Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-11-10
stliscellaneons &eading.
THE POSTAL SERVICE.

THE POSTAL SERVICE.
From the forthcoming annual report OF
second assistant Postmaster General Knott,
it appears that on the 3Oth Of June, 1886,
there were in operation throughout the
United States 22,799 routes of all classes on
which mail service was performed at an an
nual rate of expenditure at the close of the
last fiscal year of s29,O26,65S. The aggre-
gate length of all these routes was 3S7 1856
miles, on which there was an aggregate
annual travel of 25S, ,7S8,065 miles.
Tables show that from April l, 1885, to
June 80, 1886, the total savings in annual
travel rate of cost in this department of the
postal service, effected by orders and new
contracts for transportation and mail equip
ments, to be s1,940,7SG.
In the star service there was an increase
of S74 routes, and of 1858 miles in length,
and decrease of $63,623 in annual rate of
expenditure. In the messenger mail SER
vice there was an increase of 20 routes, and
decrease of $44,357 in annual rate of ex-
penditure. In the steamboat service there
was an increase of one route, and decrease
of 1,185 miles and of s2l6, 1888 in annual rate
of cost, the steamboat service thus dispen-
sed with being supplanted by railway and
star service. In the railroad service there
was an increase of 81 routes, of 2,9Ol miles
in length, and of s761 ,696 in annual rate of
cost. In the railway postal car service there
was decrease of $53, ,l67, or 2.94 per cent.
in the annual rate of cost. The annual rate
of expenditure in the railway transporta-
ton on the 30th of June, 1886, was S15, $40,
1911, as against 1855, ,495 on the 3Oth of
June, 1885. The increase in the annual rate
of cost was s761 1859, or 5.16 per cent, as
81. 49,, ,SS9, or 11.19 per cent, or about one
half of the increase of last year, and much
less than any of the years preceding. In
the whole star service there was an increase
of I'll per cent. in the quantity of service,
and a decrease in the rate Of cost OF 1858
per cent as compared with the preceding
five wears. In the star service the appro-
priation for the last fiscal year was $780,
900 and the sum actually expended So, ,44S,
leaving an uneXpended balance of $780,
7O3.11.
Under the present law regulating COM
pensation for railway post Office cars no pay
is allowed for service in apartment cars
under 40 feet in length. An examination
made last year led to the disclosure of the
fact that great many railroads in various
sections of the country were paid for this
apartment car service. The aggregate
amount paid since 1873 was $979.67, or at an
annual expenditure of $S0,16l.63. This
payment was deemed unwarranted by law,
and was discontinued by orders Of the de-
partment. A number of railroads which
had received grants of land from Congress,
which, under their charters, were required
to carry the mails at such price as Congress
should prescribe, and from whose pay there
have been reductions made by an act of
Congress of 90 per cent, had not been
treated heretofore as landgrant roads. An
examination led to the discovery of the fact
that the amount of the overpayments to
them by reason of this omission reached
the sum of $69,647.91. This sum has been
deducted from the pay of these companies,
and there is consequent reduction of Sl2,-
l76. OF in the rate of annual expenditures for
railroad transportation. The total annual
amounts deducted from all the land-grant
roads under this provision in their charters,
and under the act of July l2, 1876, is 1885,
OSO.54. A statement is given showing the
percentage of increase and decrease in the
estimates for cost of inland mail service
from 1881, 's2, 'S3, 'S4, 's5, 'S6, 'S7, 'SS, and
it shows while the increase last year was
$50 per cent, for the year preceding l4.74
per cent, that for the next year will only
be .5S, while there was an increase in the
number of routes in mileage and in annual
travel, and an increase in weight of mail
carried.
The report closes with a recommendation
for change in the method of compensating
railway mail service. Under the present
law railroads are paid according to the
average daily weight of mails both ways.
On account of the many incongruities under
this method of pay, and the unsatisfactory
method of adjusting the compensation, a
change is recommended.
The change proposed is substitution of
a space basis instead of weight basis OF
pay, that is for the amount of space which
is necessary for transportation and distribu-
ton of the mail. 1t is believed that the
substitution of this method of pay for the
existing method WILL without seriously
affecting the present service, make a saving
of about $500, 900 per year in the annual ex-
pendture for transportation and railway
mail service.
SMALL MANUFACTURER, WHAT THEY
WILL. DO FOR A TOWN.-Small enterprises,
with three to ten thousand dollars capital
invested in them, give much life. and busi-
ness activity toa town and pay much larger
dividends than if the money was invested
in mercantile enterprises.
We know of shoe factory in Gainesville,
Ga, which is operating with less than
81, 900 capital. 1t furnishes employment to
about twenty hands, and turns out one
hundred and fifty pairs of shoes per day.
The two proprietors are foremen of the es-
tablishment; making handsome wages for
themselves, and semi-annually declare a
dividend of from Is to 20 per cent. Their
shoes are very popular and are sold in near
ly every town in Georgia and Alabama.
A match factory in the same place with
an $4,000 investment, furnished work for
40 hands, and paid splendid interest.
A barrel-hoop factory at the same place is
doing we'll.
A man at Buford, Ca, who cannot walk
and is terribly deformed has made $685. 900
in the past ten years by manufacturing sad
lle:trees and shipping them to Northern
markets. He has now opened up new
enterprise, and is shipping handles for buggy
nnd ,,,aneo,, ,uhi nc To tho North in immense