New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-07-20
Office from hostages for the last FIVE years the

sum OF S3,7lI, D54, the amount hPPtoPti"'cu "
Congress for transporting free matter. we hnd
the gross expenses 10 be S32, O0l 49, and this Is
less than the aggregate expense during the same
p.riod By -. 9O5, go. Now the appropriation
for the Government postage during these five
yesrs amounted to only SS,7I7,35i, while it
should have been 81, 100000. II we add the
difference between these sums TO So, Vi, 49,
the gross revenue of the Department We shall
lave $40, ,797 as the actual revenue OF the
Post-Ofiice during the last FIVE years, while the
expenses have only amounted TO S5l9Oo, loV'
The difference between these sums is 50, sI7 ,6H,
and this amount our Post-Ofice has actually
earned over aud above the expenses during the
last FIVE years And yet in the face OF all TINS
we have law passed to raise the postage on all
letters that 90 over 3 000 miles, because iorsoOth
il il pretended that our Office Department
does not support itself Was there ever grosser
iniusticel Quite as much in accordance with
trntb and fairness would it be to take out
-. $50 OCO a year from our postal revenue and
use it TO help defray the expense oil the standing
army. and then declaring the balance to be the
true Post Office revenue, contend that that De-
psrtntn Mt does not sustain itself Were all the
goods which are sent by merchants from the sea-
board TO the Valley of the Mississippi transported
free in our mail cars, coaches and Steamers
while the remuneration to the mail contractors
was paid by the Post-Ofice Department would
il be commended that there was any fairness IN
saving that the postal service was unremunera-
tive because the receipts from postage alone Tell
short fthe gross expenses ofthe transportation
Yet that would certainly be a. reasonable as 10
send Government documents by mail at an actual
annual expense of two millions and halt and
tlen. having but seven hundred thousand dollars
fer the same. contend that our Post-Ofice is not
self.sustaining because the letters and papers
sent by our citizens do not meet the entire mail
expenses
The people of this country have been con-
WINGED that they are cheated in the matter OF
Government and Congressional mail matter in
addition to having a most imperfect and dis
iointed system; but they could not be aware Of
the extent to which the cozenage has been car
RED We have only gone back in our calcula-
ii, n the short period of five years, and YET We
find positive Indebtedness of the Government
TO the Post-Offce Department of So,7S2,666 for
mail transportation and S5,S77,67 over and
above all deficiencies that have been paid
frcm the Treasury. Yes, If the Government
had paid for mail transportation the same as
our citizens pay, the Post-Offce Department
would not only have sustained itself, bat would
now have surplus fund in the vaults of the
Treasury Of over FIVE millions Of collars as the
accumulation of the last five years only and at
the same time be receiving from one to two
millions annually over and above all expenses
Does this look as if the Post-Office Department
did not sustain itselfl Were this indebtedness
admitted and oil nail matter paid form other
words, If franking were abolished-is IL not
clear that we could have universal postage
rate If two cents for all single letters and rem
der our Post-Ohioe self-supportingi The Con-
gressional appropriation for the Government
postage is direct acknowledgment OF
the indebtednrss-an acknowledgment that
CONDENSATION should be made tor services rem
deied
when we see clearly from official reports,
the cOrrectcess of which is admitted, that the
mail matter transported for Government costs
two and half millions of dollars a-year where Is
the justice in apprOpiatiBg bur 500, 900 a-year,
aud then saying that our Post-Offce runs the
nation in debt, and tnrt the people should pay
hi, her postape-rates to relieve it Every official
estimate, eye'y annual report, every column
Of postal statistics, every comprehensive view
of our mail system shows clearly that our Post
Office Department when based on just laws and
managed with any degree of skill and prudence
will more than support t-elf and at lower rates
Of postage than we have hitherto poid. But
to do that there must be an equitable charge
made for everything sent by mail This is the
position taken by the British Government; and
there nothing is sent free; franking is unknown;
and Whatever is sent BY Government or any
other department through the Post-Ohice is
charged, and an appropriation made to meet
it. The British Government does not order
book, printed by the hundred thousand copies,
20 be sent all over the land, where few want
them and still fewer read them, entailng alike
al enormous tax on the Treasury for printing
and on the correspondence of the county for
transporting them. Such an edition of every
blue book and government report is printed as is
believed to be necessary. The Cabinet Ministers
aud heads OF departments furnished with the
number of copies they require, each member
of Parliament has one, and the balance Of the
edition is deposited IN the store kept by Hansard
the Parliamentary printer, where they are sold
at cost price to any that wish to buy. The
price of each document and the weight are
printed on the first page, and then the cost
Of MIL tIa if hv