The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-01-12
POSTMASTER GENERALS REPORT.
Posi- OFFICE DEPARTMENT,

Department for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1870, were $19,772, 22065, anc
the expenditures of all kinds $23, 998,937,
63. For the year ending June 80, 1869
the Ordinary revenues were $18,344, $40.
y, and the expenditures 500, l31 so
The increase of revenue for the yaar 1870
over the year 1869, was $1.427, 7o993, o.
77S per cent, and the increase of expen
ditures $500 70613 or 1872 per cent.
showing net increase N revenue of 81,
I127003.8 80. The increase in revenue fol
the year 1870 over the year 1868 wa.
So ,479,619,85, or 2135 per cent, aud The
increase of expenditures for 1870 over
1868 was 81, 268, 244, 98, or 5.57 per cent
TIE increase in revenue for 1870, as
compared with 1869, was less than the
increase for 1862 as compared with 1863
by 1924, 199.99 and the increase in ex
penditutes for 1870, compared with 1869
was less than the increase for 1869 com
pared with 1868, by $66O,83a72. If, il
addition to the ordinary revenues, the
department be credited with 100000
appropriated for free matter, and the
amounts drawn and expended for sub
sides 10 steamship lines, it will appear
that the deficiency provided out of the
General Treasury for the year 1870 will
be 1884, 1868, against 1897, 02845 for
the year 1869 There were in the service
of the department on the 30th of June
1870, 1895 contractors for the trapsporta.
ton of the mails Of mail routes in
operation there were 1851, aggregatine
In length 231,232 miles annual transpor
futi Il
cost, $10,884653. Adding the compensa-
ton Of railway post office clerks, route
agents, local agents, mail messengers,
mail route messengers and baggage
masters in charge of registered packages
amounting to $1,470,S9O, the aggregate
annual cost was $12,355, SAB The service
was divided rs follows: There was an
increase over the preceding year in
length Of routes of 1901 miles in annual
transportation, 6,401, 593 miles, and the
cost, $478, 152 Aiding the increased
cost for railways, post office clerks, route,
mail and other agents, $195,663, the total
increase IN cost was $673,815
The foregoing statement Of increase
and costs does not include service for
special offic There were, at the close
of the year, 2,169 of these, each. with a
mail carrier, whose pay from the depart
ment is not allowed to exceed the net
postal yield of the office Special routes
and their carriers are included, however
In the number of contractors and routes
as given above. The attention of Con
gfess is again called to the necessity of q
revision and reimbursement Of the rates of
compensation established by law for the
transportation of mails on railroad routes
The managers of railroads insist that the
pay awarded them under the operation Of
the act of the Sd of March, 1866, is made
quate to the service required, and many
of them have refused, and still refuse to
enter into contracts with the department,
alleging that they will not bind them
selves by a permanent arrangement at the
present prices. The consequence is that
on many of the most important routes
the mails are carried as suits the con-
venience of the companies, and with but
little regard to the public interest
Many complaints of inefficient service,
and In some instances of gross neglect on
the part of railroad companies, have been
made during the past year by some of the
newspapers of the country, but notwith-
standing the most persistent efforts to
remedy the evils complained Of very
little 1T any improvement has yet been
effected, the department having no con-
troll of the time or manner of running
trains, except in cases where contracts
have been regularly executed After a
careful consideration Of the subject, I am
satisfied that the compensation fixed by
law is not fair return for the important
service rendered by railroad ompanies,
and hence, repeat my recommendation
that readjustment of their pay be made
by law, and at the same time they be re-
quired to enter into a contract with the
Department as condition precedent to
drawing any increase of compensation.
The amount OF fines imposed on contrac.
tors, and deductions made from their pay
on account of failures and other delin-
quencies during the last year, was $780,.
1852. and the amount RENTED for the
same period $28,753.25, leaving the net
amount ST.. 622.07. This shows an in
crease on the net amount of fines and
deductions over the year 1869 of $21,-
379.25, and decrease in the amount of
remissions Of $17,197.74 The increase
in the fines and deductions is not attribu.
table to increased delinquencies, but to
the fact that since the LIST of April, 1869,
the provisions of many contracts for the
forfeiture OF the pay of a trip when the
trip has not been made has been enforced
in conformity with the act of July 2,
1866. Since the adoption of this 1ule,
contractors have eyinced much greater
amount of energy in their efforts to carry
the mails through the points of destina-
ton
During the past year, 3,071 cases of
loss by mail depredations occurred, of
1874 registered letters were reported to
the department, involving losses in bonds,