Barnabas Bates and the Battle for Cheap Postage: Associations, Pressure Groups, and Propaganda

In each year from 1838 to 1847 our Post Office system had shown a deficit from its operations. The chief blame had been assigned to the free franking privilege, but no one seemed to realize that the real trouble was the high postage rates. Revenues continued to drop, and in 1844 were actually less than they had been in 1838. Finally Congress appointed “United States Postal Commission” in 1844 to investigate and report. It heard witnesses-​-​among which was doubtless our hero Barnabas Bates,--and finally came to the conclusion that the posts were a public service, and the quest of a dollar in receipts for each dollar in expenditures was untenable and unworthy. Another feature which hastened the more favorable consideration of the British system was the growing use of envelopes. Introduced from France about 1842, they were gradually superseding the folded and wax-​sealed lettersheet. As envelopes did not so readily disclose the number of sheets or enclosures in a letter, the idea of fixing postage rates solely by weight became almost necessary. At last partial success at least, was attained. Nearly the entire press of the country had become aroused and the tide of public opinion turned strongly in favor of the cheap postage and the other postal reform proposals. The pressure on Congress steadily grew, and at long last it passed the law which reduced letter postage to 5c a half-​ounce on distances not exceeding 300 miles, but charging 10c for greater distances. Drop letters, or letters placed in any post office not for transmission through the mail but for delivery only, were charged 2c each, circulars were 2c, pamphlets and magazines 2 ½ c., and newspapers were charged according to size. The Act became law on March 3, 1845 when President Tyler signed it the day before he left office, and it went in to effect on July 1, 1845. The new law left much to be desired,--it even substantially increased the already burdensome rates for ocean postage, the rates to the Pacific Coast were set at 40c, franking was not abolished, and prepayment of letters was not required. Furthermore it did not authorize the issuance of adhesive postage stamps, and this was indeed a strange omission. Not only had postage stamps been in daily use in Great Britain for five years and in several other countries, but they had been in use for some time by some of the larger private expresses and carriers in the United States. The latter included many companies which advertised to carry letters between nearly all of the larger cities and towns in the country. They sold adhesive stamps for either 5c or 6c,--the latter being purchasable in sheets of 20 for $1.00,--and the rate was the same between any two points served by a given company regardless of distance. Supplying better and cheaper service, the additional convenience of the adhesive postage stamps provided most effective competition with the Government mails. With Barnabas Bates and his friends pointing all this out at every opportunity, the Government-​adopted 5c and 10c rates of 1845 largely succeeded in putting the private expresses out of the letter-​carrying business between cities, even though the local delivery companies continued and grew, and even though no Government postage stamps had been authorized. But still more inexplicable is the fact that the Post Office Department itself had been printing and using adhesive postage stamps, in one instance since 1842! On August 1^st of that year it had taken over the local delivery service in New York City operated by one A. M. Greig under the name of the City Despatch Post. This company provided a handsome 3c adhesive postage stamp bearing the likeness of George Washington, on February 15, 1842,--the first adhesive postage stamp ever issued in the United States!. Previously, and for many years to come, the amount of postage paid or due on a letter was handstamped or written thereon by the postmaster or his clerks, and the simple and time-​saving device of the adhesive stamp was not known until Hill showed the world how it could be used to advantage if combined with cheap and uniform rates of postage. This City Despatch stamp represented prepayment of the company’s fee for delivering mail to the post office from letter boxes it placed about the city, or from the post office to the addressee, or between local addresses. More competition, than the Government could stand, this company was taken over within six months and Greig became a letter carrier for the Government. The name was promptly changed to United States City Despatch Post, as was the lettering of the stamps, which were continued in use. Thus we find the paradox of the United States Post Office Department locally issuing and using adhesive postage stamps for nearly five years before authorizing their general use throughout the country! Incidentally, such private local delivery services grew rapidly, some having the semi-​official approval of the Post Office Department or of the individual postmasters, and many issued their own stamps throughout the “stampless” period of the Government mail service.

A further example of the strange reluctance of the Government to issue its own stamps, is to be found in the fact that the postmasters of many of the larger cities promptly started issuing their own stamps as soon as the Act of 1845 setting the new 5c-​10c rates went into effect. Thus the “Postmasters’ Provisionals” came into being,--and they are among the great rarities of philately today. The postmaster of New York was probably the first to issue this 5c stamp, although the postmaster of New Haven, Conn. Issued stamped envelopes about the same time. These were followed by many others, among them the stamps and envelopes of the postmasters at Baltimore, Providence and St. Louis. Such postal emissions were of course, intended for use only on letters originating in their respective cities, but it is interesting to know that the New York Postmasters stamps were sold to the postmasters in Albany, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and possibly elsewhere, with the approval of the Government as an “experiment” to test the practicability of the use of adhesive postage stamps! In view of the fact that the use of such stamps was rapidly becoming universal, the conservatism of our Government can only be described as amazing.

