The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-10-07
POSTAL SERVICE DEFICIT.
The Expenses Exceed the Receipt,
by Nearly So,oOO,OOO.

by Nearly so,0OO,OOO.
The postal department during the past
fiscal year did a business OF more than
slOO, OOO. 900 and the net deficit was cut
down by 81, 500 600 less than for the pre-
vious twelvemonth Capt. Henry Castle,
auditor for the department. has just COM
pleted the trial batanfe on the opera
lions of the postal service for the year
ending June 80. ar3
This statement taken in connection with
that of the money order statement, which
was completed week ago, shows the en-
tire financial results of the postal service
for the fiscal year.
The financial statement of the postal
service proper for the year 1900 is as fol-
lows: Expenditures. 1o7.249. 29s.13; reve-
nue., s102, S54. 579.29; excess Of expenditures
over revenue. s4S94. 1854.
The excess of expenditures over receipts
or net deficit of the postal service is about
81 SOC, 600 less than the deficit for the pre-
ceding fiscal year.
The principal item of revenue is the
sale of stamps and stamped paper That
item for the year under review amounted
to s94. ola, 699.63. an increase of Sc, 1885,
04562 over the preceding year.
The total financial transactions of the
postal service. including the money or
der statement, were s714, 1894, 1922 for
the fiscal year ended June 30, 1900. Com
pared with the transactions Of 1895 there
is shown to be growth of $3.50, 900 600.
This increase is Just SO Ia per cent.
THE deficit appearing in these figures -
said Captain Castle yesterday, SIS caused
solely by the Thanking privilege that per-
mits official correspondence and public
documents to be carried free through the
mails. Should those classes OF matter be
IN ha cha
should due credit be given the depart
ment for their transportation, the deficit
would entirely disappear.
Whether the money order branch of
the postal service is self-sustaining
is an important question. 1t is a radical
Impeachment of tie accounting methods
existing in the auditing bureau that no
accurate statement can be made on that
important point.
THE issue and payment of money
orders is not in any legitimate sense a
governmental function. 1t is a feature of
banking business pure and simple. and is
regarded by many thoughtful men as a
development of state socialism. 1t is a
wonderfully convenient thing for great
masses of people. hence 1t Is universally
popular. 1t is carried or with such skill
such diligence, and suNS success by the
department officials who superintend its
operations and by the local postmasters
and clerks who directly conduct them that
one who looks only on the surface sees
everything to praise and nothing to con-
denim.
only the accounting which it is the
duty of my bureau to conduct discioses
the dangerous possibilities that lie in the
general principle involved. And it must
be frankly II reluctantly admitted that
perils rest mainly upon faithlessness, care
lessness, or relaxed vigilance in conduct
ing the operations Of the Auditors office.
The supposed success of the money
order system has apparently stimulated a
demand for the extension of governmental
administration into similar fields. Aside
from the proposition of Government own
ership of railways, two measures have of
| late been vigorously pressed before Con-
gress. They are for the establishment of
| postal savings banks and postal tele-
graphs. ! do not want to deal with those
problems from political standpoint, but
do want to suggest that no measures
yet presented to Congress have provided
for the auditing features. And that would
be very serious problem to carry out. :"