Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1871-12-15
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS pnrORT.

money-ordeT funds deposited ms postal receipts for
convenience Of transfcr) were $1SS10,81765 and
the expenditures mot including the amount Of mon.
ey-Ordor funds rcransferred) were S23 33iS,S3LG3
The increase Of revenue for the year 1871 over the
increase of expenditures $i,0il 2G645, Or 4,i5 per
cent, showing a net increase In revenue Of |
isii over the year 1860 was sS ~ sGoTo or or i5Ta
per cent and the increase OF expenditures for 1871
over 1869 was $l,251,0 ,0725s or 541 per cent The
increase In revenue for 1871, compared with 1870
wns less than the increase for 1870 compared with
1869, by $270,0i216; and the increase Of expendi
lures for 1871 compared with 1870 was greater than
the increase for 1870, compared with 1869, by $Ip,
5O32
II, in addition to the ordinary revenues, the De.
partment be credited with $1O0,O00 appropriated for
| transportation of free matter, and the amounts
! drawn ahd expended for subsidies to steamship
pg, IN Il win appear that the deficiency provided ont
05S.G .G6, against $2Sll, 1i6.9s for the year 1870.
Estimated expenditures for the year ending June
30 1871, $21 1iSD 100 revenues estimated at ten per
cent. increase over last year, including $10O,0O0
standing appropriations for free matter $22 e1i9
! leaving deficiency of $i,ii9,OOl These esti-
mates do not include special appropriations, in the
nature of subsidies, for mail steamship service he
! tween san Francisco and Japan and China between
! the United States and Brazil, and between SAN
Francisco and the Sandwich Islands, to the amount
Of $7250OO.
or the deficiency appropriated for 1870 there was
! Si,IiO000; appropriated for deficiency In 1871 81
! GS5.032-making total OF $0i25,032.
! There were drawn during the last fiscal year of
| the amount uneXpended at the close of 1870 for
! payments on account of that year. S1,050,000; of
amount appropriated for 1871, $t,65O 000-making
total of $2700000, and leaving in the Treasury, un
| expended, s6,I25,032 against which there are
ch1rgcable sundry unliquidatcd accounts estimated
at Sl2Sy2l6l leaving, after settlement of all lin
bties to June 30. 1871, a net balance of deficiency
appropriations of $5,ii6,1f039
The number Of adhesive postage stamps issued
during the year was 4!S, 1885, 1I5, representing $tl
6lO'll5; stamped envelopes plain, 49,95i625, repre-
sCnting 81 ,I32, I5: REQUEST envelopes AZ ftt
$50. representing 81 l3 1sl 80: newspaper wrappers
] f1uly fnIu al nf
6O2,SOl 100 stamps, envelopes and wrappers, repre-
scnting S11629,55l25 The increase in amount
over % the fiscal year ending June 30, 1870, was ST.
The number Of packages OF postage stamps lost
in the mails during the year was six, representing
Sy5S and of stamped envelopes three, representing
! SOLD being much less than tho losses from simi
lar delinquences in 1870 and previous years.
| TRANSPORTATION STATISTICS.
There were in the service Of the department on
the 3Qth june 1871, 1885 contractors for the trans
! poraton of the mails.
of mail routes i'm operation there were 1851,
aggregating in length exclusive of special routes
23S,350 miles in annual transportation 1OI,512,
| III miles, and in annual cost $t1.529. 3g5
! Adding the compensation of railway post
office clerks, route agents. local agents, mail
messengers. mairoutc messengers, and baggage
masters in charge of registered passages, amounting
/ to Sl.S1552G, the aggregate annual cost was $13
4Ol,921.
The service was divided as follows
! Railroad routes : Length. 1854 miles: annual
transportation, 55557,0iS miles; annual cost. So
| 12i,919-about 1870 cents per mile.
Steamboat routes: Length 20,33i miles annual
transportation. 1851 17S miles annual cost S116-
93-about 1858 cents per mile.
Other routes on which the mails are required to
be conveyed with celebrity, certainty, and secur-
ity." Length, 1853 191 miles annual transportation
4I53O,WS miles annual cost, $5021, ,473-about
1862 cents per mile.
length OF routes of I12I miles, in annual trJnspor-
tation 105iI,79S miles, and in cost $6il.Tl Add
ing the increased cost for railway postotce clerks,
route local. and other agents, $l0I 63G the total in
crease in cost was S1Oi9,37S.