All this our friend Barnabas Bates used for his purposes,--continuously pointing out what both the Government and the people were losing as a result of the obstinacy and backwardness of the Post Office Department. A fine example of how Bates’ efforts were becoming better known is found in the New-​York Commercial Circular of February, 1848, illustrated herein. This is a four page folded circular, which was mailed unsealed to a bank in Meriden, Conn. bears the circular postmark NEW-YORK 2cts (due) FEB. 21, in red, and also a little straight-​line handstamp in black reading: New Tariff-​Postage 2 cents. As the 2c rate for “drop” letters, circulars, etc. was provided for in the 1845 Act,--this rate was hardly “new” in 1847, but it may have referred to a new “Tariff of Duties” set forth inside the circular. Otherwise largely given up to lottery advertisements, there is a little financial news and then, under the heading “Postage Reform” appear this:

The combination of Bates’ hammering away through all the then available means of publicity, plus the alarming effectiveness of the competition of the private expresses and the authorizing the issuance of our first Government stamps, of 5c and 10c demoninations, was finally passed. The Act was to be in effect July 1, 1847, and it made illegal the use of any postage stamps for the transmission of mail not authorized by the Postmaster General. This ended the use of the various Postmasters’ Provisional stamps, and those of the remaining private expresses which operated between different cities,--although not those issued and used by the carriers delivering letters locally in the various cities. The Act did not make the prepayment of postage compulsory, nor did it reduce the rates, nor did it accomplish any of the other reforms so strongly urged by Bates,--who therefore continued his crusade without abatement.

It should be noted that it was in this period that the article in the New York Atlas, to which we owe much of our contemporary knowledge of Bates and his activities, appeared. Dated April 18, 1847 it was published only a month or so after the passage of the Act authorizing our first issue of Government stamps. It points out that notwithstanding the recently lowered rates of postage, that obstacles to the successful operation of the system had been imposed and that efforts were still being made to achieve a return to the former high rates of postage, even though predictions of its success had been more than realized. It then says that Mr. Bates is still laboring and will not be satisfied until our citizens “enjoy the privilege of as cheap postage as the subjects of Queen Victoria,”--and it lists his further objectives in postal reform. On July 1, 1846, another public meeting had been called by Bates, at which the new rates of postage adopted in the previous year were condemned as unsatisfactory. Demands were made for a uniform 2c rate, and the other reforms described were again endorsed. All of these efforts were beginning to coalesce by this time and organization of effort began to take place. Others interested in Bates’ efforts became enthused, and on May 26, 1848 “The New York Cheap Postage Association” was organized with the following officers:

• James Brown, President
• Barnabas Bates, Corresponding Secretary
• Isaac Winslow, Jr., Recording Secretary
• Lewis Tappan, Treasurer.

This Association was apparently preceded by the formation of a similar one in Boston the previous year, and both serve to show that individual efforts were taking the form of the more powerful organized association of groups of people. The “Boston Cheap Postage Assocation” was headed by these officers:

• J.W. James, Chairman of the Board
• Joshua Leavitt, Corresponding Secretary
• Charles B. Fairbanks, Recording Secretary
• Otis Clapp, Treasurer

