_The Rates of Postage_ on the different classes have varied in amount from time to time. In the early history of the post-office department the rates for transporting letters were regulated on the basis of the distance carried, and according to the number of sheets in the letter, the amount ranging from six to twenty-five cents. Since 1863, however, there has been a uniform rate on letters irrespective of distance. In 1883 the rate was fixed at two cents; in 1917, three cents; in 1919, two cents. Before 1847, when the adhesive postage stamps were introduced, payment of postage was made in cash and the amount indorsed on the envelope. Postal cards were introduced in 1872. On the transportation of first-class mail the government realizes a profit estimated at $60,000,000 per year, notwithstanding the long distance much of it is carried. There is also a substantial profit derived from foreign mail. =Second-Class Matter= mailed by the publishers is carried at the rate of 1-1/2 cents a pound, with an added charge (depending on distance) for advertising matter;[45] but newspapers are carried free to any office within the county of publication except in cities having free delivery service. The government has sustained heavy losses in carrying second-class matter. In the year 1917 more than 1,200,000,000 pounds was transported at a loss of over six cents per pound. It constituted over 60 per cent of all domestic mail, but yielded less than five per cent of the postal revenues, the loss being greater than the profits realized on all other classes of mail combined. [45] The rate for other persons than publishers is four cents a pound. _Should the Second-Class Rate be Increased?_--For some years there was considerable agitation in favor of increasing the rate paid by publishers, especially on magazines which are overloaded with advertising matter and on other publications which are devoted largely to advertising purposes. Successive postmasters-general urged a readjustment of the rates, but until 1917 Congress took no action further than to appoint a commission to investigate and report on the subject. The two suggestions most considered were, that a higher rate should be imposed on magazines than on newspapers in view of the fact that the average distance of transportation is greater in the case of magazines than in the case of newspapers, and that a higher rate be imposed on advertising matter than on purely reading matter.