The foregoing statements of distances and costs
do not include service for special offices. There
were at the close of the year 2,115 of these each
with macarrier whose pay from the Department
office Special routes and their carriers in
cluded, however. in the number of contractors and
routes as given above
The new railroad routes put in operation during
the year 1871 amounted to 6,101 miles; during
| 1870, to 4,t90 miles, and during 1869 to
APP 5;,i mllesmmaklng ~ in the aggregate an ad,
miles in operation July 1868. The increase in
three years exceeds 3S per cent, and in the last
year alone 1t reached the unparalleled proportion Of
II per cent
In both my former reports have advocated re-
vision and readjustmcnt OF the rates of compensa-
ton for the transportation of mails on railroads.
but as vet no effective action has been taken by
Congress The Department continues to encounter
many annoying difficulties in its efforts to secure
rapid transmission Of the mails particularly those
containing newspapers, to the South and West, Ow-
ing to complaints by the managers of railroads of
the inadequacy of their pay and their refusal to
allow the of their fastest trains and most com
modtous mail-cars. 1t is important to the service
that this ong-pcnding controversy should be set
tied. and hence again renew my recommendation
that the act Of 3D. March 1Si5 be so amended as to
allow fair and reasonable increase of the compcn-
saton or railroad companies, upon condition that
they shall enter into contract with the Department
for the prompt and faithful performance Of their
duties.
FINES AND DEDUCTIONS
Inc amount of fines imposed upon contractors, and
deductions made from their pay, account of fail
ures and other dClinquenCics for the last year was
the
same period was S1O0I6,9t, leaving the net amount
OF fines and deductions 65.17917.
MAIL DEPREDATIONs.
The number OF complaints of missing letters dur
ing the year is 1900, of which 2051 were registered
and Abb unregistered, containing bonds drafts,
and currency TO the nominal amount of Sis,
Or registered letters $50 accounted for a. re-
ceived Al their destination and only 2s3 have been
reported as actually lost. The remaining cases are
in the hands Of special agents for investigation.
For violations OF the postal laws, 123 persons have
been arrested, OF whom 81 have been convicted and
sentenced to different degrees of punishment and
the remainder in the hands of the Department of
Justice to be dealt with according to law.
RAILWAY PosT-oFFICEs.
The statement hereto appended shows an increase
of eight lines and 2,gJ6 miles of railway post-unce
BON day of June 1871, A. extending in the ag-
gregatc II 2S miles Of railroad and steamboat
routes. Upon S,thO miles the service is performed
daily, upon 2,521 miles twice daily, and upon II
miles -four times daily, equivalent in all to 1873
miles each way daily. Counting oil the lines both
ways the aggregate service Is 1856 miles daily
clerks employed was 5l3 at an annual cost of S649-
400 against 315 clerks at cost of Sli2,GOO for the
previous year. showing the increased cost for the
fiscal year to be s2O6,s0O. or this amount the sum
Z of S2S,G00 was expended for the equalization Of sal
aries; Deductins this sum, the increased expend
| The value of the railway post-ofice system was
especially demonstrated after the destruction by fire
Of the great distributing post-oflce at Chicago ILL.,
on the 9Th of October last. But for the lines lead
ing to the West and concentrating at Chicago the
mails for the extreme Western and North
sft GtaI N~grt1I hnUa.
interrupted for many weeks. During the
month Of October, besides the letter mails
large portion OF the great p9permailS for the
the cars and passed to their destination with the
usual dispatch.
The want of sufficient room upon the cars now in
use prevents however, the proper distribution of
the large through paperm0ils, subiccting them to
frequent delays at the various distributing Offices
Tor separation while the lctter-mails 20 directly
forward to their destination.
FOREIGN MAILS.
The total number of letters exchanged, during |
the year, with foreign countries 2O,29599S, an
increase of 19}6,620 over the number reported for
1870 OF this number, 10iG1,SG were sent FROM |
and 9S}i,130 were received in, the United States.
The number of letters (single rates. exchanged /
in the mails with European countries was II, ,1i3- !
$50, an increase of 912 III over the number reported
for 1870.
The total postages on letters exchanged with for /
elIp countries amounted to $1,735, ,2GG32, heing /
iS7O
The aggregate amount Of postage Csea, inland and |
Iurcgn) ON the leiter-mas exchanged with thc |
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, |
Germany, switzerland Italy, The Netherlands. Bel |
gium and France was $11Sl .057il, being $2Gl sS5-
10 less than the amount reported for 1870 The /
postagcs ON letters sent exceeded the pOstagcs on
letters rCceited from the same countries in the sum
OF S5,Sl2.15, being less than Onc-haf of one per |
cent. OF the aggregate amount. The postages col |
ccted in the United States amounted to 500 12i30
and IN Europe to $i25,33302, the of collcc-
tions in the United States being $330,39l37, or 2S |
per cent Of the entire postage receipts. q
Comparing the year 1871 with the year 1910, the |
rate of increase In the total number of letters eX
changed in the mails with foreign countries was |
lOlG per cent and the rate Of decrease in the |
amount of pOsagcs thereon was 1l9i per cent. The
Increase in the number of letters exchanged with |
European countries was nearly per cent and the |
decrease of ,postages thereon amounted TO 1870