The morning call., 1892-02-17
OUR osTAL BUSINESS.

The returns of the postal service in Cali
fornia for the year 1891 show the usual
steady increase, the receipts Of Government
from ali sources being 81, S9i go as against
81 80. 100 in 1890; say about 5 per cent in
the year Postal business IS Increasing
faster than population. The State is So
large and people are so scattered that it Is
included IN theljst of States in which the
Pustafice business IS conducted at a loss.
To earn the sLS9I, q70 taken in by the Gov
eminent in 1891 an expenditure of S2,339 6l4
was incurred. The mails were thus distrib-
uted 10 CaIif0rnjaus at loss to the Govern
ment Of S447, G43
There are eIghty-fve Presidential Post
offices in the State, with san Francisco at
theiT head. These Offices took in l,+s6, 90
last year, within $4,000 of the total re-
ccipts IT the whole service in the State. The
ether 1863 Post fHces made up this 500, 600.
the great bulk Of them yielding little or
nothing. 0fthe whole list Slj WELD nothing
whatever. the whole Of their receipts being
ABSORBED for Postmasters' salaries. The
American policy has always been u supply
The mails 10 every hamlet or settlement
however small or inaccessible, th- theory
being that any loss incurred is mere than
gence among the people. II IS lot intended
that the Postoftica sl0ld be self-suppUTt-
ing. much less ;hat il should be a source Of
profit Whenever tie rosial revenues equal
The expenditures a reduction is made in
postal charges. This has happened several
times In tie last half-century. 1t will recur
before the present decade ends. Il Is
lot likely that any one who reads these
1-rl-- 80 -f -~aI
wee in California met by its receipts, though
it is quite likely thai the amount paid TO
railroads for mail tTanspOTtaton-Whjc
last year was S912 573. out Of a total eXpend-
iture Of 3. $50 514-may be reduced by the
adoption q lower rates of freight. The rail
roads are almost as much interested a the
Government, in tie diffusion Of ku0" ledge
aud tie Quickeniug Of intercourse among
tie vaTl0Js portions f the State. a COM
muuitY which gets few OF no mails IS not
likely 10 furnish much traffic 10 a railroad.
Both The registry and the money-order
systems Of the Post0fiee are popular in
California. The total number OF regis
tered letters and parcels addressed to
domestic and foreign points from points
in California was. II 1891, 442,o24. an
increase Of nearly per cent over last
never admitted its liability for the loss
Of registered letter or parcel, it does
make every possible effort 20 recover the
lost property; while there is 10 redress
whatever for the sender Of a lost letter
which has not been registered. As mat
ter of ordinary prudence, all letters Of
value OF containing valuable Enclosures
ought to be registered. and DO one who
makes any pretension to caTefulness will
entrust currency to the mails, when postal
orders and postal notes can be obtained for
a few cents. Considering the number CT
greenbacks and national bank notes which
are carried in the Eastern mails, the instan-
ces of loss are remarkably few; but the
practice is tempting Of providence.
The returns of the m0Hey-Order business
shed an interesting light on the movement
Of money between California aud the rest
Of the world 4 few years ago the value Of
the money orders issued in this State far
exceeded the value of the orders paid. The
following tables show the present move
ment:
Amount OF money orders ssned".... s5.94O,205
Amount OF postal notes issued $1,000 436.607
Amount OF international money ord's 917,l6O
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. e.684o72
Amount of money orders paid........ So I2S. 1874
Amount OF postal notes paG 10000. 350.746
Amount Of InterHat1 money ORDERS. 2,707
TotaI..................... s5.752, O37
Thus, according to the banking branch of
| the Postoftice, California sends out nearly
| S900.O more money in a year than she re-
! ceiYes from abroad. The comparison is i'm
! perfect, from the want of returns from the
! bankers who transact most of the business
| in money transfers. But it may be regarded
| as a straw indicating the course OF the re-
| tail branch Of that business Small remit
| tances are usually sent by postal order In