rate of postage on letters; and in his History (page 251) he thus
comments on it:--


The experiment of a cheap rate was put upon trial. From May 14, 1841, to
December 31, 1844, the net revenue averaged one hundred and twenty-four
dollars and seventy-one cents per quarter. Under the new law, for the
first year and a half, the revenue has been one hundred and four dollars
and seventy-seven cents per quarter. Had the former rates remained, the
natural increase of business should have raised it to one hundred and
fifty dollars per quarter. The department, which for some years before
had fallen short of supporting itself, now became a heavy charge upon
the treasury. Whether the present rates will eventually raise a
sufficient revenue to meet the expenditures, remains to be seen. The
greatest difficulty to be overcome is evasion of the post-office laws
and fraud upon the department.


Like many other persons of that period, Mr. Butler did not appreciate
the fact that the best way to prevent evasions of the law is to reduce
the rates of postage so low that it will not pay to run the risk of
fraud.

Captain Welcome Lothrop succeeded Mr. Butler as postmaster, and during
his administration the office was kept in Liberty Hall. Captain Lothrop
was a native of Easton, Massachusetts, and a land-surveyor of some
repute in this neighborhood. Artemas Wood followed him by appointment on
February 22, 1849; but he never entered upon the duties of his office.
He was succeeded by George H. Brown, who had published The Spirit of the
Times--a political newspaper--during the presidential canvass of 1848,