Arizona citizen., 1875-07-31
ARIZONA MAIL MATTERS.
POsT OFFICE DEPARTMENT,

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, OFFICE SEC. Ass'T POSTMASTER GEN,
 WASHINGTON, D. C., July :, 1875.
 SIR: I have the honor to acknowl- edge the receipt Of your letter of the 22d ultimo, including copy of a me morial passed by the Legislative As sembly of the Territory of Arizona, re- questing the Postmaster General to in crease the service on the mail route from San Diego, Cal. via Tucson, Ari- zona, to Mesilia, New Mexico, to sev- en trips per week; and also to provide similar servIce on the mail route from San Bcrnarlino, Cal, via Prescott, Ari- zona, 60 Santa Fe, N. NJ
 The prayer of the memorialists is based on the representation that the present mail service on said routes is inadequate 10 the fast growing wants of the Territory"
 Inasmuch as the memorial is from so distinguished body as the Legisla- tive Assembly of Arizona, I beg to submit, somewhat in detail, the req sons which have influenced the Post master General to decline to order the proposed increase of service.
 One of the surest indications of the growth of country is the amount of its postal receipts, which increase pro portionately with the development and increase of its general business, where by the more frequent interchange of intelligence is rendered necessary. The revenues of the Postoffice Department are, therefore, a certain index to the increase or decline of trade and com merce.
 The duty of the Postmaster General to supply mail facilities to new Terri tories, and sparsely settled localities, is 50 evident that he never refuses to eX-j pend reasonable sums of money to do so, without stopping to calculate whether the outlay will be justified by a corresponding increase in the postal revenues. He provides the supply of mails to remote localities without the hope or expectation that the service will soon become selfsustaining. But it does not follow that such localities should be at once provided the most frequent postal communication with! out regard to the expense thereof, hence, ii is clear, that whenever good facilities are afforded under such cir the question of increasing them should depend upon the growth t yII5 ij5 ;t....tyic Il, fiic id'i5sr of fade ana the development of the postal re- ceipts.
 Three mails per week are now car ried each way over the route from San Diego to Mesilia, at cost of $100,000 per annum, supplying poStoffices yield ing an aggregate amount of revenue, as shown by the latest returns, of $6346.- DG; the Department therefore pays for the present mail supply nearly sixteen times as much as it receives from the patrons of the offices interested. If seven mails per week should be order ed, agreeably to the request of the Leg islatiyc Assembly, the additional cost would be $133,333 per annum, making the entire cost $233, ,333 per annum.
 Over the San Bernardino and Santa Fe route two mails per week each way are now carried at cost of $5l ,822 per annum, supplying postoffices yielding an aggregate revenue of $31lS.6S per annum; the increase asked would cost S129, ,555 per annum, thus swelling the annual cost of the whole service to $751; ,377.
 The Postmaster General confidently believes, in view of the facts herein stated, that you and those whom you will acknowledge and appre- ;iate the justice of his decision not to increase the service on these routes. He will cheerfullv do all that the public could reasonably expect of him o encourage the growth of new Terri ories, and the development of their but he would act inconsist- ntly with his sense of duty under the aw, were he to eXpcnd such enormous ums of money in providing addition | facilities to communities already well supplied with mails, whose contributions to the postal reve- lues are so disproportionate to the ex- ,ense of their present supply.
 Very respectfully, etc,
 JAS. N. TYNER,
 Second Asst Postmaster General. Ion. II. s. STEVENS,
 House of Representatives.
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