he newspaper rate involves some new considerations. The original aim of
the posts was the distribution of a certain form of intelligence. They
had by the seventeenth century developed into an instrument whose main
function was the distribution of letters. The first postal traffic in
packets which were not letters was that in newspapers. The early
newspapers were, however, in fact as well as in some cases in name also,
merely news "letters," and it would have been surprising, therefore, had
the posts not been made use of for their distribution. For newspapers,
however, the charges have from the first been of a fundamentally
different character from those for letters, and the traffic in
newspapers, so far from being a source of profit, has in general
resulted in heavy loss. There are certain general considerations which
render the application of the rates of postage charged on letters
inappropriate. The bulk and weight of a single newspaper is usually much
greater than the bulk of a single letter; and if the newspaper were
charged at the same rate and on the same basis as the letter, viz. by
weight, it must in general be charged several times the rate for an
ordinary letter. Such a charge would be unjust, because, as already
pointed out, the cost of performing the services of transportation and
delivery does not increase in direct proportion, or anything approaching
direct proportion, to the increase of weight. If a newspaper is regarded
as a very heavy letter, the importance of the factor of weight is at
once perceived. Weight charges levied on newspapers should at least be
on a degressive scale. But any system of charge by weight proportioned
to letter postage must lead to a higher charge than that for a single
letter. How much higher is of little consequence, because even the rate
for single letters would be almost prohibitive for ordinary newspapers.
The papers would either be excluded from the mails and despatched by
private agencies, where such agencies exist, or, in countries where the
Post Office holds the monopoly of the carriage of newspapers, the
traffic would be greatly restricted.

A lower rate for newspapers is also justified on the principle of
charging "what the traffic will bear." But the chief reason is that it
has usually been considered desirable to encourage the distribution of
newspapers for the benefit of the public; and in its origin, the special
rate for newspapers seems to rest rather on the two g