The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1870-12-09
THE JOURNAL.


The annual report Of the Postmas--
ter General, or an abstract Of It, y
published, and supplies some lnIel-
esting facts and statistics conneessu
with the WORKING Of the departmsen.'
The revenues Of the department. our
ing the past year have incresseo e e
co9nnared With the previous year.
sn5 tbere w,s.also a smah increase
Of expenses, Nhieh afe sSli, as "a
nast Years. in excess otzthe teceipes,
inns leaving q deficiency to be paid
s-om Congressional appropriations.
The comparative figures Of receipts
and expenditures for the two fiscal
vesrs ending June 80, 1869 and 1870
are as follows =, -e-@l ~
Receipts. ,s44slO - $ls,712 go 65
Expenses......... 2s,ssSlsi So ss,esa,esi q
From this it Will be seen that the
net gain of the department in rev
enue for 1870 is 81, ,d27, zoe 50, and
the increase Of expenditures but
$S00,7O6 lS. This is a better show
ing than for either Of the two pre-
vious wears. Crediting the depart
ment with 100000 appropriated ior
free matter, and the amounts drawn
and expended for subsidies to steam
shin lines. and the deficiency for the
wear is s2.sl4116 IS, As agsinst SS,-
9TO.se7 45 for 1853.
TIE PostmasierGenersl again calls
the attention Of Congress to the ne
cessity of a readjustment ofthe rates
of compensation paid to railroad
companies for transporting the mails
and expresses the opinion that the
present compensation is not a fail
return for the important services
rendered. Among the interesting
statistics of the report are those
showing the operations Of the DEAD
Letter Office. The whole number o
letters received at this branch of The
department duaing the year wa
4l52,460, of which 22O,4l5 wer'
foreign letters; 22,321 letters con
tained money, in sums ofone dolla
or more, amounting to S92,S67.S2
ofthis amount $77, 7,116,22 was de
livered to the writer's or persons ad
dressed: 22,944 letters contained
money. in sums less than one dollar
amounting to 5,7SS.63, Of which
S5.O56.72 was delivered to the writ
ers or persons addressed; II, $50 let
ters contained checks, drafts, deeds
etc, to the nominal value Of $S,O75,
54490. of which $2,969, ,400.O2 wal
restored; 3l2,6s4 letters were re
tanned for postage not prepaid
6e,12S letters were mlsdlrected
3.Ol6 had no address whatever.
The Postmaster General repeat
ing the opinion that if the frankine
privilege were repealed the depart
ment would in short time be self
sustaining. As the result Of the
measure adopted requiring post
masters to keep an account Of all free
matter that passed through the mails
for the six months from January
first to July thirtieth, the report
saws enough is now known to'enable
the opinion to be expressed that the
actual returns will show the actual
cost of free matter for the year to be
fully equal to all the defciecies. The
Discrepancy between the yield IN
postage Of letters and newspapers is
noted in connection with the relative
weight and bulk, and consequent
cost of transmission, of the two, and
the opinion expressed that the rate
of letter postage should be reduced,
as soon as the finances of the de-
partment will permit, to two cents,
thus making the rates the same.
The report shows the department to
be in good working shape, and the
general recommendations it contains
are sound.