On the question of rates, opinion in Congress was divided. Although at the time the gross revenue of the Post Office was small, some members anticipated an increase sufficient to yield a net revenue, as in England and most other European countries; whilst others, with more wisdom, pointed out the vital difference in the case of America on account of "its great extent and uncultivated state, as well as from a thousand other causes."[160] The new rates were based on eight zones of distance. For distances under 30 miles the charge for single letters was 6 cents; for distances over 450 miles the charge was 25 cents; every double letter, double rates; every triple letter, triple rates; and every packet weighing 1 ounce avoirdupois, the rate of four single letters for each ounce. The rates for letters fixed by the Act of 1792 continued some thirty years, except for slight modifications in 1799 and 1816, and except for a brief period at the time of the war of 1812-14 with Great Britain. The Government then attempted to obtain an increased revenue from the Post Office, and the rates of postage were increased 50 per cent. The effect on the revenue and on the business of the country was, however, so disastrous that the increased rates were maintained only for about a year.[161] In 1825 the laws relating to the Post Office were codified. The codifying Act placed on the Postmaster-General the duty of establishing such post offices, and appointing such postmasters on the post roads as should appear to him expedient, and of providing for the carriage of the mail on all post roads that were or might be established by law,[162] with such frequency as he should think proper, "_having_ _regard to the productiveness_" of the routes, the means of the department, and other circumstances. Errors and irregularities crept into the service; but they were for the most part the result of "the representations and pressing solicitations of the citizens," sustained by members of Congress from almost every section of the country, of the extension of the franking privilege, of the desire of the head of the department "to extend the benefits of mail facilities and stage-coach accommodations to every portion of the community," and of legislation extending the transportation of the mail over unproductive routes. The deficits which resulted were not regarded altogether as an evil, because the public had greatly benefited by the measures which had produced them.[163] Despite the solicitude of Congress the revenue failed to recover, and in 1837 and several succeeding years showed a deficit.