing local rate, and since
that time local letters have enjoyed no special privilege in France.

GERMANY

In Germany the delivery of local letters in towns was for a long period
conducted as a private undertaking of the postmaster or letter-carrier.
Between 1842 and 1852 it was made a branch of the general postal
service, and the delivery charge (_Ortsbestellgeld_), which, in general,
had been retained by the letter-carrier as wages, was, in the latter
year