Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1851-12-17


appropriations made by the acts of March,
1917. and March, 1851. The succeeding
year will necessitate further aid from the
treasury. AT present, no reliable esti-
mate of the revenues Of the current year
can be made in consequence of the non
settlement of the postmasters' accounts
for the first two quarters.
An idea Of the amount of free matter
sent and received at the Washington OIL
flee may be formed from the fact thaI ior
the two years ending in July last. TINS
branch of business would have yielded
Cd e4O 900 at the rates then in force, or
X 795, 9qO at the present reduced rates
This does not include the free circulation
of newspapers, &c. 1t is thought that
tho reduced rates of postage on printed
matter, and the extension Of privileges to
publishers, will diminish that branch Of
revenue to at least $500, 900 per annum.
The results of the experiment now in OPP
Grafton satisfy the Postmaster General
that there should be not more than two,
or at most, three different rates of inland
postage on newspapers sent to actual sub
scribers, and that those on periodicals
and other printed matter, including tran
silent newspapers should be reduced in
number, and merely assimilated to the
ordinary newspaper rates. This change,
he thinks can be adopted without mate
rally diminishing the revenue.
The Postmaster General disapproves of
the disposition manifested in some quar-
ters to urge further reduction in our in
land rates of letter postage, before the re-
suits of the last reduction are properly
ascertained. He points out the dissimi-
larity in the circumstances of this coun-
try and Great Britain, and maintain that
the result of the system now in opera
ton in Britain admonish us not to attempt
further reduction until justified by our
revenues. Looking at our entire circum-
stances, the sparse population of immense
sections, and the extent and cXrSitG of
the area traverscd by our mailasIS$>9s$t he
concludes that we have, beyond%sas aes-
ton, the cheapest hostages in tAt svSrl1.
The new contracts for the suW ~ MN-
Vulnerable articles required forts tli thc
department are described as more favo-
rablc than former ones; an intimation is
made that an improvement in the adhesive
qualities of postage stamps will hereafter
be observable,
An opinion is exprcssed-founded up
on information obtained by agents of the
department-that, if the contractors be
favorably disposed, the MALL between
Washington city and New Orleans can be
expedited twenty-four hours that the
time required between Washington and
New York can be reduced to eleven
hours and that the mails from the South,
leaving Washington in the afternoon, may
be delivered in New York in time to be
forwarded to Boston, Albany, and West,
along the Eric railroad, by the morning
trains from New York, An effort will
also be made to preserve at New York a
close connexion of the trains carrying
the mails which leave Washington in the
morning with the evening trains which
take such mails beyond New York. If.
the negotiations now in progress to effect
these arrangements fail, the attention of
Congress will be called to other feasible
modes of expediting the great mails be-
tween the Eastern and the Southern
States.
An appropriation is recommended to
meet the deficiency of salary allowable to
the special agents of the department, and
also to pay the salaries of supernumera-
ries who have been employed in the dead
letter Office. More than 1000 pounds of
dead letters were received from California
during the last summer.
Congress is asked to lcgalize contracts
that have been entered into for mail ser
vices in California and Oregon: and mem
ton is made of other contracts which |
have been formed with the Pacific Steam
ship Company, with the mail steamers
from New York to Havana. The Prcsi |
dent of the Panama Railroad Company
had given notice that on and after the
first instant, the company would be ready
to transport the mail across the lsthmus,
and the Postmaster General has agreed to
avail himself of the arrangement-leaving
Congress to authorize the payment there
of,
That the contract with the Collins line
of mail steamers between New York and
Liverpool, require the performance of but
twenty trips out and back during the year.
AS the English government had made
new arrangements bywhich the weekly trip
of the Cunard steamers were to be contin-
ued throughout the year, it was deemed
highly important to continue the weekly
trips of the American steamers Also.
Under these circumstances, Mr.. Collins
was requested by the Post-office Depart
ment to continue his trips with an assu-
rance of recommendation of adequate
compensation. If therefore, the extra
trips are confirmed, it is earnestly recon-
mended that pro rata compensation, with
such addition. if any, as may be necessa-
ry to give to the contractors fair and lib
eral compensation for the extra service,
be authorized by Congress. The Post
master General remarks that " the unri-
vailed qualities and speed of the ships of
the line, and the very satisfactory man