so great a privilege as compared with ordinary
books, that publishers sought devious ways to obtain the advantage of
the pound rate. Books termed a "library" were issued periodically, with
a frequency sufficient to meet the requirements of the Act, numbered in
series, and devoted to literature or science; were issued from a known
office of publication, and with a list of subscribers. Complying thus
with all the requirements of the Act, there seemed no ground on which
these publications could be refused admission to the second-class
privilege, and they were accordingly entered. The practice grew, and a
multitude of libraries, comprising books on every conceivable subject,
were distributed through the mails as second-class matter. The Act
permitted the posting of sample copies, and as no limit to the number of
such copies was fixed, the mails were burdened with vast quantities of
sample copies of publications which, while complying with the letter of
the statute, as did the "libraries," were in reality mere advertising
media. The subscription list was extremely small in comparison with the
number of sample copies sent out, and in many cases the subscriptions
had been obtained by the offer of premiums at least equal in value to
the subscriptions. Another abuse appeared. Under the law, copies of
newspapers and periodicals mailed under the second-class privilege which
were found to be undeliverable were, when returned to the publisher,
liable to postage at the rate of 1 cent for each 4 ounces; but
newsagents had the right to send second-class mail to one another, and
in order to avoid the higher rate on returned copies, the publishers
arranged a scheme by which the copies were returned by one newsagent to
another newsagent whose office was near by the publisher's office. These
abuses assumed such proportions that in 1889 the Postmaster-General, Mr.
Wanamaker, brought them to the notice of Congress and asked a remedy.
Nothing was done, however. In 1892 Mr. Wanamaker again complained of
the same gross abuses, and especially of the book abuse, which had then
become, he said, "a practice of so long standing that it has
crystallized into law, allowing to paper-covered books which are simply
numbered, and dated, and designated as periodicals, though in reality
not so, the privileges of genuine periodicals."[338] He also attacked
with vigour the sample-copy abuse.[339]

Several Postmasters-General caused estimates to be made of the