Letter to Editor, 5 December 1835

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Letter to Editor, 5 December 1835
Source Note

JS, Letter,
Kirtland Township
Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Latter-day Saint missionaries visited township, early Nov. 1830; many residents joined Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and...
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, Geauga Co., OH, to the editor of Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate [
John Whitmer
27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...
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],
Kirtland Township
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, Geauga Co., OH, 5 Dec. 1835. Featured version published in “To the Editor of the Messenger and Advocate,” Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, Dec. 1835, 2:240. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Oliver Cowdery, Dec. 1834.

Historical Introduction
JS wrote this letter to
John Whitmer
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, editor of the Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, to address the problem of his continually receiving letters with unpaid postage. Before an 1847 federal statute required postage stamps as proof of payment to send letters, the addressee rather than the sender of a letter could be liable for paying the postage.
1
An Act to Establish Certain Post Routes and for Other Purposes [3 Mar. 1847], Statutes at Large and Treaties of the United States of America, chap. 63, p. 201, sec. 11; see also Summerfield and Hurd, U.S. Mail, 45–46.
Comprehensive Works Cited
The Statutes at Large and Treaties of the United States of America. From December 1, 1845, to March 3, 1851. . . . Edited by George Minot. Vol. 9. Boston: Little, Brown, 1862.
Summerfield, Arthur E., with Charles Hurd. U.S. Mail: The Story of the United States Postal Service. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1960.
Depending on the number of pages and the distance traveled, postage on a letter could cost anywhere from six cents to more than one dollar,
2
In the 1830s, a single-page letter sent less than thirty-six miles cost six cents. A single-page letter sent between 150 and 400 miles cost 18¾ cents, while the same letter sent more than 400 miles cost 25 cents. A two-page letter cost double, a three-page letter triple, and any letter four pages or more cost quadruple the rate of the single-page letter. Packages weighing more than an ounce started at one dollar. (Force, National Calendar, 227; An Act to Reduce into One the Several Acts Establishing and Regulating the Post-Office Department [3 Mar. 1825], Public Statutes at Large, 18th Cong., 2nd Sess., chap. 64, pp. 102–114; John, Spreading the News, 121–124, 159.)
Force, Peter. The National Calendar for MDCCCXXIX. Vol. VII. Washington DC: By the author, 1829.Force, Peter. The National Calendar for MDCCCXXX. Vol. VIII. Washington DC: By the author, 1830.
The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.
John, Richard R. Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995.
and pieces of mail often went unclaimed because the recipient could not or simply did not pay the postage. Single-page letters sent from church members in
Missouri
Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Latter-day Saint ...
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to
Kirtland
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, Ohio, would have cost twenty-five cents; larger packages sent between the two church centers cost in excess of a dollar, which was more than the average daily wage of an agricultural laborer in the 1830s.
3
See Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, MO, 25 June 1833; see also Margo, Wages and Labor Markets in the United States, 67, table 3A.5.
Margo, Robert A. Wages and Labor Markets in the United States,1820–1860. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

This problem of unpaid postage on letters addressed to JS was not new. In an 1833 letter, he similarly urged those sending him letters through the post office to “pay the postage as we are receiving letters from all parts and have to pay a great sum of money otherwise we shall be under the necessity of letting them remain in the office as we are not able to pay so much.”
4
Letter to John S. Carter, 13 Apr. 1833.
Any party receiving a large number of postage-unpaid letters would have had a similar problem. In the July 1835 issue of the Messenger and Advocate, the editor printed the following notice: “Letters to the Editor, or publishers, of the Messenger and Advocate, must be post paid, or they will not be taken out of the office. Every honest man must see the propriety of our requiring the postage on letters, paid. If we were to pay the postage on a hundred letters, each letter containing a subscriber, the sum might be twenty five or fifty dollars, and where is the profits?”
5
Notice, LDS Messenger and Advocate, July 1835, 1:160, italics in original.
Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

The same day JS dictated this short letter to the editor, which he intended for public notice, he observed that receiving letters with the postage unpaid was a “common occurence.” According to his journal entry for that day, JS was “subjected to a great deal of expence in this way, by those who I know nothing about, only that they are destitute of good manners, for if people wish to be benefited with information from me, common respect and good breeding would dictate, them to pay the postage on their letters.”
6
JS, Journal, 5 Dec. 1835.

Despite these public notices in 1835, the problem continued. The Messenger and Advocate published a reminder in October 1836 that “all communications addressed to us, to ensure attention, must come free of postage.”
7
“Prospectus,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1836, 3:386.
By late January 1837, JS wrote yet another notice stating that he would not accept letters unless the sender paid the postage.
8
Notice, 24 Jan. 1837.
Footnotes
[1]
An Act to Establish Certain Post Routes and for Other Purposes [3 Mar. 1847], Statutes at Large and Treaties of the United States of America, chap. 63, p. 201, sec. 11; see also Summerfield and Hurd, U.S. Mail, 45–46.
The Statutes at Large and Treaties of the United States of America. From December 1, 1845, to March 3, 1851. . . . Edited by George Minot. Vol. 9. Boston: Little, Brown, 1862.
Summerfield, Arthur E., with Charles Hurd. U.S. Mail: The Story of the United States Postal Service. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1960.
[2]
In the 1830s, a single-page letter sent less than thirty-six miles cost six cents. A single-page letter sent between 150 and 400 miles cost 18¾ cents, while the same letter sent more than 400 miles cost 25 cents. A two-page letter cost double, a three-page letter triple, and any letter four pages or more cost quadruple the rate of the single-page letter. Packages weighing more than an ounce started at one dollar. (Force, National Calendar, 227; An Act to Reduce into One the Several Acts Establishing and Regulating the Post-Office Department [3 Mar. 1825], Public Statutes at Large, 18th Cong., 2nd Sess., chap. 64, pp. 102–114; John, Spreading the News, 121–124, 159.)
Force, Peter. The National Calendar for MDCCCXXIX. Vol. VII. Washington DC: By the author, 1829.Force, Peter. The National Calendar for MDCCCXXX. Vol. VIII. Washington DC: By the author, 1830.
The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.
John, Richard R. Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995.
[3]
See Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, MO, 25 June 1833; see also Margo, Wages and Labor Markets in the United States, 67, table 3A.5.
Margo, Robert A. Wages and Labor Markets in the United States,1820–1860. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
[4]
Letter to John S. Carter, 13 Apr. 1833.
[5]
Notice, LDS Messenger and Advocate, July 1835, 1:160, italics in original.
[6]
JS, Journal, 5 Dec. 1835.
[7]
“Prospectus,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1836, 3:386.
[8]
Notice, 24 Jan. 1837.
Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*Letter to Editor, 5 December 1835
History, 1838–1856, volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838] “History of Joseph Smith”
Page 240
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To the
Editor
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of the Messenger and Advocate:

Dear Brother—I wish to inform my friends and all others, abroad, that whenever they wish to address me thro’ the Post Office, they will be kind enough to pay the postage on the same.

My friends will excuse me in this matter, as I am willing to pay postage on letters to hear from them; but am unwilling to pay for insults and menaces,—consequently, must refuse all, unpaid.

Yours in the gospel,

JOSEPH SMITH, jr.

Kirtland
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, Dec. 5, 1835. [p. 240]
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Editorial Title
Letter to Editor, 5 December 1835
ID #
291
Total Pages
1
Print Volume Location
JSP, D5:103–104
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