US Presidency
1869

Looking to our future, I recommend a liberal, though not extravagant, policy toward this branch of the public service. The report of the Postmaster-General furnishes a clear and comprehensive exhibit of the operations of the postal service and of the financial condition of the Post-Office Department. The ordinary postal revenues for the year ending the 30th of June, 1869, amounted to $ 18,344,510, and the expenditures to $ 23,698,131, showing an excess of expenditures over receipts of $ 5,353,620. The excess of expenditures over receipts for the previous year amounted to $ 6,437,992. The increase of revenues for 1869 over those of 1868 was $ 2,051,909, and the increase of expenditures was $ 967,538.