Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1856-03-31

the same period Whe;hsr Congress shall De
| eide 10 continue the system of .-franking.' nov
carried on or not. there can be but one opinion
| as to tho Justice Of having all the expense de-
fraoded by an appropriation from the Treasury.
/ That appropriation for several years has been
800, 0tW annually--less than one third Of the ae
tual cost; and the government correspondence
| aud public documents have increased much fnster
than private mail matter. II is very evident that
| no success good management OF the Depart.
| ment will ever bring the Post Office H. the poin
of snlf support. long il is subject TO this tax
| on its resources
| Posi- OFFICE MONEY OnpERs.-Tbe annually
| increasing losses that occur from tbefts. mail
| robberies and other causes. furnish direo. evi.
dence If the necessity for some secure method
| Of renting money by mail. Several European
Governments have successfully introduced
mode oil transmitting money by small drafts or
| money orders which are drawn by the principal
| Post Offices on each other Over fifty million
dollars are annually sent through the Post Office
| in Great Britain. in small sums, by this means
! alone; the entire cost to tho government IL
| liqudated By commission averaging less than
one per cent. on the amount Of the orders not
one dollar in seventeen thousand ever miscarries
from any cause; and in cases of theft mail
robbery. there is scarce possibility Of the mo
ney being paid except to the right person. In
the United Statos there are over one thousand
depreciation cases reported to the Post Ofhce an
Dually; the losses numerous and extensive;
and large share Of it falls the laboring clas-
SEES. the poor and tho needy, thus creating great
pecuniary distress.
COMPULSORY PREPAYMENT the present
law Of COMPULSORY PREPAYMENT. there is wan.
ton destruction of more than million letters
annually, u loss that falls with great severity
all classes and particularly our fore gn popula-
ton the poor, and the ignorant Ii not unfrequent
ly happens with those who use the greatest care,
that in consequence of the loss or theft of the
stamps, letters of Importance are sacrificed, caus-
ing great Inconvenience and distress. 1t not I'M
frequently happens TINT letters are written and re-
quire mailing Ut usual hours, when no stamps are
to be had; aud in several cases postmasters in ru-
raj districts and remote towns have had their sup
ply Of stamps exhausted and then have refused
large numbers If letters, thus actually stopping
the mails while the public ready and willing
to pay the postage in money. Numerous instnn-
ces have beeninade publIc.in some of which gront
pecuniary losses have occurred in the operation
OF the law OF compulsory prepayment. by an nd
dtiona charge. in all cases where letters are not
prepaid, tho Post Office may be rcmuneratcd for
any extra trouble in collecting postage.
DEAD LETTERS. BY the present laws and reg
uatons of the Post Office Department. between
four aud Eve million dead letters are annually
burned,a wanton destruction of private documents
savoring moro of the spirit and customsl of bar
barians than the practice of Christian commu
nifty. The entire expense attending the return of
all dead letters to the writers would be trifng
compared to the utility of the measures, and if
levied as special tax on each person in the
country who writes a letter the annual sum could
not be one half the amount OF single letter pos
tage at the lowest rates now charged.