of letters passing through the post was 123,000,000, and their total weight 5,000,000 pounds.[322]
In 1898 the Canadian Government desired to reduce the internal letter postage, which still stood at 3 cents, to the almost universal rate of 2 cents;[323] but the loss of revenue which such a reduction would entail was so great that they were driven to seek fresh revenue to meet the deficiency. In view of the abuses of the newspaper privilege, and the generally unsatisfactory position which had developed, this was thought to be a suitable occasion for the reimposition of postage on newspapers.[324] The rate proposed was ½ cent a pound. Opposition to the change was made on the same grounds as in 1867: that newspapers were the real educators of the people, that the dissemination of intelligence, particularly of political intelligence, was of the utmost importance, and that no impediment should be put in the way of their freest possible distribution.
The great necessity for a new source of postal revenue made it impossible, however, to continue the free privilege in its entirety, and the ½-cent bulk rate was carried. The free privilege was continued for local papers distributed within a
radius of ten miles, in order to enable the country papers to compete with the papers of the large towns. The country papers are very jealous (and perhaps somewhat fearful) of the great city papers, although the telegraph has given the country papers an advantage in point of time. This is of great value in a country of enormous distances—especially in the case of daily papers—but is yet not of vital importance in the case of weekly newspapers, which do not rely so much on late news. The competition of the weekly papers of the great cities is severe; and the radius of competition even of their daily papers is considerable. The letter-carriers of Ottawa were at that time daily engaged in carrying free enormous quantities of newspapers published in Montreal or Toronto.[325]
The rate fixed in 1898 was not intended to be permanent; and in 1900, when the revenue had become sufficiently buoyant to warrant the step, a Bill was introduced to reduce the postage on newspapers to ⅛ of 1 cent a pound for transmission in the province or territory of distribution. The general purpose of the Bill was to reduce the rate for limited distances, and the province or territory was adopted as the most convenient unit of area. Newspapers were being posted literally by the ton, and the department thought it unreasonable to convey car-loads of such mail from ocean to ocean for the same rate as for any shorter distances within a province.[326] The Bill passed the Lower House, although it was severely criticized as introducing the vicious principle of provincial legislation; and "a serious aggravation of the tyrannical injustice" was that a distinctive tax would be placed on city publications, while preferential privileges would be given to country newspapers.[327]
The Postmaster-General explained that with a bulk rate it was possible to make nice distinctions of rate in regard to distance travelled, which would be quite out of the question with a rate such as that for letters charged separately on each individual item; the charge for the transportation of a letter for a short distance would be so small that no division of coin could be found to correspond to it, but with matter mailed by the ton and wagon-load, and paid for by the ton and wagon-load, the charge could well be adjusted for distance: but he admitted that he had made no calculation as to whether the ⅛ cent a pound would cover the cost of newspapers within the bounds of each province.[328] The Bill was rejected by the Senate on account of the undesirability on general political grounds of introducing any sort of distinctions based on the provincial boundaries.
The proposal was revived in another form in 1903. It was then proposed to reduce the postage to ¼ cent a pound on newspapers when the distance of transmission did not exceed 300 miles. The Postmaster-General said definitely in Parliament that the rate would not cover the cost, and, further, that the reduction would involve a loss of revenue of from $50,000 to $75,000 a year on a total revenue from newspapers of from $100,000 to $125,000.[329] The reduction was carried; and in 1908 the reduced rate of ¼ cent a pound was extended to all newspapers passing within the Dominion, when posted in bulk. The privilege is availed of by the publishers of many periodicals which are virtually nothing more than advertising media; but this abuse has not assumed serious proportions, and with the finances of the department in a flourishing state, it has not been felt necessary to curtail the privilege, although it involves great loss.[330]