erous in supplying free copies to postmasters, postal clerks on
trains, stage-drivers, etc. This petty graft often gave the pro-
vincial newspaper free circulation even outside the county of
publication. Or, at best, it reduced appreciably the revenue due
the Government. The large increase in newspaper production
during the war brought about a radical change due to the activ-
ities of the Postal Department. New stamps in denominations of
five, ten, and twenty-five cents were prepared for the defraying
of postage of newspaper packages and more careful postal
inspection prevented any loss in revenue to which the Govern-
ment was entitled.
The Post-Office Department did not hesitate to deny North- ern newspapers the use of the mails when they published matter adjudged to be treasonable. One illustration must suffice. On August 16, 1861, the Grand Jury of New York City " presented " The Journal of Commerce, The Daily News, The Day Book, The Freeman's Journal, and The Brooklyn Eagle to the Circuit Court of the United States on the charge that these papers contained treasonable utterances " calculated to aid and comfort the enemy," and added to its presentment the following conclusion: "The conduct of these disloyal presses is of course condemned and abhorred by all loyal men, but the grand jury will be glad to learn from the Court that it is also Subject to indictment and condign punishment." Thereupon the Post-Office Department at Washington sent the following notice to the Postmaster of New York:
Sir: The Postmaster-General directs that from anfl after your re- ceipt of this letter none of the newspapers published in New York City which were lately presented by the grand jury as dangerous, from their disloyalty, shall be forwarded in the mails.
At other times the Post-Office Department denied the mails to Northern papers which expressed dissatisfaction with the use of force to overcome the States then in secession.
