But the rates were not revised. Revision in an upward direction was, indeed, hardly feasible. The public agitation for low rates continued after the passing of the Act of 1845. Many citizens were convinced that the system already adopted in England might be introduced in the United States. The benefits which had resulted in England in the way of commercial, social, and moral betterment were largely dwelt upon. The chief demand was for a uniform rate, which now meant simply the abolition of the increased charge for distances over 300 miles. There was, of course, Sir Rowland Hill's calculation in regard to cost of conveyance, which showed the futility of any attempt to make distance the basis of charge; and the further consideration that the actual cost of transit for each letter sent in a mail varies not in accordance with the distance travelled, but inversely as the number of letters contained in the mail. Moreover, it was not considered just that the letters of the people of the populous Eastern States should be taxed in order to provide unremunerative mail services to the remote and newly settled Western States.[169] Under the old high rates the revenue had not increased in proportion to the increase of population, but since the reduction of 1845 the increase was so much more rapid that even with the reduced rates the revenue was greater than ever before. The Government preferred rates of postage which were too low to rates which were too high, arguing that in the former case the great mass of the people would benefit, whilst in the latter case the benefits would extend only to a few.[170] The need for some further reduction was well illustrated by the fact that the ordinary charge for transporting a barrel of flour from Detroit to Buffalo was at this time the same as the charge for carrying in the same conveyance a letter weighing half an ounce, viz. 10 cents. In 1851 an Act reduced to 3 cents the rate of postage on letters not going over 300 miles, with a fourfold charge on Pacific mails, on account of the great expense incurred by the department. It was estimated that the expense of such mails was four times as great as in the case of ordinary mails, but the proposal met with opposition.[171]