hile in ours it would barely
prove an average of 6-1/2 cents to 2 cents. On the other hand, it is
reasonable to expect a very rapid increase of letters, because the partial
reduction in 1845 has already given the people a taste of the advantages
of reduced rates of postage. The whole number of letters now sent by mail
is 52,000,000. The number would, without doubt, be doubled in one year,
which would give a revenue of above $2,000,000; $2,080,000 from letters.
There would also be a very considerable increase of income from papers and
pamphlets, and a great saving in the article of dead letters and
newspapers. It is safe to estimate the revenue of the post-office, under
the new system, at $3,000,000 for the first year, $3,500,000 for the
second, $4,000,000 for the third, and $4,500,000 for the fourth, which
will bring it up to what will then be the wants of the service, making the
most liberal allowance for improved facilities.

As an illustration of the capability of retrenchment in expense, let it be
remembered that the present Postmaster-General has effected a reduction of
nearly _a million dollars per annum in the cost of transportation alone_.
He says in his Report:

"The direction to the Postmaster-General to contract with the
lowest bidder, without the allowance of any advantage to the
former contractor, as had been the case before its passage, had
the effect of enlarging the field of competition, and reducing the
price of transportation, except on railroads and in steamboats, to
the lowest amount for which the service can be performed; and will
reduce the cost of transportation, when the other section is let
to contract under it, but little less than a million of dollars
per annum from the former prices."

In other words, our letter postage is no longer taxed as it used to be, to
give the people of other sections of the country, stage coaches which they
do not support, as well as mails which they do not pay for. There will
doubtless be still further reductions in this branch, in proportion as the
knowledge becomes diffused among the people, of the profits of this
business and the freeness of the competition for it. As Mr. Dana suggested
in his valuable Report in 1844:

"The difference must arise from want of competition, and a
reluctance to engage in the business of transporting the mail.
When the attention of the North shall be called to the subject,