The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-12-17
R,nort ., the Postmaster General.

completed. The revenues OF tne year emu.
ing june soth, 1874, were $24, 69e, 6os, and
penditures for the year ending June 30th,
fs76, are $50, 1854, 034; total estimated rev.
enues, $29, las, 1876; leaving deficiency TO be
appropriated out Of the general Treasury, OF
$1,S15,87S. These estimates do not inclnde
the appropriations for the steamship service
and stamps, amounting to $2,09S5oo.
The use Of the registered letter system Is
heavily increasing. There has been marked
gain In the time Of Transportation through
mails; average gain from New York to San
Francisco of five hours and thirty-two min
utes; gain for mails to New Orleans Of two
hours and fifty-two minutes, and for mails
going north of one hour and fifty minutes,
and a perceptible gain on all through routes.
In regularity and certainty, the foreign
mail system is In better condition than ever
before.
The number of Post-offices in operation
June 80, 1874, was 34,294; total number OF
appointments during the year, 9,424. Inc
results of the extensions Of the letter-carrier
system are of the most gratifying character.
There has been a gain OF over thirty per
cent. on the amount of fees received from
money orders. There has been but one err
roneous payment in 59,677 payments, and
only "a In all. The increase in money ex-
changes with Great Britain and Switzerland
have been very marked.
BY an act Of Congress, approved June 20,
1874, 1t is required that, on and after the LIST
of January, 1875, postage on newspapers and
periodical publications, mailed from q
known office of publication or news agency
addressed to regular subscribers or news
agents, shall be charged at the rate of two
cents per pound, il issued weekly or oftener,
and at three cents per pound, II issued less
frequently than once q week. The act pro-
vides that the matter shall be weighed in
bulk and prepaid with adhesive stamps, to be
specially devised for the purpose. The man.
ner of applying the stamps is left discretion
airy with the department, and a system,
which it is hoped will work satisfactorily,
has been devised for carrying the law into
effect. The stamps are now in course OF prep
aration, and will be ready at the time APP
pointed for their use. 1t is expected that
the revenues of the department, from pos
tage on printed matter, will be increased by
the enforcement of this act. Heretofore
much loss has been occasioned to the depart
ment on account of the non-collectiOn OF
postage at the point of delivery. The report
then proceeds as follows:
The money-order of this department APP
pears to be rapidly growing in public favor,
and is undoubtedly very. great accommoda-
ton to large number OF persons who are
not within reach of banking facilities, or
who are unaccustomed to the use of them.
Yet see no reason why this branch of the
service should not be made self-sustaining.
The apparent profits of the money order
system, during the last year, are about $685.
600, while certain expenses amounting to
1882, for clerk hire and stationery in the
PostOffice Department, Auditors office, and
for money order blanks in the pOstotfices,
are not charged to the money order business,
but are paid out of the appropriations.
While the mOney-order system appears to
yield a revenue of $105,000, there is, in fact,
deficit of $1,000. l suggest, therefore,
that the fees of the money orders be in
Superintendent, submitted herewith (see APP
Pendix) or that the money-order system shall,
like any other business, be made to defray
its own expenses.
The number and length of the mail routes
in the United States require an expenditure
for transportation which throws into insight.
icance the cost of similar service in other
countries. For the year ending June 30th,
1876, it is estimated that this item alone will
exceed $4,000 900. The portion to be paid to
railroads will amount to more than $1O,OOO,'
600. Opinions have differed widely as to the
best method of determining the rightful
rates of compensation to be paid railroads
for services rendered to this department.
Heretofore their pay has been based on the
ance on certain through fares, for providing
postal cars. At present the matter is in a
very unsatisfactory condition, and some
equitable mode Of adjustment should be
devised and sanctioned by law. Some of the
roads have represented to the department
that the carrying of the mails was little OF
no object to them, because the express com
panies were willing to pay much more fol-
the accommodations furnished than the de-
partment would allow. On the other hand
the representatives of leading express com
panies have contended that the act, which
took effect July 1, 1874, permitting the trans
mission by mail of packages of merchandise
weighing not over four pounds, at the rate
of one cent for each two ounces, has taken
away the most profitable part of their bust
ness, and will soon render them unable to
meet the heavy rentals demanded by the
roads. There is presented a curious anoma-
1y-the roads claiming that the Government
does not pay as much as the express com
panies are ready to pay, and the express
companies claiming on the other hand that
the law is effecting such diminution Of
their revenues that they are unable to ac
cede to the demands of the roads. l fine
no disposition on the part of any railroad OF
transportation company to deal otherwise
with the department than in a spirit of fair
ness and justice. / trust that Congress viii
adopt some equitable plan of adjustment
which will not be too burdensome to the
Government, and which will be satisfactory
readjusting the pay of railroads on the basi:
of the weight of mails carried added much
more largely than was anticipated, to the ex
penses Of the department. The appropria
ton for that purpose having become ex
hausted, have declined to make further
payment. / would suggest that the tim,
has come, when resolute effort should b,
made to determine how far the Postoffic,
Department can properly go in its efforts +,
accommodate the public without trespassin,
unwarrantably upon the sphere of privat,
enterprise. There must be a limit to Gov
ernmental interference, and happily, it bet
ter suits the genius of the American people
to help themselves, than to depend on tn,
State.
To communicate intelligence and discrim
mate information are the primary functions
the legitimate sphere of its operations tends
to disturb the just rule that, in the ordinary
business of life, the recipient of benefit il
the proper party to pay for it, since there j,
no escape from the universal law that every
service must in some way, be paid for by
some one. Moreover, in country of such
vast extent like this, where most OF the op
erations of the department are carried on
remote from the controlling center, the dis
position to engage in liberal enterprise
more or less foreign to the theory of the sys
TEN, may lead to embarrassment, when ex
trication would be difficult.
For years the ranking privilege was al
incubus on the department, and an obstacle
to the efficient postal reform. It's abolition
for which we are largely indebted to the res
olution and wisdom Of my predecessor
opens the way for other measures which has
not yet been inaugurated and passed to q
successful issue, before the department car
become self-sustaining. While do not fiat
ter myself that shall be able to accomplish
this most desirable end during the shor
period of my service, propose to keep II
steadily in view, and to direct my best effort,
toward its attainment.
For the first time in the course of life de
voted actively to business, 1 find myself in
charge of an establishment, the expenditure,
(which largely exceed it's receipts-a state Of
affairs which strikes, with peculiar force, q
mind more or less disciplined by that close
inspection of accounts enforced in mercan
tile pursuits. In ordinary business affair,
d. k,,t nd 20, thio onuIsksox, nj