It seemed economically unworkable

It seemed economically unworkable to the other delegates of the Austro-German Postal Conference. Who would forgo their privacy, even for the sake of convenience and frugality?

The POSTCARD PLUS  popularity baffled and even appalled the cultural elite.. On the other hand, if one lacked anything substantial to write, why write at all? The smaller format inhibited sustained thought. Some even blamed the postcard for a decline in literacy and argued that its shorter format led to poor grammar. On one hand, it seemed ridiculous and highly inappropriate to write anything remotely personal on a postcard, where postal workers, neighbors or servants could read the message

"I have no words in which to speak of this abomination,". "It symbolizes the triumph of the commonplace, of the cheap-and-easy, the utter capitulation of individuality.... On their edges will be scrawled flying words, and some initials … to me who so dearly love a quiet letter from a friend, [even] written infrequently. complained one writer in Scribner's Magazine in 1908..

"Wish you were here" on a hand-colored postcard of the "moonlit" Eiffel Tower — necessarily just a taste of what the sender was thinking as he put pen to card — could evoke a world of desire. The recipient would imagine the rest. For true postcard aficionados, communicating via postcard was not just easier but also better. They waxed poetic about the sentimental merits of this new abbreviated medium. Less room to write meant instant synecdoche.

Postcard enthusiasts became just as extreme in their pronouncements. They saw it as a symbol of democracy itself and a revolution in interpersonal communication.. It created more points of contact between family members and friends, regardless of class. It was even credited with facilitating global understanding through the establishment of international postcard exchange clubs. Affordable to all, the postcard was hailed as the most important postal advancement since the penny post

Four years later, when a similar proposal was accepted by the Austrian post office, the public answered that question. Nations around the world quickly issued their own official postcards. Seventy-five million were sent in Britain in 1870, the year it adopted the new medium. Three million postcards passed through the Austrian post within the first three months.