The Postmaster-General has done well to withdraw his unfortunate scheme
for advertising on postmarks. No doubt some money could have been made by this means, hut, as the Postmaster-General acknowledged, the revenue from it would have been much less than he had estimated. Apparently even those who were expected to make use of the new method of advertising were very shy of it. The reasons against it were, in fact, overwhelming. A letter, even though it is in the keeping of the Government while being conveyed through the post, is private property and it would have been odious that a Department of State should disfigure this property—perhaps using it to advertise business rivals of the recipient of the letter. When once annoyance begins to creep into a business transaction, the trans- action stands condemned. Finally, the whole conception falls short of the dignity rightly expected of a Government.
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