is obtained from such popular charges as a penny and a
halfpenny, which are well within the reach of the poorest. Payment is,
moreover, in a large degree voluntary. The number of letters which a
private individual must write, and cannot avoid writing, in the course
of a year is very small. If he has anything of importance to write, he
does not think a penny an excessive sum to pay for its transmission. If
he has nothing to write, there is no law to compel him to pay postage.
The profits of postage are, however, large; and the existence of the
State monopoly, and the essentially fiscal character of the rates
charged, should not be overlooked.[757]

* * * * *

VII. GRAPHS

[Illustration: UNITED KINGDOM _INLAND RATES OF POSTAGE 1914, AND NEW
RATES INTRODUCED 1^ST NOVEMBER 1915._]

[Illustration: UNITED KINGDOM (1725-1851)]

[Illustration: UNITED KINGDOM (1820-1914)]

[Illustration: UNITED KINGDOM]

[Illustration: UNITED KINGDOM

_MOVEMENT OF STATISTICS OF POSTAL TRAFFIC 1870-1914_]

[Illustration: UNITED KINGDOM

_NUMBER OF LETTERS DELIVERED PER HEAD OF POPULATION (1854-1914_)]

APPENDIX B

DOCUMENTS AND EXTRACTS ILLUSTRATING ASPECTS OF POSTAL HISTORY

(i) ANCIENT POSTS.

_Persia_ (_circa_ B. C. 500).

"In Darius's idea of government was included rapidity of communication.
Regarding it as of the utmost importance that the orders of the Court
should be speedily transmitted to the provincial Governors, and that
their reports and those of the royal secretaries should be received
without needless delay, he established along the lines of route already
existing between the chief cities of the Empire, a number of
post-houses, placed at regular intervals, according to the estimated
capacity of a horse to gallop at his best speed without stopping. At
each post-house were maintained, at the cost of the State, a number of
couriers and several relays of horses. When a despatch was to be
forwarded, it was taken to the first post-house along the route, where a
courier received it, and immediately mounting on horseback, galloped
with it to the next station. Here it was delivered to a new courier,
who, mounted on a fresh horse, took it the next stage on its journey;
and thus it passed from hand to hand till it reached its destination.
According to Xenophon, the messengers travelled by night as well as by
day; and the conveyance was so rapid that some even compared it to the
flight