“November 29th, 1854.—The returns from our Ministers abroad showing the postal improvements in the several foreign countries are now completed. They show that my plan has been adopted more or less completely in the following States: Austria, Baden, Bavaria, Belgium, Brazil, Bremen, Brunswick, Chili, Denmark, France, Frankfort, Hamburg, Hanover, Lubeck, Naples, New Granada, Netherlands, Oldenburg, Peru, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, Saxony, Spain, Switzerland, Tuscany, United States, Wurtemberg.
“The results are in most cases similar to our own [similar mistakes, probably, being made in the mode of adoption]. They are generally an increase in gross revenue and in expenses, and a decrease in net revenue. In some instances the revenue is exceedingly small: thus the kingdom of Portugal produces a less gross revenue than the city of Edinburgh: in no instance is the revenue, whether gross or net, so large as with us. The extent to which my plan has been adopted in almost every part of the civilized world is very remarkable, and very gratifying. In Europe, Sweden is the only considerable State which forms an exception.”
Sweden did not very long remain an exception.
[APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXIII.]
MONEY ORDER DEPARTMENT.
The secretarial charge of this department had been committed, as I have already said, to my brother Frederic. I cannot better describe the state to which it had by this time been brought than by quoting the following passages from an interesting and amusing article in “Household Words”:—[120]
“In 1792, when the true British sailor was stoutly preparing to defy the French in various parts of the globe at thirty shillings a month, and when British military valour was fighting Tippoo Saib in India at a shilling a day, it was felt as a great hardship that the affluent warriors of both services could not transmit, safely and speedily, to their sweethearts and wives, even from one part of the United Kingdom to another, their surplus capital. The Government, seeing the danger of allowing the savings of its servants to burn holes in their pockets, was good enough to concoct a snug little ‘job,’ by means of which such pocket-conflagrations might be extinguished. The monopoly of transmitting money from one place to another was conceded to three gentlemen in connection with the Post Office. Their terms were—eightpence for every pound; but if the sum exceeded two pounds, a stamp duty of one shilling was levied by Government in addition. Five guineas was the highest amount which could be thus remitted; and the charge for that sum was four shillings and sixpence, or nearly five per cent., besides the price of the postage of the letter which contained the advice—perhaps a shilling more.
“Now, happily, the days of monopoly have passed, and Mr. Rowland Hill does the same thing for the odd sixpence, with an odd penny, at a profit to the Government of about seven thousand pounds a year, exclusive of the gain derived from the enormous number of letters of advice which Post Office orders have created. When the privilege was extended from soldiers and sailors to the general public, the three monopolists of the last century could divide between them, on an average, no more than six hundred and fifty pounds per annum. No longer ago than the year 1838, the Money Order Office was absorbed into the Post Office; and, although the charges were reduced to a commission of sixpence for sums not exceeding two pounds, and of one shilling and sixpence for sums up to five pounds (which was, and is still, the limit), a chief clerk and two assistants were appointed to do all the business the public brought to them; and even they could only do it at a loss to the department. People could not afford to increase even the reduced charges for commission, by the eightpenny and shilling postages for their letters of advice.
“Penny postage, therefore, is the parent of the gigantic money-order system, which now flourishes in full activity. In estimating the advantages of that great stroke of economical, administrative, and commercial sense, many of its less prominent agencies for good are overlooked. The facilities it has afforded for epistolary intercommunication are so wonderful and self-evident, that we who benefit by them are blinded to the hidden impulses it has given to social improvement and to commerce. Regarded only as the origin of the present money-order system, penny postage has occasioned the exercise of prudence, benevolence, and self-denial; it has, in many instances, stopped the sufferings of want by timely remittances; and it has quickened the undercurrents of trade by causing small transactions to be easily and promptly effected. These advantages can only be estimated by a consideration of the following facts.