The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1876-12-06

classified thuss Ordinary mail letters. 2,S55,-
1874; local or drop, 1900; OF domestic origin
returned from foreign countries, l0S,652; for
eign origin, 1890; returned TO pOstoffices by
proprietors of hotels, As, 1856; held for postags
30 ,o59; misdirected, 69, 49, ship. 2SS4; without
address, 6,9Il; and 55E registered letters. They
are further classified according to their con-
tents as follows: $50 contained 81, 4f717 TN
money; l2,0iS contained commercial paper To
the value OF 81 ,75i 6iS.Sl; $40 contained deeds,
mortgages, leases, railroad and other passage
tickets, pension certificates and bank books
aO0i contained postage stamps; 81 ,3lS con-
tanned photographs; 20,S6 contained iewelry.
clothing books, chromos music merchandise
etci ., ISS contained receipts, bills of lading,
afidayits, abstracts of title, paid notes and
Cancelled obligations OF all sorts.
The whole number of registered letters re-
celved, including 20l from last fiscal year, was
PIE, OF which 5,42 were delivered The
amount OF money taken from letters which
could not be restored to the owners was
S6no2-5S. Amount realized from sale of dead
letter office property at auction, 3, SSH
CONTRACTS.
There Were in the service of the department
on the 10Th day of June, 1876, 6,l26 contractors
for the transportation OF the mails on public
routes.
There Were at the close of the year LIS
special offices, each with mail carrier whose
pay from the department is not allowed to eX-
coed the net postal yield of the office
Ofpublic mail routes in operation there were
9,OOo, (Of which 9l2 were railroad, being an in
crease Of Al routes of this class over the previous
year )aggregating in length 2Sl 79s miles; in an
nual transportation, 1885, ,7OS miles: in an
nuai cost, Sl5,2Ol 40. Adding the cOmpensa-
ton OF railway post office clerks, route agents,
mail route messengers, local agents, and mail
messengers, amounting to s., eos, the aggre-
gate annual cost will be SIS, 36l ,e4S.
The service was divided as follows:
Railroad routes: length, ,3fS miles; annual
transportation, T,74l,l72 miles; annual cost,
sob, l34-about l2.27 cents per mile.
Steamboat routes: length, l4,SS3 miles; an
nual transportation, 3.7O4,5S8 miles; annual
cost, S606, i65-about 1857 cents per mile.
Other routes, upon which the mails are re-
quired to be conveyed with "celerity, certainty
and security" length, 1857 miles; annual
transportation, 81, S24 ,003 miles; annual cost,
S5.05l ,5ll-about 92l cents per mile.
There was an increase over the preceding
year in length of routes of 1926 miles; in an
nual transportation, of 2,4f7 1872 miles; and a
decrease in cost of $751; 29. Adding the In
creased cost for railway post office clerks route,
local and other agents, SID, l07, the total in
crease in cost was S75,S1S.
The railroad routes have been increased in
length , % miles, and in cost $S26, 6l6, against
an increase last year of 2,SI9 miles in length
and 1926, S55 in cost.
NAIL DEPREDATIONS.
During the year ended June 20, 1876, 29l per-
sons were arrested for violations of the postal
laws and regulations, and given in charge 10
the United States authorities for trial. with the
ytVaer lee