postage was as little as 1/12 pf. per copy.[387]
The annual loss to the administration on account of the newspaper
traffic was therefore on the average 16/100 pf. per copy, or a total of
about 1,600,000 M. a year.

For many years the question was before the Budget Commission of the
Reichstag, and a change soon followed the publication of this estimate.
New rates, based on entirely new principles, were established in 1899.

When the Act establishing the new rates was in preparation, the Imperial
Post Office administration based their proposals mainly on the principle
that the charges should cover the cost of the service rendered.[388] The
original proposals to the Reichstag were accordingly calculated to
secure an increased revenue of 1-1/4 million M. The Budget Commission,
however, so modified the proposals as to reduce this amount to 300,000
M., and further modifications were made in the Reichstag itself, with
the result that under the new rates the administration was left to work
with an even greater loss than formerly.[389]

The large publications of the great cities, supported as they were to a
large extent by the advertisements they carried, had obtained a wide
circulation, to the prejudice of the provincial Press.[390] With a view
to affording some measure of protection to the provincial Press as
against the Press of the large cities, proposals were made in the
Reichstag for the adoption of a zone rate for newspapers on the ground
that the cost to the Post Office for distributing newspapers at great
distances was appreciably greater than the cost of distribution in the
case of newspapers sent short distances only, and that a zone rate would
therefore be just.[391] The authorities were not, however, prepared to
adopt this proposal, which they characterized as retrograde and
unnecessary.[392] They considered that if the rate were raised for the
longer distances the traffic would be taken away from the Post Office by
private enterprise, and if the rate for the shorter distances were
further lowered, the revenue from newspapers would be still further, and
undesirably, reduced.

The new scheme of rates of 1899 was based on three considerations: the
length of time covered by the subscription, the frequency of issue, and
the weight of the newspaper; and the rates were reckoned in the
following way:--

(_a_) Two pf. for each month of sending.

(_b_) 15 pf. yearly for papers appearing once weekly or less