New-York tribune., 1879-11-01


Thus for a small fee and with absolute safety does
the Government perform a service which banks VIII
not generally undertake to do. Not only ~ money
thus sent from one part of this country To another
but the same convenience is afforded TO persons who
wish to send money TO OF receive II from Canadn,
Germany Great Britain. Italy OF Switzerland. This
branch of the postal service has become seli-sup-
porting.
Second-There is the free delivery service, estab-
lshed 10y a Republican Administration in 1868. and
since extended that embraces about ninety cities
Last year il employed 2. .275 carriers. whodeiyered
about 400, 900 600 letters postal cards ana news
papers to the persons to whom they were addressed
and collected nearly as many more pieces OF mail
matter from the street letter-boxes The cost OF
this service for the year was about $1.s24.00O,
which of course is part of the regular cost OF the
postal service.
7kird-There is the railway mail service estab-
lished in 1864. Long before that time mails were
carried on railroads, but provision was made TOR
their assortment and distribution. which were done
at few general distributing offices throughout the
country, thus causing much delay to all CORE
spondence. With the adoption of postal railway
service all this began to he changed. Every postal
railway car is a distributing post Office. The rail-
way mail service extends over about 1900
miles. and requires the employment of more than
500 clerks route agents, etc., whose yearly sala-
ries Amounted in 1873 to more than S2,714,OOO.
lhis large amount is paid to secure the people
greater facilities and speed in the transmission of
their correspondence.
Fourth-The registered letter system, which became
a regular division of the postal service only five
years ago. Some attention was paid to this branch
of the service before the war, but only in a de-
sultOry way. 1t was never fully methodized
SO as to become popular with the people. until
five years ago. Last year than 81 ,00OOOO,O0O
IN money was sent through the mail in registered
packages Such Is the efficiency OF this branch of
the service that almost absolute safety is assured in
the transmission Of money and other valuable ari-
cles coniidcd to its care.
Flfh-The use OF postal cards was adopted in 1872.
This practically reduces the postage a very large
proportion Of the peoples correspondence from 3
cents to / cent for each communication. So popu-
lar has the of these cards become that
about 100000, 900 of them are now issued each
year. and the number has doubled within the last
three years.
Ii will be observed that all these additions are
the line OF greater convenience, facilities and safety
TO the people in conducting their correspondence
that they have been secured without adding any
thing TO the peoples taxes and that every of
them has been brought into being and use by the
Republican party.
Another branch Of the public service which is
recognized throughout the country by all classes of
people as of great benefit and Importance to them is
the Signal Service Bureau of the War Department.
The daily weather reports widely sought for and
studied and the result the saving of hundreds of
thousands of dollars 20 farmers of millions of prop
erty TO merchants and mariners. and OF many lives
every year. Although only few years established.
the weather probabilities" of this Bureau have so
far ,v.d sf w hey
are everywhere accepted, and no taxpayer erudees
the three or four hundred thOusaI dollars year
necessary To maintain and extend this beneficent
service. For all that this Bureau has accomplished.
and for all the good 1t will do for years to come
when still further extended and perfected. the
people are indebted to the Republican party, which
established it and demonstrated its usefulness and
value. Thirty years ago efforts began to be made in
a haphazard way TO save lives and property eDdan-
gered by storms on our sea-cOasts. Nothing effec-
tive was done In this direction until after the
The Life-Saving Service was first established on a
proper footing since the beginning of the present
decade The record that ii has made under the
Republican administration which thus made it eff
cent has for it the hearty support aud admira-
tion of all our people, During the first five years of
its operations the Life-Savng Service saved 3.1s0
lives of shpwrecked persons, and saved property TO
the value of $5.254 800. The country we'll
afford TO pay the three hundred thousand dollars n
year required for this service first made effective by
the Republican party.
OTHER WISE AND ENTIRELY NEW EXPENSES
Before it came into power the Republican party
struggled vigorously against Solid South for the
enactment of the Homestead Law. In 1862 such a
law WAS enacted, and under its operation millions
of acres of the public domain have passed into the
possession of actual settlers on the payment OF a
H.. xf Ls. 1a... III.
States which, under the plan of the Democratic
party of keeping the land in the hands of the few
would still be sparsely settled, have been filled up
with thrifty, industrious population. Hundreds
of millions have thus been added to the productive
wealth of the Nation. IL has cost something to do
this, but the cost has been repaid an hundred fold
The Pacific Railroad. opening up an empire to set
tement. destroying our internal frontier" which
cut the Nation In twain, and binding the Pacific
States and Territories to the Union with bands of
steel, is another achievement of the Republican
party. The completion of that railroad made ne
cessary the building of many new military posts for
the protection of miners and settlers and the cost
of maintaining these posts, though heavy, has been
repaid over and over again by the settlement of
new Territories The development of our great min
eral resources by of systematic and thorough
geological surveys and reports. exhibited in the
explorations and researches of Raymond, King
Hayden, Powell. Wheeler and others, has been the
work of the Republican party. And since that
party came into power every department of scien-
tifc investigation proper for the Govern
ment to undertake has been administered
with tbOroughness before unknown. The
administration Of the Patent Office since
1861 has been placed a basis of efficiency
never before known. The reproduction of patent
specifications and drawings, and the making OF
them accessible to all al slght EXPENSE. has stnn.