The Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposia - Smithsonian ...

1 4 2 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o h i s t o ry a n d t e c h n o l o g yPrepayment Was the Real NeedOne key aspect of reform, however, was still missing.As PMG Johnson had noted in that same 1845 report:“Prepayment of postage upon all matter passing throughthe mails . . . is of so much importance that it cannot betoo strongly recommended to the favorable considerationof Congress.” 5 But any start at addressing this need for prepaymenthad to wait until 1847, when Congress authorizedthe printing and distribution of adhesive postage stamps inthe basic denominations of five cents and ten cents.It should be noted that the concept of using adhesivepostage stamps for the pre- payment of domestic letterpostage was not a new idea. As early as June 1840, DanielWebster introduced a resolution in Congress stating that,“it is expedient to inquire into the utility of so altering thepresent regulations of the Post Office Department as toconnect the use of stamps, or stamped covers, with a largereduction of the rates of postage.” 6Senator Webster was, of course, taking his cue from theBritish who had just recently done exactly that—loweredthe rates of postage and introduced adhesive stamps to evidencethe pre- payment thereof.A few months later, when George Plitt, special agentof the Post Office Department, submitted his report summarizinghis visit to England to study the recent postalreforms instituted there, he, too, suggested lowered ratesof postage (indeed, he recommended five cents and tencents per half ounce.—although he suggested they be usedfor distances of up to and over 500 miles). Mr. Plitt inhis report specifically recommended the use of stamps inthose two denominations, which would be “evidence ofpre- payment of postage.” 7Congress, however, was not yet ready (or perhaps noteven interested) in taking the big step of linking postagestamps and compulsory pre- payment of postage. Clearly,there was major concern about the postal deficit, but whileeveryone was concerned about it and agreed that somethinghad to be done, not everyone agreed that compulsorypre- payment (by stamps or cash) was the solution.Stamps as the MechanismExperience had shown that the concept of pre- payingpostage with adhesive stamps was a viable one, at leastin other contexts. Private companies, as well as the federallyowned United States City Despatch Post in New York,used stamps as evidence of pre- payment. Indeed, thereare even a few covers extant that show those New Yorkcarrier stamps accepted for the pre- payment of inter- cityfederal postage. And the Postmaster Provisionals, in usebetween 1845 and 1847, were specifically designed to payinter- city postage. Underlying it all, of course, was the successfulBritish experience using the Penny Black.Congress knew all this and still there were some whodoubted the British system would work in America (therewas even some concern that the lower rates being institutedmight result in an even greater deficit). Other congressmen,for political reasons, were simply unwilling toinstitute compulsory prepayment at all, whether by stampsor in cash.In his ground- breaking work of 1887, philatelist JohnTiffany specifically noted the problems involved. Discussingthe Reform Act of 1845, he wrote that: “The billwhich was introduced in Congress in pursuance of thisrecommendation [that is, reduced postage rates that wereto be based only on weight and distance], provided, it issaid, both for obligatory prepayment and the use of postagestamps. But there was great hesitation in adopting theEnglish system in the United States; the conditions wereconsidered to be so different; the distances were so greatthat a greater rate was necessary; the country was so newthat the risk from counterfeiting was much greater; thecustom was not to prepay letters, and custom is strongerthan law. Such and like objections were raised and the lawwas passed without adopting prepayment by stamp.” 8It is also worth noting that when RepresentativeJoseph Ingersoll, Whig congressman from Pennsylvania,introduced a resolution in February 1846 that, “the Committeeon the Post Office and Post Roads be instructedto inquire, and report on the expediency of introducinginto the post office laws a provision for the prepayment ofpostage, and the charge of double postage when it is notpaid,” that resolution went nowhere. 9However, Congress did authorize the first federalissue of postage stamps in 1847. The ostensible purposeof those stamps was not to force pre- payment, but ratherto provide a new convenience for the public, especially forcommercial firms. Stamps would provide an alternative tostanding in line in order to prepay postage on letters incash and would also allow deposit of those pre- paid lettersat the post office even outside of normal business hours.Stamps would also be a safeguard against messengers whomight carry a letter and its cash pre- payment to the postoffice, but who might then pocket the cash and send theletter unpaid.These were the apparent purposes of adhesive postagestamps and, in fact, stamps were widely used for those purposesof convenience and safety. However, this paper takes