side by side with a uniform rate 100 per cent. greater for all distances
outside the local area, as in Canada, is nevertheless inconsistent from
the economic standpoint.

* * * * *

The postcard, which may be regarded as a development of the letter post,
is, in effect, an admission that the letter rate is much higher than the
cost of service. The difference in cost of service in the case
respectively of a light letter and a postcard is negligible. Indeed, in
some respects light letters are more easily and more rapidly handled
than postcards. From that standpoint, therefore, there is nothing to
justify the difference of 100 per cent. in the rate of charge, and the
lower rate is an arbitrary concession. The logical ground for its
existence is rather to be looked for in the familiar and generally
accepted principle applied to the determination of transportation rates
by railway, by road, or by sea, viz. charging "what the traffic will
bear," or the variation of the rates according to the intrinsic value of
the goods transported.[640] Many messages are sent on postcards which
otherwise would be sent as closed letters. But, at the same time, many
messages are sent on postcards which otherwise would not be sent at all.
This has been especially the case since the introduction of the picture
postcard.

* * * * *

These remarks apply equally to the lower rate which has been conceded to
circular letters. Both rates represent a great concession relatively to
the letter rate, and under them a large traffic has grown up.[641] They
closely approximate to the actual cost of service, and probably yield a
small profit. They are of great importance in the general scheme of
rates, because they provide a cheap means for the transmission of a very
large proportion of ordinary personal and commercial messages, and thus
indirectly strengthen the position of the profitable penny rate for
ordinary letters.

The picture postcard has strengthened the position of the letter rate in
another way, viz. by raising the cost of sending a postcard, so that in
many cases it is now greater than that of a letter. A common charge for
a picture postcard is a penny; the cost of sending a communication on
such a card by post is then three-halfpence, whereas the cost of a
letter is only a penny plus the very slight cost of the paper and
envelope.

* * * * *

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