The Portland daily press., 1875-11-09
The Post ONCE Dopartmeut.


Mr.. Il. W. Barber, Third Assistant Post
master General, has completed his an nual re-
port 1t contains many facts Of interest The
number of official letters received In that bu-
reau in the lastifscal GEAR was 6SO,0O0 These
were opened, classified, indexed and distributed
by four clerks. The figures show that the
postal cards are very popular. During tho year
there were issued l67, 900 of the value Of
$1,076, 160. In the month of October last
there were issued of the new cards, 20,-
$4,000, which is one-ffth of the entire amount
during the fiscal year. The estimate of the
number necessary for the next fiscal year is
154, ,967, 200. .taLrla
The public or ordinary postal stamps issued
to postmasters during the fiscal year was 6S2,-
342, ,170, of value of S1s, 271,479. The value
of postage and periodical stamps was 3s15,oo2.
The number of official stamps issued to the
Executive Department was Is, ,495, 900, OF
value of SS24, $40. The total number of stamps
$25.477,511 The increase in the number of
ordinary stamps is about 10 per cent The
increase, including official stamps, is about
per cent. The postage stamps sent through the
mails BY registered pouches to postmasters
numbered $50, ,452. Ofthis entire amount there
were lost but ten packages of an aggregate
value of $3.50. a4Is sre -al M s1l y
The statistics of the dead letter service are
of quite romantic interest The number of
letters handled during the year was about four
and half millions. OF these 81 100 contained
money, aggregating $6i, 900; 14,225 letters con-
tained drafts, notes, and bills of exchange, of o
value OF S2,9s7 SAT; 135,027 letters contained
samples of merchandise, postage stamps .ad
miscellaneous articles; 374oooe- contained
nothing of vslns.----
There were mailed to foreign countries from
the United States IL, 5O0, 900 letters Of these
l06, 200 were returned undelivered. The num-
Der OF letters received from foreign countries
11,SO0,00O; Of which 219, 100 were returned un-
delivered. These figures show the advantages
which this country will derive from the new
postal treaty of Berne. That treaty provides
that each country shall retain the postage on
all letters mailed in its own territory, and that
no accounts shall be kept between the coun.
tries. The excess of letters mailed from this
country, over the number received from for
eign countries is nearly one million. The net
gain to the United States from the treaty,
therefore, presuming all letters to be only sin
gle weight, is five cents each on million let
ters, or $4,000 ltL -.rs rtF .asrL 60 tsa
The result of the operations of the new law
which requires prepayment Of newspaper post
age, presents curious paradox. While tho
aggregate receipts from this source have not
been so large as they were under the old sys-
tenn. the net gain to the government is greater.
The Post Office Department estimated that the
new law would yield one and half million
dollars annually. The estimate was based up
on the returns from fifty-ive leading Offices for
a uniform period. But the postmasters either
erred or did not make truthful returns, for the
receipts from this source are less than one MIL
lion dollars. The government makes q gain
however, from the fact that this sum Is mainly
collected in advance at a few offices, where no
commission is allowed upsn the sums collect
ed. The amount received under this new sys-
TEN is near $500, 900, about the sum rscei we'd
under the old system in 1873 OF the entire
amount collected, commissions were paid upon
only one hundred thousand dollars. Newspa-
per prepayment stamps have been supplied to
3400 offices, the total number of places in the
United States where daily newspapers are pub
lished. l .r.1 sIr.f.5 '1 -"zl- --i Tl3F
The increase in the number of registered
pouches during the year was fifteen per cent.
The system of registered through pouches
works satisfactorily. They have been used up
on all principal routes. Postmasters generally
certify to their usefulness. ~. asa Il lat .icr
---- ..se ar
PoTAToEs.-Potatoes are being rushed to
market before heavy cold sets in. New York
city is being overwhelmed with potatoes. Many
of them will made into starch. arrowroot and
spirits. Four hundred carloads sometimes ar
rive in single day, while large tows 60 down
the river. every boat carrying 5000 bushels or
over. New York "does the big thing on the
tubers. In 1873 the crop of the country was
set at 1O6.OS 900 bushels, value s74,774sso. of
which the state of New York alone produced
"a, ,925, 900 bushels valued at Al z 45q 5OO giving