Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1881-12-08

sides of the balance sheet will be to-
gether.
Its fina1 oial statement is as follows
expenditures ............... So, ,25l, 1862
Excess of expenditures IS 2,i66 33S49
"Bad debts" and compromise
accounts. s............. 14,790.s6
Total excess. ...........S 2,4S1, 1885
ESTIMATES FOR 1888.
Expenditures ........ s43, ,661 10000
Estimated revenue. ........ 1874, ,722.C5
Excess of expenditures ...S 920,G77.95
STAMPS.
The total number of postage stamps,
stamped envelopes and postal cards is
sued was 1904, 81, ,542, valued at $34,-
625, 1851, showing an aggregate in
crease of 7.9 over the fiscal year end
ing June 80, 1880.
DEAD LETTER OFFICE.
The whole number of the letters
mailed in this country during the last
fiscal year was 1,046, ,107,3 ,34S. The
number reaching the dead letter Office
3,323,6 ,621. Of these 2,791,050 were
unclaimed domestic letters; 279,244
held for postage, and 242,556 misdi-
rected. The remainder came under
rules forbidding transmission. OF
those opened 1862 were found to con-
tain money amounting to $40,5S7.80;
22,012 contained drafts, money orders,
ETC., the aggregating face value of
which was 81, 99,062.51; 33,731 con-
tanned photographs, and in 1928 were
found valuable articles. The amount
of money separated from dead letters
for which no claiment could be found
was $6,584.40. Two thousand six
hundred and fourteen registered letters
reached the dead letter office, and of
these 2,131 were finally delivered to
the owners.
REGISTERED LETTERS.
The total number of registered let
ters and parcels was 9,339,9l9. The
amount of registry fees collected was
$712,082.20, an increase over the pre-
vious year of 1919 per cent. The
registry system is now in most excel
lent condition.
MONEY ORDERS.
The money order system is growing
under the impulse of prosperous trade
and the influence of immigration, with
the rapid developement of the newer
states and territories, and the demand
for additional ter-communication and
exchange. The whole number of money
order offices now in operation is 5,499.
The number of money GIders issued is
1868, ,232, valued AT $l05 ,075, 1895.
The value of payments is $104, 4,924,-
S53.61. This shows an increase of
All per cent The average Of the orders
issued was 1871, and the fee II 62-100
cents. There are seventy-seven cases
of alleged lost remittances.
The convention for the exchange of
money orders between the United
States, on the one hand, and Switzer-
land, Great Britain AID Ireland, the
German Empire, Canada, and New
foundland, and France and Algeria. on
the other, have remand in force, with
out alteration, since the close of the
fiscal year ended July 80, 1880. A con-
vention has recently been concluded
for the establishment of a like system
of exchange between the United States
and the island of Jamaica, to go into
operation on the 1st of January next.
and negotiations for similar purpose
are now in progress between the United
States and the British Australasian
colonies of Victor a, New South Wales,
Tasmania, and New Zealand.
The postmaster-g general urges new
building for the money order system
in Washington. He speaks of the
growth of the department, of its in
crease in the West and of the re-estab
lishment of re Southern mail service
at the close ol the war. There is also
mention of the period when straw bid
ding prevailed and Of the scandals that
had attended the postoffice department
during the past quarter of century.
SELF SUSTAINING.
The country has reached that stage
in the progress of its material develop
ment where, it seems, an effort ought
to be made to bring the debit and credit
sides of the departments balance sheet
nearer together. All or nealy all the
long and expensive star routes have
been superseded by railroad service.
The cost of the star service ought there
fore to rapidly decrease in the Western
states and territories.
STAR AND STEAMBOAT SERVICE.
The total reduction made during the
last fiscal year in the star service was
$b55, ,o32 per annum, but some of the
orders did not take effect till the be-
ginning of the present fiscal year. The
net reduction, allowing for new and
increased service, during the last fiscal
year was $364,144. The aggregate re-
duction of the cost of steamboat ser.
vice for the last fiscal year was 1882
OO9, from which is to be deducted the
| cost OF increased service, $30,653. max
ing the net reduction $35l,356. Thus
far in the present fiscal year reduc-
tions amounting to $701, ,551 have been
made in the star service. The steam
boat service during the same time has
been reduced $51,872. There have
been increases in the cost of the star
service to the extent of $164,597 and
of steamboat service to the amount of
$50, 500. The net reductions from July
/ to October 81, in the star and steam
boat service, are $532, ,257.
RAILWAY SERVICE.
The actual payment for the railway
mail service during the fiscal year
1881, was 81, AL, ,120.90 The cost
for the current fiscal year will be $12.-
COG, COL, and the estimates for 1883 are
$13, ,181 ,601. The enormous growth of
railroads in 1880 and 1881, and their
anticipated increase of mileage in the
near future, will account for great
proportion of the augmented cost of
the service. But there is another
cause which must also be taken
into consideration. The increase in
the weight of the mail transported by
the trunk lines has been unparalleled and
the maximum does not appear to have