The pilot and transcript. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1840-1841, 1840-12-21
VOL. a...NO. 2l4.

:
be inconsiderable."
But the present apparently uniavorabIe f.
nancial condition of the Department need oc-
Gasion no anxiety. 1t can be sustained upon
lis own resources, and soon placed in safe
and prosperous condition. Yet, to afford it
temporary relief, curtailments of service, to
limited extent, are necessary. This has
already been commenced, and will be continu-
ed as far as may be found requisite to place
its finances in a sound condition. The cur
tailments or suspensions OF service will be made
so as TO occasion as little inconvenience to the
public, or Injustice 10 the contractors, as such
an operation will admit Of As periodical re-
trenchments are unavoidable, it deserves con-
sideration, whether i, would not be wise for
Congress to prescribe some rule by which all
general cuTtailments are to be effected, SO as
to remove executive discretion, and secure an
equal apportionment of the reduction OF SER
vice among the different sections ofthe country.
In examining the causes which have placed
the Department IN its present condition, we dis
cover its resources, and its ability not only to
sustain ITSELF but probably, with the aid Of some
remedial legislation, to admit of a prospective
reduction of the tariff Of letter postage, which
public sentiment seems to demand.
These causes are to be found in the unexam-
pied fluctuations since 1884 IN the financial ia
terests and commercial business of the country
The period of unprecedented overaction in
trade from the fall Of 1884 to the spring of 1887,
occasioned an extraordinary increase OF revenue,
which produced the large surplus that existed in
1886 and 1887. This surplus formed the basis
of the great extension of pupil service since 1885,
! which so far exceeded the limits to which it ?
/ could have been carried by the ordinary increase
! Of revenue, as to absorb nearly the whole of
/ this surplus IN two years. When the reaction
came on, which, under any circumstances,
would have depressed its revenues, the Depart
ment had to sustain itself with an extent OF SER
/ vice beyond Its natural limits; which had origi-
! mated from the extraordinary increase ofits rev
! enues in 1886 and 1897. But the unusual in
crease of revenue over the expenditures during
those two years, was not entirely owing to the
great activity of trade. The contracts lor Iraas-
portation during that period, had mostly been
made when prices were low, and revenue ac-
cruing from their performance was received,
prices had advanced iron fifty TO one hundred
/ per cent The Department, therefore, enjoyed
the advantages Of an excited state OF business
without the drawback which, under other cir
cumstances, the advance in prices would have
| occasioRed.
| On the other hand, the excess Of. the expendi-
lures over the receipts for hostages the last three
wears is not more to be attributed to the depres-
sion of the revenue from the state of the times,
than to the circumstance that all the existing
contracts were made during the high state of
| prices, and at an average advance OF fifty per
| cent. above the rate OF compensation paid prior
! to 1856.
| Should prices not vary essentially from their
present standard, it is reasonable to suppose that
/ the future lettings can be made at greatly redu-
/ ced rates of compensation. This is an impor-
| tant resource, which, in a few years, without
any retrenchment of service, could hardly fail of
placing the finances of the Department in pros
porous condition. But it cannot be made imme-
diately available, 50 that suspension or curtail-
ment of services, to a limited extent, become
necessary.
The restoration of commercial activity, so
confidently anticipated, may reasonably be cal
| culated to produce considerable Improvement
during the Two last quarters of the current fiscal
year, and much greater increase the next
year.
With reasonable expectation of a reduction
in the expenses of the transportation, and nearly
a certainty of a considerable increase in its reve-
nues, the future prospects of the Department are
highly satisfactory.
The present is peculiar crisis in its fnaneial
affairs, resulting rom the operation of causes
which / have cndeavored partially to explain,
and which not likely, in the same degree at
least, again to occur.
There are other causes of more limited in
fiuence which have contributed TO impair the
|
expense of the transportation of the mail upon
railroads Is not the only way in which they af-
feet the revenues of this Department The great
facilities which they afford for the transmission
of letters and newspapers out of the mail, have
evidently diminished the receipts from postage.
This is proved by the sudden falling off Of the re-
venue points whre these facilities have recent
| " been provided Information has also been re-
ceived from the agents of the Department, show
ing that letters, packets, and newspapers, were
, extensively conveyed out OF the mail ON the rail
, road and steamboat lines, and on many of the
stage and coach routes. So far as these prac-
tees, so detrimental to the income ofthe Depart
ment, we believed to be in violation of law,
endeavored to suppress them, regarding ii as my
highest duty to enforce the laws And in res
pect to letters carried by carriers and drivers,
these efforts it is believed, have been generally
eiectua; but there is no prohibition against per-
sons conveying letters and packets who may pass
over mail routes in the same vehicle which trans
ports the mali, and the railroads afford great fa-
cilities for sending letters in this way.
For fifteen years preceding the Introduction Of
the new system in England, the postage tax had
rather declined notwithstanding the increase of
population and business. This was, by many,
aseribed to the high rate of tax, but the better
and more prevailing opinion attributes it to the
numerous railroads which have gone into opera
ton.
The practice of carrying newspapers out of
the mail, without having secured the privilege
in the contract, found to be so general, that it
could not be suppressed without great inconve-
nIence to the public; and, as the ambiguity of
the law admitted OF doubts in regard to the re-
striction, concluded that should best discharge
| my duty by permitting these practices to con-
| tinue, and leave it for Congress either to remove
the prohibition or to make The law more explicit
for its enforcement As it is probable that the
| enforcement ef the prohibition would have the
effect of stopping the carrying Of newspapers on
the mail routes, rather than causing them to be
| convened in the mail, it would Seem both Just
/ and polrtio to abolish the restriction entirely. t
Another source of detriment to the revenue
the past year, has been the exercise and abuse
=