Here we must pause for a look at one of these Boston men,--Joshua Leavitt,--for he was another Bates! Born in Heath, Mass. On September 8, 1794, he had graduated from Yale College in 1814, and become a lawyer. In 1823 he began the study of theology and graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1825. We then find him in charge of the Congregational Church in Stratford, Conn., and we note that he became the author of various tracts, “readers” and the like while there. In 1828 he went to New York where he edited the Sailors Magazine, founded the first Temperance Society, was an anti-​slavery leader, and became a magazine editor and newspaper publisher. By 1837 he was back in Boston, this time as a publisher. Note the background and record of the typical “reformer” of that day,--so similar to that of Barnabas Bates himself! On a visit to Europe in 1843 Leavitt observed the successful operation of Rowland Hill’s cheap postage system and upon his return he wrote about it for a Boston newspaper. He then immediately and vigorously espoused the cause in America. This writer cannot locate in the records where or when he met Bates,--but it was obviously ordained that two such kindred souls should meet and join forces. Leavitt was to outlive Bates by twenty years,--he did not die until his 79^th year, in 1873,--but from some time in the middle 1840’s he worked hand-​in-​hand with him until Bates’ death in 1853. Leavitt was an earnest and powerful speaker, and like Bates he spoke on postal reform at every opportunity. He was also a prolific and forceful writer, and Hunts Merchants Magazine, The New Englander, the Massachusetts Quarterly Review, and the other periodicals of that time were seldom without an article on the subject written either by Leavitt or Bates. It appears that Leavitt was the first of two to write a pamphlet or book on the theme, for on April 26, 1848 by resolution of the Boston Cheap Postage Association, the publication of a pamphlet was authorized, entitled: “CHEAP POSTAGE, Remarks and Statistics on the Subject of Cheap Postage and Postal Reform in Great Britain and the United States,” by Joshua Leavitt, Corresponding Secretary of the Cheap Postage Association. As this pamphlet was afterwards used and referred to in many ways by Barnabas Bates, and as it set the key for nearly all contemporary writing on the subject, a few quotations from it will be of interest here:

The pamphlet then goes on to point out that the “great postage meeting in New York held in December 1843,” had asked for a uniform rate of 5c, but that the new law provided for both 5c and 10c rates, and failed to provide most of the other postal reforms so badly needed. Leavitt then refers to “Letter Postage Stamps for Prepayment,” and describes the English stamps and envelopes and also the canceling devices. He also refers to Elihu Burritt, the “Learned Blacksmith” in England, who had written a book in 1849 on “Ocean Penny Postage,” and Leavitt heartily endorsed the idea and urged it in America. He closed his pamphlet with a plea for a uniform rate of 2c for a letter, and 1c for a newspaper,--regardless of distance,--for the delivery of mail in large cities, and for the ending of the franking privilege.

This pamphlet was doubtless the inspiration for one by Barnabas Bates which promptly followed. Its title, in the florid form of the day, begins:

An illustration of the full title page of this now rare pamphlet appears herein, which the writer had photographed from the copy in the New York Public Library. The close relationship of Barnabas Bates and Joshua Leavitt, and of the New York and Boston Cheap Postage Associations will be observed by referring to this illustration, for it will be seen that this pamphlet also included the contents of the one written by Leavitt and published in Boston earlier in the same year! Bates’ “Brief Statement” occupies 26 pages of the combined pamphlet while Leavitt’s “Remarks and Statistics” takes up the remaining 52 of the total of 78 pages. In Bates’ portion he repeats much of Leavitt’s arguments, and he tells of the first public meeting ever held in favor of cheap postage in the United States, in the Merchants Exchange, New York, on November 24, 1843, and of those which followed on January 18, 1844 and February 13, 1845. He then describes many of his visits to Washington, D.C., his difficulties with Congress, and finally of the founding of the New York Cheap Postage Association on May 26, 1848. The Leavitt contribution is of course, practically a reprint of his Boston pamphlet referred to earlier herein, wherein the British system is held up as a model and many statistics of its successful operation are given.

About this time, it appears that Bates turned over the writing chore largely to Leavitt,--although we do find an occasional article from Bates’ pen in later publications. But Leavitt was definitely the better writer of the two, and along with others who joined the cause later Bates was apparently glad to be relieved of at least most of this burden. We find Leavitt writing for The New Englander of January 1, 1848, commenting bitterly on the Act of 1845, as follows:

This was followed by an article in the same publication in April of the same year, entitled “The British System of Postage” and in July, “Our Post Office.” In December, 1848, the Massachusetts Quarterly Review carried an article by Leavitt,--“Cheap Postage,” and others in other publications appeared so often as to cause wonder as to why the editors continued to accept them! Present-​day propaganda is no more thorough than was that of the “friends of cheap postage” one hundred years ago!

