Magazines have repeatedly increased their advertising rates as their circulation has grown, but the postal charges for the handling and transportation of these magazines have remained stationary for years, so that while this increased circulation has swollen the profits of the publishers it has added correspondingly to the loss sustained by the government. It is clearly inequitable that the public in its general correspondence, the publishers of books and pamphlets, and the senders of small merchandise should continue to be taxed to meet the deficit caused by a subsidy enjoyed by the publishers of the large magazines.
Yours, very truly,
Frank H. Hitchcock,
Postmaster General.
My Dear Senator:—Observing that the periodical publishers in their opposition to the pending provision increasing postage on second-class mail matter frequently refer to the low rate of one-fourth cent per pound charged by the Dominion of Canada on newspapers and periodicals, I think it well to point out the fact that while this exceptionally low rate does prevail in that country because of the peculiar conditions there, European countries, so far as our information goes, charge a higher rate than the United States, notwithstanding their much smaller areas. The rates charged by Great Britain, Germany, and France are considerably higher than the rate provided for in the bill now pending in the Senate. I inclose herewith a memorandum giving such information as we have regarding the postage rates charged on newspapers and periodicals by European countries.
Yours, very truly,
Frank H. Hitchcock,
Postmaster General.
Postage rate, in cents per pound, on newspapers and periodicals in European countries.
| Cents. | |
| Great Britain (one forty-first of the area of the United States), 1 cent a copy for local delivery, but for general distribution by parcels post in quantities, 6 cents for the first pound and 2 cents for each additional pound up to 11 pounds. | |
| Germany (one-seventeenth of the area of the United States) | 4⅘ |
| France (one-seventeenth of the area of the United States) | 4 |
| Italy (one thirty-third of the area of the United States): | |
| Daily newspapers | 1⅛ |
| Other publications | 2 |
| Holland (one two-hundred-and-eighty-fourth of the area of the United States) | 1⅘ |
| Belgium (one three-hundred-and-eighteenth of the area of the United States) | 1⅕ |
Under the provisions of the International Postal Convention, newspapers and periodicals are mailed by all the signatory parties at the uniform rate of 1 cent for each 2 ounces or fraction thereof—practically, 8 cents per pound.
Postmaster General Hitchcock in his letter, submitted under date of February 14, 1911, quotes some publisher (name not mentioned), as saying that “magazine publishers receive gross incomes as high as $6,000,000 in a single year” … “that one of them, according to his own statement, realizes a net profit of $1,000,000 annually” … another, “the principal owner of two great magazines, says that his gross income is more than $6,000,000 a year;” of another “that his magazine yields more than 10% profit on a capitalization of $10,000,000,” etc., etc.