New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1843-12-11
RI T r / B UcN E
psnort of The Postmaster General,

po,ort If the Postmaster General IS very
III hence we condcnec those portions that
80 less Importance
The revenue of the Department this year has
- The expenditures. The Postmaster thinks
n. should always be so, and that the Department
.o,ld never be source of revenue, nor It's OK
s Mos exceed its receipts, bat that It's income
iiso,ld always regulate the expenditures.
The amount of annual transportation of the
nail as ascertained on the 3Oth June, l842, was
a835,99l miles; the cost of which was Us, TO-
49,
sMb June, l643, was 35 ,252, sos miles; the cost
(which was So ,976,284.
i viii be observed, that. the cost of transporta-
lion for the last year was less by ssl34,499 than
twas for the previous year, while the transports
lion throughout the year was greater by 4l6,ol4
The number of Post Offices supplied in 1912,
ras 1888; and the number supplied In 1913
vasl38l4.
To accommodate the service to the extension
If populaton, reductions in the service IN some
sections, and an extension or increase In othef
nartions Of the Union, were rendered necessary
The aggregate of these reductions was SSl3l,-
9;3 and tie amount of additional and new ser
r;ce was S98,555. For a more detailed state
mpnt Of service | refer your Excellency to the
enort Of the First Assistant Postmaster General,
No. |.
For similar reasons it became necessary to dis
continue, in the year preceding lst July, lo43,
AGO Post Offices, and TO establish, during the
same period, 4Sl.
The total expenditures Of the Department for
he fiscal year ending the 30th June, 1912, as
stated in the report of this Department to the
House of Representatives under date of the 2olh
Of February, 1943, were $4,975,370 AZ. In this
amount was included 1892, 664 81 for debts
paid out of the special appropriation at the extra
SESSION.
The total expenditures of the service for the
wear ending 3Oth June, 1913, were $4,374, 7l3 Is,
including payments on account OF debts due by
he Denartment, for which the appropriation
above was made.
The amount of gross revenue for the year end
ng the 3Oth June, 1871, as stated In my annual
report Of Sd December, 1912, was $4,379,3l7 49,
That of 1872 was $4,546,246 10,
The revenue of lS43, SO far as the returns OK
hibit the amount for the year ending 3Otil june,
is S&,29s,925 43.
essscsa.-.hie ,seste,s &c t:Se s..sre.,t 10
ef the Department, for the years 1912 and lo4o,
has been absorbed in the payment Of demands
claimed by Deputy Postmasters for expenditures
in previous years, by the allowance of credits
therefor in the settlement of their ACCOMPLISHMENT
credits 80 allowed have been charged to the ex-
penditures of those years; the probable amount
of which is not less than $4,000.
There have been some Irregularities IN the
two great Mail routes, between Washington and
New Orleans and Baltimore and CinclnnatI,w which
have been corrected as far as possible. On the
Cumberland road, the mail in the winter ana
spring, reaches Wheeling after dark, and as the
ieryman refuses to carry it over till daylight,
detentionEof ten or twelve hours is unavoidable-a
bridge is recommended to be built.
Hesuggests that the acts of Congress should
be changed, SO as to permit the Department to
make contracts on those routes where there is no
competition, without advertising for the lowest
hds-as in such cases it is a useless ceremony
1t appears from the statements that while the
revenue of 1912 was greater than l84l, that of
lA3is lessthan that Of 1912, by $3.50, 800 10
decension to the operation of Expresses, and
thinks that unless there is further legislation on
this subject by Congress, to put stop to them,
the revenue ofthc Department will be so much
diminished that Government will be compelled
omake direct appropriations TO meet the eXpen-
dl!ures. The power to establish postoffices and
postroads he thinks is plainly guaranteed to Con.
gress
The General Government should either protect
the Department against the lnroads OF private
posts, or provide the ways and means to meet the
necessary expenses of the service.
The impoLcy OF permitting the businesses OF
conveying letters and packets, IN whole or IN
part by private posts or expresses, so long as the
Department of the Post-Office is left to create,
toy Its operations, its own means of support must
Dc apparent. These private expresses Will only
ee found to operate upon the great and profitable
laoroughfares between great commercial points,
while the extremes are left TO depend upon the
operations of the United States mail, crippled and
ofoken down for the want of means.
Between New Y ork and Boston, between fhll-
adslphia and Baltimore, between New York and
buffalo, individual enterprise might supply the
''ss VI lle community III lae IdPio dHu oheoP
transportation Of letters and packets. VIII the
sane enterprise penetrate the savannahs and
swamps of the South, or the wilds of the West,
anu daily or weekly convey to the door of the
painter and the h,,Sbandman the letter of business
OF friendship, the intelligence Of commerce and
politics!
Individual enterprise may be rewarded by the
Payment Of six cents for carrying letter between
New.Yerk and Boston, but can that same enter
Pse be invoked TO carry letter for IS cents dal-
between Philadelphia and St Louis, or from
lMcago to Savannah, or from st. Augustine, Fa
70 Burlington, Iowa
f,he great thoroughfares between commercial
cites are left to the operations of private posts,
ne extreme points, whose connections in business
and commerce tend to swell the postage collected
a. the cities, must suffer, or the means to reach