PREFACE

 

This book traces the development of postal rates through the many steps that have led to the present-day rate structure. By bringing this informa­tion together in compact and permanent form, a ready reference source of rate history and its legal documentation is made available to the public. The book does not include those laws or Postmaster General orders which restated rates and fees established by prior law or orders.

The following pages contain a compilation of United States domestic postal rates, fees, and charges from March 4, 1789, when the Constitutional Government was founded, to September 1, 1956. To facilitate the use of the book, the evolution of rates is presented in three complementary parts: (1) A section of brief historical comments, (2) a group of tables of rates for the entire period, and (3) appendixes containing a chronological selec­tion of abstracts of major laws and departmental orders affecting such rates, fees, and charges.

Also included are tables and comments on the fees charged for the "special services" conducted by the Post Office Department.

There are many who shared in the extensive research necessary to compile these data. Special credit belongs to the staff of the Division of Postal Rates and the Division of Mail Classification. Other members of the Department were also of invaluable assistance. Lastly, many dedicated postal servants of past eras should be mentioned, because without the docu­ments and records which they prepared it would have been impossible to undertake this study.