The republic., 1850-12-04
Report or tho Postmaster General.

companying the Presidents Message will be
more generally read, or give greater satisiac-
ton. than that of the POSTMASTER GENERAL,
which we published in our paper of yesterday.
Ii exhibits, in concise and business like style,
the fiscal affairs of the Department, and fur
nishes valuable statistics in relation to the
performance of our mail-service. The in
crease Of this service for the last fiscal year,
over the year preceding, was about 9 4-l0
per cent. and the increase in the total cost
was about IL 7-l0 per cent. The whole
number of post offices in the United States
at the end of the last fiscal year was lS,4l7.
The gross revenue of the Department for the
year ending June 80, 1850, was $5, So, ,97l AZ;
the expenditures were $5,2l2, ,953:43; leaving,
as the excess of the gross revenue over the ex-
pendtures, the sum of $340,0lS 05. The nett
balance to the credit of the revenue or the De
partment, at the date last mentioned, was
ST. ,l32 ,015 49, The estimated revenues for
the current year are $6,l66,6l6 %, and the
estimated expenditures 5000 800 90; leaving
an excess of revenue of $l46,S06 3S, which is
to be considered, of course, only as reasonable
dppIoAiitdtioH w ,iiV aStuai iVouit.
Sixteen steamships are now in actual ser
vice in conveying the mails to foreign countries
and to our possessions on the Pacific. Four
more are to be added under existing contracts.
Ii is recommended that arrangements be made
with the countries to which our steamship
lines extend, to secure satisfactory terms for
the interchange of mails, and for the transit Of
Il 81 IL s. ,.x-
tries to the countries beyond. With Germany
such arrangements have been already made.
The mail service in California and Oregon is
still in an unsettled state 1t is suggested that
efficiency and economy might be introduced if
the POSTMASTER GENERAL should be author
lied to send temporarily to the Pacific coast an
officer of experience in mail arrangements and
the rules of the Department, for the purpose OF
being there associated with the local agent in
organizing the service and placing it on pro
per basis.
On the subject of the reduction of postage,
the recommendations of the POSTMASTER GEN
ERAL are substantially as follows: That the
inland letter postage be fixed at three cents
the single letter when prepaid, and five cents
when not prepaid the prepaid rate to be re-
duced to two cents the single letter whenever
it shall be ascertained that the revenues of the
Department, after the reductions now recon-
mended, shall have exceeded its expenditures
by more than five per cent. for two consecutive
fiscal years twenty cents the single letter to
be charged on all correspondence to and from
the Pacific coast, South America, the eastern
continent and its islands, and points beyond
either; and ten cents the single letter on all
other sea-going letters, (where the postage has
not been adjusted by treaty,) without the
superadditon of inland postage in any case !;
the POSTMASTER GENERAL to be empowered
to reduce or enlarge the sea rates, by and with
the consent Of the PRESIDENT, with the view
of arranging advantageously our postal inter
course with other countries.
1t is recommended that the uniform inland
postage on newspapers, sent to subscribers from
the office of publication be fixed at one cent
each; on pamphlets, periodicals, and all other
printed matter, Except newspapers two cents
for the weight of two ounces or less. and
one cent for every additional ounce or fraction
of an ounce; for the sea-going charges on all
printed matter, twice the inland rate where the
letter postage between the same points is ten
cents, and four times the inland rate where the
letter postage is twenty cents.
The reductions proposed will, if carried out
reduce the revenues of the Department for the
first three or four years. To meet the def
cheney, the surplus revenues now accumulated
may be first applied; afterwards an appropria-
tion from the Treasury may be required unless
Congress shall abolish the franking privilege
With regard to this privilege, and also the
privilege possessed by newspaper proprietors of
sending and receiving exchange papers, the
POSTMASTER GENERAL is Of opinion that if they
are continued, the Department should be paid
by an appropriation from the Treasury, rather
than by tax on private correspondence.
With such an appropriation there is no
doubt that the Depa rtment would be able
to sustain itself Notwithstanding the pro
posed reduction. In case the reduction be
made, il is suggested that it should only
take effect from and after the 30th Of June
next, and also that power be given to the Posr-
MASTER GENERAL to increase the rates Of com
mission at the smaller post offices.
1t is suggested that the term newspaper is
not so fully defined by the existing laws as is
desirable to relieve the Department from per-
picking questions.
An incongruity is pointed out in the law es-
iablishing the California steamship lines, in
providing for a mail twice month from New
York, &c, to Chagres and only once a month
from Panama along the Pacific coast.
1t is recommended that the locks and keys
in use upon the mails Of the United States be
changed, they having been in service for many
years.
% The accommodations for the post office Of
this city are entirely unsuited to an office of its
importance. Additional rooms are required
also for the use Of the Post Office Department.
IL is therefore recommended that the contem-
plated extension Of the west wing of the Gene
raj Post Office building be authorized, and that
the first floor be devoted TO the use Of the city