a special rate for wholly or partly handwritten communications
which were not of the nature of personal and individual correspondence.
Either letter or parcel rate must be paid on such packets. In the
international service the rate for such was the same as the rate for
printed matter, and the unfavourable position in the inland service in
this respect gave rise to public complaints. In 1900, therefore, a
special class of packets, named _Gesch[:a]ftspapiere_, was introduced in
the internal service of the German Imperial administration. Papers
partly or wholly written, but not of the nature of private or personal
communications, were admissible at a reduced rate of postage.[521]
Except for local traffic the new rates were:--

Not exceeding 250 grammes 10 pf.
250-500 grammes 20 pf.
500 grammes to 1 kilogramme (maximum) 30 pf.

Compared with the total postal traffic the number of packets passing at
the reduced rate is quite small, but it is increasing, and is
sufficiently large to indicate that the privilege affords a considerable
advantage to the public.

The number of packets of _Gesch[:a]ftspapiere_ was:--

1904 10,793,620
1907 16,789,260
1910 23,632,220
1913 34,328,950

* * * * *

(IV) POSTCARDS

The idea of postcards originated with Dr. H. von Stephan, who submitted
a proposal for their introduction at the meeting of the delegates of the
German Postal Union at Karlsruhe in 1865. Dr. von Stephan had realized
that the ordinary form of the letter missive, although most suitable in
many ways for many kinds of correspondence, was not always convenient.
Much commercial correspondence might be conducted with briefer and less
formal communications, and for such short and urgent messages a simple
and less costly means would be welcomed.

The proposal was therefore for the issue of cards which should be
addressed on the front, and at the back should bear the written
message.[522] The cards should be transmitted unenclosed. The proposal
was not well received by the delegates. It was, however, revived in 1869
by Professor Herrmann of Vienna, who brought it to the notice of the
Austrian postal administration. It was viewed favourably by that
administration, and the cards were introduced in the Austrian service on
the 1st October 1869, being sold at the price of 5 kreuzer. The
innovation was an immediate success, nearly three