franked letters being taken from time to time from the receiving-box and assorted. All franked letters might be put into one box, as they would have to be inspected at the Central Office.
At the proper hour the letters and newspapers would be taken to the Central Office, at which time the receiver would settle the account for postage. In adjusting this account it would be unnecessary to attempt to ascertain the exact amount of postage he had actually received. Tolerable accuracy would be obtained by merely weighing the letters, and charging the receiver a certain rate per ounce; the rate of charge being so adjusted as to leave on the average a little profit for the receiver's trouble. But if it should be thought that a uniform rate of charge, according to weight, would in certain cases lead to too wide a departure from accuracy, it might be well to make the charge depend on a combination of weight and number. The tell-tale stamp of the receiving-house would at all times give an unerring report of the number of letters stamped,[1] and as a
- ↑ I do not think it necessary to encumber this statement by pointing out all the provisions which would be required, if the proposed plan should come into operation. In the present case it is manifest that distinctive stamps should be employed for letters liable to charge, franked letters, and newspapers; the
temptation to fraudulent writing on newspapers, (a practice which at present obtains to an enormous extent, and which, even under the proposed arrangements, would not perhaps be altogether avoided,) and it would probably leave the revenue derived from newspapers nearly in its present state.
