The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-12-29

offices.
OF the fifty distributing postoce in the country thr
teen have been discontinued being unnecessary and
tending to interfere with the speed of the mails besides
being costly The distribution system exists in no other
and only deemed necessary here in consequence of the
great extent of territory, and the immense number of
postofces The report submits to Congress the nueson
of its continuance, and urges that at any ate the num-
her of distributing offices should be reduced as much as
possible from year to year. and that they should be
where travel concentrates.
The whole number of dead letters during the year is
stated at 500 000 including about 500 900 drop letters
ana 5oooO held Tor postage More than fifty per of
the dead letters accumulated at about forty out of the
$3.50 post Offices In the large majority of the cases let
tiers fail to reach their destinations by of isdirec
ton iegible direction and the migratory habits of the
people Of the letters containing money recently restored
to their owners than sixty per had failed to
reach their destination entirely from being misdirected
held for postage addressed transient And
of the dead letters containing valuable enclosures other
than money, the per cenage of failure from the same
cause eighty.
the dead letters which do not contain enclosures of
value, 1t has been found on inquiry that, in about
third Of the cases. the writers willing to pay for re-
covering their letters and at the time the fact
shown that forty cent Of this class of letters mscarry
aults OF the writer's About million OF let
tiers became dead from entirely beyond the control
of the department legislation. As remainder
something may be done by laws and regulations TO
diminish the number and to provide for returning them
sooner and in larger numbers to the writer's Hereafter
letters are to remain on hand week before being
Vertsed and those unclaimed at the end of three
after to be returned to the dead office
by TINS new arrangement much time will be saved. The
postmaster General proposes to Congress to shorten this
period of three months.
Attention is called to the large number OF postoices
with similar names The operations Of the dead letter
flee thus given:
The whole number Of dead letters containing money
registered and sent out during the year ending June
1859, 9,726, Of which 1914 were delivered leaving
1853 unclaimed The whole amount of money received
was $457lS H. amount restored to owners, $4l l4S74
The number of letters registered and sent out contain
ing valuable enclosures, other than money such as bills
Se41 OF which 73s have been restored the owners
leaving unclaimed 909
The Of the enclosures was So 5Q2 29s II: the
amount of the enclosures in sterling was IS 1888 l5s 3D.
the amount of the enclosures in francs O442l.
The number of dead letters returned (unopened) to
foreign countries during the last fiscal 1888 9s
divided as follows, viz England 60 $40; France 1887
Prussia, 1S,409; Bremen, 6,99; Hamburg 401 Canada
q ,537; New Brunswick, 1,7S0 Nova Scotia SOS
As the local express companies monopoze the drop
letter business in cities by charging only for
delivery while the United States post Office charges
the Postmaster General suggests that Congress should
repeal the law fixing the at two enable the
department to make effort to obtain this business The
box SYSTEM he says is being rapidly outgrown by the
population OF our principal cities, and must be finally
abandoned as it has been in Europe. The box system
by carriers.
The report makes onslaught upon the freedom of the
mails granted to newspaper exchanges under the
$50 lie says 1t is far more uni ust than the ranking
privilege that the newspaper exchanges are stock in
trade Of the journalist and that the government has
To pay Tor their transportation the editor ought pay
postage them He also urges the repeal of the statute
of 1882 requiring that weekly newspapers be delivered
free OF postage to all subscribers residing within the lin
its of the county in which they are published The
report argues srenuousy in favor of both these PROPOSE
tons.
The report says that the department suffers from the
policy OF making the mails subsd ry to the maintenance
OF travelling lines ard that enormous thus paid
TO companies for mails which light scarcely to
yield sufficient revenue to pay for carrying them on
horseback FOurhorse coaches thus run on border
and unfrequented routes and steamboat lines are subsi
died at an outlay which would afford postal accommoda
tons to entire States merely that the owners of these
lines may be enriched and that the public may have
easy certain and economical modes of conveyance for
passengers and goods To obviate this in some
the department will in future enforce the laws of 1916
requiring all mail contracts to be let to the lowest
sble bidder.
The express mail agents from New York PHILADELPHIA
and Baltimore westward have been discontinued and the
baggage masters substituted for them at reduced com,
pensaton thus saving $40 100 per annuu The report
complains the exorbitant charges for RAILROAD i
which from $50 1915 per mile here while in Cas
da they $50 for day aud $40 for night service II l.
also stated that one hundred and thirty roi
road routes the mails are transported without contracts
They carry the mails when and they please and the
department is obliged to submit But the report saws
that this is to be stood longer that proposals will be
invited from all the companies for carrying the mails
and that mails will be delivered except to contracting
parties.
The amount Of compensation demanded for the great
through mail between Portland New Orleans was so
large that in view of the embarassmens OF the depart
ment the service begun. Four routes were pro
posed for the contract through Boston, Albany and
the lake cities to Cincinnati through Philadelphia and
Pittsburg and the other three by the seaboard line differ
ing only in the route below Baltimore.
The Mississippi mail is denounced by the report as
of the act with return slight scarcely Justify
the designation of the expenditure postal charac
ter The service could be performed for fourth the
sum it now costs were it contracted for by the trip
For the six different California mail routes the gross
annual disbursements were s2ls4677 and the receipts
from them S33s747 showing loss of 81 S44 &c per
annum There was loss all the lines On that
through Panama s7SS $50 SPENT and but 1929 go
received that by Tehauntepec $3.50 900 spent and
S276 6S4 received; the overland mail from San Anto
MO to San Diego sl9G4s spent and s6O1 received
that by St Louis and FL Paso to San Francisco $780,
900 spent and s27 2299 received The monthly
mail from Kansas, Missouri, to Stockton, California
$79e99 was spent and 255 received that from St
Joseph, Mo-, via Utah TO Placerve, Cal, $500 900
spent and S. i2 received. The local mail service for
California. Oregon, Washington and Utah cost, in add
ton $50S 7 making in all 81 sos 1874 for the service of
population of not than six hundred and fifty thous
and souls at the rate of Si14 for each person. while
the postal facilities OF the rest of the Union nainng
thirty millions Of people, cost less than foryone cents for
each person The report therefore, urgently calls for the
curtailment of the Pacific service
Ihe contract for the mail service between New
New Orleans and California, has been given to
Cornelius Vanderbilt and will be carried via Nicaragua