This service assisted the express companies in those violations of the postal laws which each year the Postmaster General called to the attention of Congress, and Congress endeavored to reach by new laws. The government got the expensive service, the express companies the paying business partly because of their more liberal rates, but particularly because of their more expeditious service.
The attempt was therefore made to so frame the law that the post office might successfully compete for the carriage of newspapers. The Act of the XXXVII Congress, III Session, Chapter 71, Section 38, approved the 3rd of March, 1863, reads:
"And be it further enacted that the Postmaster General may, from time to time, provide by order the rates and terms upon which route agents may receive and deliver, at the mail car or steamer, packages of newspapers and periodicals, delivered to them for that purpose by the publishers or any news agent in charge thereof, and not received from or designed for delivery at any post office."
Under this act for some time payment was made in money, but the report of the Postmaster General dated November 15th, 1865, states:
"New stamps have been adopted of the denominations of 5, 10, and 25 cents for prepaying postage on packages of newspapers forwarded by publishers or news dealers under the authority of law, whereby a revenue will be secured, hitherto lost to the Department."
In the report of the Postmaster General for 1878, the date of this issue is stated to have been April 1st, 1865. In the accounts of the number of stamps issued in each quarter it appears, however, that the first issue was in the quarter between June 30th and September 30th, 1865.
The stamps were of very large dimensions, and the figures conspicuous. A package adorned with the requisite number was mailed on the train and it could easily be seen that it was duly stamped. The stamps were ordinarily if not always, cancelled by smearing them with ink, with a brush, and not with hand stamps, and the packages were thrown out of the cars to the agents waiting at each station to receive them, and were often torn open by the agent at the depot and distributed to his customers there. Thus the delay that sending them to the post office for distribution would have caused, was avoided.
Issue of April 1st, 1865.
Five Cents. Large bust of Washington in profile, faced to the right, indicated by colorless curved lines, on a round medallion of straight horizontal lines, 28 mm. in diameter, surrounded by a circular band of curved interlaced colorless lines, all on a colored ground, a smaller circular disk, 11 mm. in diameter, interrupting this band on each side displays a large "V," in color on a horizontally lined ground. Above on a solid ground of color, but ornamented by interlaced colorless lines in colorless letters, "U. S." and "Postage," in a second curved line; below the head on a solid curved label covering a portion of the circular band in large colorless capitals, "Five Cents"; below this again, the ground is ornamented by several colorless lines upon which appear in colored capitals, "Newspapers," a colored label with "and"; in colorless capitals "Periodicals"; below this again, in two lines of colorless capitals on the colored ground, "Sec. 18, Act of Congress approved—March 3d, 1863." In each upper corner is a large colorless numeral "5." About all is a frame of 3 colorless lines, ornamented at the corners. The words "National Bank Note Company, New York," in small colorless capitals appear between the lower colorless lines. The colored ground extends between the stamps which were perforated.