The Postal Service of the United States in Connection with the Local History of Buffalo | Page 8

nine-tenths of those receipts, a very brief statement in regard to the rates of letter postage since the post-office of Buffalo Creek was established, will form the concluding portion of this paper.
From 1792 until 1845 the single rate of letter postage was charged on each single letter, and an additional single rate on each additional piece of paper; and if a single or other letter weighed an ounce or more it was charged four single rates for each ounce. During this period of fifty-three years--from 1792 to 1845--the changes in the rates of inland letter postage were very slight. There were generally from five to eight different single rates, according to the distance the letter was carried, the lowest being, at different times, six or eight cents, and the highest uniformly twenty-five cents, except for a short period, near the close of the War of 1812, when, in consequence of the expenses of the war, the rates were temporarily increased fifty per cent.
From 1816 to 1845 the rate for a single letter carried not over thirty miles was 6-1/4 cents; over thirty and under eighty miles, 10 cents; over eighty and under one hundred and fifty miles, 12-1/2 cents; over one hundred and fifty and under four hundred miles, 18-3/4 cents; and over four hundred miles, 25 cents.
By an Act of Congress passed in 1845, the rate of inland letter postage (after the 1st of July in that year), was fixed, irrespective of the number of pieces of paper contained in a letter, as follows: For a letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight, carried under three hundred miles, 5 cents; over three hundred miles, 10 cents, and an additional rate for every additional half ounce or fraction of half an ounce. Drop letters and printed circulars were by the same Act, to be charged 2 cents each. This was considered by the Post-office Department as an average deduction of 53 per cent. from the previously existing rates.
In 1851 an Act was passed which reduced the single rate of inland letter postage (from and after the 30th of June in that year), for any distance not exceeding three thousand miles, to 3 cents, when prepaid, and 5 cents when not prepaid; and for any distance over three thousand miles to 6 cents when prepaid and 10 cents when not prepaid. Drop letters and also unsealed printed circulars for any distance not exceeding five hundred miles were, by the same Act, to be charged 1 cent each. This, it is believed, was an average reduction of about fifty per cent. on the reduced rates of inland letter postage established by the Act of 1845. These rates did not apply to foreign letters, for which different provision was made.
The Postal Treaty with Great Britain made in 1848, the postal arrangements made in 1851 for direct and frequent postal communication with the Canadas and other British Provinces, and the postal arrangements soon after made with Prussia and other foreign countries, increased to a considerable extent the amount of postages received at the Buffalo offices on letters sent to and received from foreign countries.
In 1855 an Act was passed under which all inland postage was required to be prepaid and which fixed the single rate of inland letter postage for any distance not exceeding three thousand miles at 3 cents, and for any distance exceeding three thousand miles at 10 cents.
In 1863 the single uniform rate of inland letter postage was fixed at 3 cents, without regard to distance, and was required to be prepaid by stamps; the postage on drop letters was increased to 2 cents the half ounce; and all letters reaching their destination without prepayment of postage were to be charged with double the rate of prepaid postage chargeable thereon, thus allowing letters to be sent without prepayment and leaving the general rate of inland letter postage when prepaid as it was fixed for distances under three thousand miles by the Act of 1851, but increasing it 1 cent beyond the rate of 1851 when sent unpaid; also increasing the rate of 1851 on unsealed printed circulars from 1 to 2 cents, and on drop letters from 1 cent the letter to 2 cents the half ounce; and reducing the rates of postage to and from California and Oregon from 6 to 3 cents when prepaid and from 10 to 6 cents when not prepaid.
That the revenues of the Department have been perennially diminished by these reductions cannot be denied; but it is believed that this diminution has been slight in comparison with the public benefits which have followed the adoption of rates of postage, which (the cost of transportation consequent upon the vast extent over which our more remote settlements are scattered, the general sparseness of our population and