Arkansas true Democrat., 1860-01-11
Report of the Postmaster General.

The report of Mir. Hot contains some in- tereStinS lacts. The wh, ,le number of post offices in the United States on the 3Otb June, 1859, was 28.53e The nnmber of aead letters amount to tFo millions a year, 'hese contained in money S2,5O2, 29S II.
 MT noit takes groundagains publishers of newspapers receiving their exchanges free, and against weekly newspaners heing delivered free of postage to such subscribers as reside in the county in which the papers are published This, if we are not mis- taken, will call down storm on his head lie advocates what are called "star bids', lor contracts to carry he mails, leaving the contractor at liberty to carry them how he pleases, so they are d.livered with celeritv and certainty. The railroads fleece the de- partment terribly. In some cases they charge as high as S375 mile, while there IS an express route agent or messenger to attend to them. In Canada the conpensa
 
 tion paid is $50 mile for day and $40 for night service. In addition to the enor- nous charges by the railroad companies in the U. S., they insist on furnishing their own schedules, and change the time of ar- rival and departure when they please.
 It is we'll known that F. M. G. Brown was emphatically western man and dis posed to increase our mail facilities. Mr. Holt has adopted different line of policy. He opposes the overland mail route and tried to cut it down from weekly to semi monthly, and now recommends that Con- gress should abolish it, if it can be done.- The Kansas and Stockton mail was discon- tlnued. It was in operation nine months. It did smashing business according to the report; made four trips, took one letter to California, and brought from thence two letters and twenty-six newspapers. The Independence, Salt Lake and Placerville mail was cut down to semi-monthly.
 Mir. Holt urges the abolition of the frank ing privilege and gives his reasons there- for. We are willing for the reasons given by him, and for other and more cogent reasons to the people of the south. His pet theory is to make the department self sustaining. To this end, in addition to abolishing the franking privilege, he asks Congress to pay out of the general revenue, the expenses on routes non- postal, or such routes as are established for accommodation and which do not pay expenses. The de- fcit for the past year is seven millions of dollars.
 He thinks he can retrench on con-
 tracts. sl ,539, ,22l % Can gain in government postages if
 the franking privilege is abolished 300 00O co Cut down railroads. .............. l,054, ,5S6 co And pay for overland route and non
 postal routes out of other funds. 1929 756 36
 Making gain of. of............ S5,653565 36
 He opposes an increase of the rates of postage and ayers that, if his suggestions are carried out, the post-ofice department can be made self-supporting.
 It appears to us that Mr. Holt is one idea man. He bends everything to his one theory. Now, 1t is true that in sparsely populated States the expenses may exceed the income, but. it must be remembered that the postage on the letters carried through Arkansas, was perhaps paid at the east The offices where the receipts are greatest, under the pre-paying system, are in large cities. It is their letters we cary and to find fault with western mails not paying is unjust. The system must be taken as a whole, and if Mr. Holt can make t self-sus- taining, well; if not, 1t is unjust to cut off our facilities because the postage on the greater part of our letters carried on our routes, is paid elsewhere
 The following table from the report shows the operations of the different over- land mail routes: