The large publications of the great cities, supported as they were to a large extent by the advertisements they carried, had obtained a wide circulation, to the prejudice of the provincial Press.[390] With a view to affording some measure of protection to the provincial Press as against the Press of the large cities, proposals were made in the Reichstag for the adoption of a zone rate for newspapers on the ground that the cost to the Post Office for distributing newspapers at great distances was appreciably greater than the cost of distribution in the case of newspapers sent short distances only, and that a zone rate would therefore be just.[391] The authorities were not, however, prepared to adopt this proposal, which they characterized as retrograde and unnecessary.[392] They considered that if the rate were raised for the longer distances the traffic would be taken away from the Post Office by private enterprise, and if the rate for the shorter distances were further lowered, the revenue from newspapers would be still further, and undesirably, reduced. The new scheme of rates of 1899 was based on three considerations: the length of time covered by the subscription, the frequency of issue, and the weight of the newspaper; and the rates were reckoned in the following way:-- (_a_) Two pf. for each month of sending. (_b_) 15 pf. yearly for papers appearing once weekly or less frequently, and 15 pf. yearly more for each further publication weekly. (_c_) 10 pf. yearly for each kilogramme of the yearly weight, subject to a free weight of 1 kilogramme yearly for each of so many editions as the rate (_b_) is applied to.[393] The weight for any year was to be fixed according to the actual weight of the numbers of the paper during the previous year, and for new publications the rate was to be applied quarterly on the basis of the weight of such numbers as had appeared. The publisher was required to deposit with the Post Office a complete copy of each issue for the purpose of calculating the weight charge. Financially, the result of the rates has been unsatisfactory; the amendments of the proposals of the postal administration which were made by the Reichstag could hardly have had any other effect. From the year 1871 to the year 1902 the increase in the number of newspapers was 508 per cent. (1871, 202-4/5 millions; 1902, 1,157 millions), but the increase in newspaper postage was only about 378 per cent. (1,760,326 M. in 1871 and 6,659,735 M. in 1902); and if the cost of the service remained approximately the same as in 1897, which there is little reason to doubt, the loss to the administration was about a million Marks.