In 1849, a very thorough and capable study of the financial angles of the subject appeared over Leavitt’s name in Hunt’s Merchants Magazine under the title “The Finances of Cheap Postage.” In it he pointed out that in 1839, the last year of the former high postage rates in Great Britain, there were 76 million letters mailed, gross receipts were £2,390,763, and the cost per letter was 2/1.562 while in 1848, at the new low rates there were nearly 347 million letters mailed, gross receipts were £2,192,478, and the cost per letter was but 0/3.838. He then says it “proves without question that cheap postage is as practicable here as there.” In the same magazine, in October, Leavitt wrote an article on “The Moral and Social Benefits of Cheap postage is no longer an experiment; its success has justified the anticipation of its promoters and silenced the cavils of incredulity.” (!) He complains, however, that “the people at large have hardly begun to be impressed with the real value of cheap postage,” and says that the formation of societies in Boston and New York in the previous year was for the purpose of “awakening the public mind to the greatness of the loss which our country is suffering every year that we remain without cheap postage,” and that “cheap postage on newspapers has made us a newspaper-​reading people; cheap postage on letters would make us a letter-​writing people.” He dilates further on the benefits of greater letter writing including even the claim it would reduce the divorce rate! We then find our indefatigable author writing for Hunts Merchant Magazine in January 1850 on “The Practical Working of Cheap Postage” in which he urges prepayment of postage and urges that stamps be made more easily available and says “In curious contrast with this is the mode now in us…You find them for sale nowhere but at the post office, and at the post office…You must go round by the back way through an obscure door, up a narrow winding stairway into a lobby having several doors, and when you find the one leading to the cashier’s room you may enter there and be allowed to purchase stamps!” There were many more articles, those mentioned herein were selected because of the passages quoted and to give the reader an idea of the temper of them all.

Once again this “pressure group” won another partial victory. The only postal legislation enacted after the Act of March 3, 1847 by which our first stamps were authorized, was that of August 14, 1848 when the rate between the East and the Pacific Coast was set at 40c, with 12 ½ c. charged on letters between points there. On September 27, 1850 these rates were extended to include the newly acquired territories of Utah and New Mexico. However, the Act of March 3, 1851, effective June 30, for the first time really lowered and extended our postal rates. They were set at 3c per half ounce up to 3,000 miles when pre-​paid, 5c when collect, and 6c for over 3,000 miles prepaid, 10c when not prepaid, and 1c for “drop” or local letters. A new issue of stamps was authorized under this Act, the 1c, 3c and 12c stamps being issued on July 1, 1851 but the 5c and 10c stamps were not issued until several years later. The 3c, 6c and 10c stamped envelopes,--our first stamped envelopes,--were authorized by the Act of August 3, 1852, and were placed on sale July 1, 1853. Still, the final objectives of the campaign for cheap and uniform postage had not been achieved, and the effort to reach them,--and the other postal reforms so long sought,--continued. In November, 1851, we find Barnabas Bates himself writing an article in Harpers Magazine stating that it is “now upward of 11 years since the writer commenced advocating postal reform and cheap postage.” He tells of the success of this “partial reduction,” in rates, and calls for a uniform rate of “2c prepaid.” He objects to the four new rates instead of one single rate, and calls the ocean postage rates of 24c and 29c enormous and burdensome, pointing out that they represent “half a week’s wages” for an immigrant servant girl writing home, and a day’s work for a “poor man in the country!” He again calls for free delivery of letters in all large towns and cities, “prepayment of postage entirely by stamps,” abolishing the franking privilege, the establishment of money orders, and objecting to the political aspects of the post office problem he says: “It was a great and fatal mistake to make the Post Master General a member of the Cabinet”(!). In the meanwhile Barnabas Bates kept busy with other phases of the campaign. He was clearly a devotee of publicity and his campaign was much the same as those of today where every device to obtain the value of repetition of an idea is called upon. He enlisted the aid and sympathy of men in all walks of life, and of business men who would gain from lower postage costs were among those of course…In the early 1850’s he persuaded many business firms to use slogans advocating postal reforms,--particularly the prepayment of letters. Sending of letters collect had always been the custom, and business firms obviously preferred to see the law changed so that mail would have to be prepaid. The slogan “to encourage the cheap postage system we prepay all letters. P.D. & Co.” is handstamped in red on the back of a folded letter consisting of a bill of Phelps, Dodge & Co. of New York, dated July 31, 1851. The little oval seal reading “Prepay Your Postage” is impressed on the flap of an envelope sent from New York, postmarked “United States Express Mail,” August 31, 1852,--both missives being prepaid with 3c stamps of the 1851 issue. Another step forward resulted, for on March 3, 1855, effective April 1, an Act was passed requiring the prepayment of all postage which after January 1, 1856 had to be prepaid by stamps. A slight step backward was taken then also, for that law raised the postage rate on letters going over 3,000 miles from 6c to 10c the half-ounce,--the higher rate applying almost solely to mails from the East to points on the Pacific Coast which then were chiefly sent on the long route via the Panama Isthmus. One more new service was provided by this Act,--that for the registration of valuable letters for an additional fee of 5c.