There is no possible hope that the advertiser will pay the bill.
WOULD THE SUBSCRIBER PAY THE INCREASED POSTAL RATE?
The 4 cents a pound rate on advertising would require an advance of approximately 50 per cent in subscription prices if the publisher is to recoup himself by raising the cost of living to the public in its consumption of magazines.
Would the public pay 50 per cent more for the same article?
The question is answered eloquently and finally by the subscription records of the magazines that were forced to increase their rates on Canadian subscriptions when Canada enforced a 4-cent rate on American periodicals. As the discriminatory rate was later withdrawn in certain cases, we have a complete cycle of record and proof. First, the Canadian subscription list before the increase; second, the Canadian subscription list after the increased postal rate and increased subscription price to the Canadian public; third, the Canadian subscription list after the postal rate and the subscription price to the public had been restored to the original status.
HERE IS THE RECORD OF THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS.
In June, 1907, the Review of Reviews began to pay 4 cents a pound postage on Canadian subscriptions, instead of 1 cent, and was forced to raise its Canadian subscription price from $3 to $3.50 a year.
Its Canadian yearly subscribers in July, 1907, numbered 2,973.
At once the subscription list began to fall off, and continued to do so steadily until in January, 1910, it had come down to 904 names.
Early in 1910 the Review of Reviews was readmitted into the Canadian postoffice at 1 cent a pound, its subscription was reduced to the old figure of $3, and the Canadian list quickly “came back,” having reached already in February, 1911, the figure of 2,690 annual subscribers.