Entirely too much stress has been placed upon the cost of second-class matter, for it makes little difference whether it costs 2½ cents or 4 cents or 9 cents, or even more, if it produce results commensurate with its cost, and this it would do _if the cost were double the highest guess yet made_. The Government could afford to carry it free rather than not carry it at all, for without it the bottom would drop out of the Postal Establishment. As long as the people get the benefit of the low rate, as they are doing now, for which we have official testimony, it matters not what the rate is except that it should be kept at the very bottom notch. WHY THE POSTAGE RATE WAS MADE LOW. Even if the cost of second-class matter should be declared to be more than one cent per pound, it would not be good public policy for Congress to increase it, because much reading matter would be placed out of the reach of many who now are receiving the benefit of it. Postmaster-General Meyer said in his report for 1908: “The charge for carrying second-class mail matter was intentionally fixed below cost for the purpose of encouraging the dissemination of information of educational value to the people, _and the benefit of the cheap rate of postage is passed on to the subscriber in a lower subscription price than would otherwise be possible_.” The Hon. Charles Emory Smith truly declared: “Our free institutions rest on popular intelligence, and it has from the beginning been our fixed and enlightened policy to foster and promote the general diffusion of public information. Congress has wisely framed the postal laws with this just and liberal conception. “It has uniformly sought to encourage intercommunication and the exchange of intelligence. As facilities have cheapened, it has gradually lowered all postage rates. It has never aimed to make the postal service a source of profit, but simply to make it pay its own way and to give the people the benefit of all possible advancement. “In harmony with this sound and judicious policy, it has deliberately established a low rate of postage for genuine newspapers and periodicals, with the express design of encouraging and aiding the distribution of the recognized means and agencies of public information. “It is not a matter of favor, but of approved judgment. _It is not for the publishers, but for the people._”