The Indianapolis Journal

New Postal Regulations.

Failure of the Masses to Comprehend the Exact Meaning of the Law.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.

Washington, July 12.--The new postal regulations, which went into effect July 1, fix the rate of letter postage at two cents for each ounce. Postmaster Conger, of this city, says that this change has created some annoyance among the patrons of the Washington office, in that two-thirds of the people do not appreciate the fact that two cents for one ounce is not the same as one cent for a half an ounce. Fifty or one hundred letters are dropped in the boxes about the city each day which are insufficiently prepaid. Especially is this the case with the drop letters. In the letter of instructions issued on the 7th instant, it was stated that drop letters would be carried for one cent in the non-delivery towns. Somehow or other people of the larger cities read this only partly through, and are under the impression that one cent will carry a letter anywhere within the confines of the city in which they reside. These letters, while generally forwarded to the addressee, are delayed one or two days sometimes in consequence of the failure of the sender to properly prepay. It is thought that the receipts of the postoffice during the coming year will not be materially decreased, and that the revenues for the fiscal year 1885-6 will show in all probability the usual percentage of increase, with perhaps a deduction of something like from three quarters of a million to a million dollars, on account of the decreased rate in newspaper postage.