The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-12-11
SURPLUS IS SHOWN IN POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT FOR FIRST
 TIME IN THIRTY THREE YEARS
Some Interesting Deductions in Annual Financial Statement P. Q. Department recommends Pensions For Superanu-
 .ated tmp|oyes Pace|s Post and Postal Savings
A Postal Surplus.

A Postal Surplus.
 For the first time since 1883 the annual financial statement of the Post Office Department shows a surplus in- stead of deficit. The revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911 | amounted to $237,S79,S23.60 and the expenditures to $237, ,660, ,705.48, leav ing a surplus of $219,11S.12. At tn, beginning of the present administra tion in 1909 the postal service was il arrears to the extent of $17,479,770.. 47. which was decidedly the largest deficit on record. In the brief space l of two years this deficit has beer | changed into substantial surplus. Extension of the Service. The wiping out of the deficit has been accomplished without curtail- | ment of postal facilities. On the con. trary, important extensions have beer | made in every branch of the service Since the opening of the present ad- ministra.ion there have been estab- by carrier has been provided in 18e additional cities, and 2,516 new rura routes, aggrega ting 60,679 miles, havs been authorized. Meanwhile the force of postal employees has been increas- ed by more than 5000. In compen-
 
 ment follows a liberal policy. Last year the total amount expended for salaries was approximately 14,000,- 900 greater than two years ago. The average annual salary has been in- creased from $8s9 to S967 for rural office clerks, from s1.021 to $1,0S4 for for city letter carriers. and from s1.168 to $1,1S3 for railway postal clerks. Thus a marked extension of the postal service and higher com pensation for its employees have gone hand in hand with a vanishing de- felt.
 Postal Savings System.
 An important eventof the year was the successful organization of the postal savings system. On January :, perimentally at a single post office in each one of the 48 states and terri tories After a careful test for four months at these offices the system was rapidly extended and now com prises practically all of the 7.500 presidential post offices. Prepara- tions are being made'to establish the system also in about 10000 fourth class offices that do a money order business.
 Tn the establishment of depositor- ies only such post offices are selected
 
 agement. This plan has materially aided the Department in its efforts to improve conditions in the postal ser- vice.
 Under the method devised for the conduct of the postal savings system certificates are issued as evidence of deposits and all accounts with depos1- tors are kept by the post offices in stead of by the Department Com pared with the universal practice in other countries of entering deposits in pass books and keeping at the cen tral office a ledger account with each depositor, the use of the certificate of proved to be a source of great econo- my.
 Postal savings deposits have kept pace with the extension of the sys- tenn. Amounting at the end of the first month to only s60,252 in the AS experimental offices, they increased in a half year to s679,310, and now, reached a total of $11,O00,O00. This sum has been distributed among D. .71O national and state banks, where it is protected by bonds deposited with the Treasurer of the United States.
 Assuming that the postal savings system will be extended to additional offices in accordance with present plans, and that with this extension the deposits will continue to increase at the same rate as now, it is conf dently predicted that from forty to fifty million dollars will have been taken in by the close of the current fiscal year. At that time the income of the system should be sufficient to pay all operating expenses, including those incurred at the central admin istrative office.
 Parcel Post.
 Now that the successful operation of the postal savings system is as- sured, it is hoped that Congress will of a parcel post. The benefits of this service are widely enjoyed by the people of foreign countries and should be provided in the United States. The Department not only renews its rec ommendation of last year for legisla- on rural routes, but asks similar au- for the introduction of such a service in cities and towns having delivery by carrier. After the organization of a parcel post on rural routes and in the city delYery service is completed, its extension to include railway and other transpor- tation lines can be more readily ac- complished without impeding the handling of the ordinary mail. In esta blishing a parcel post. service great care should be taken not to cause a congestion of the mails, and thus en' barrass the present operations of the post offices. An attempt to absorb, under one sweeping or der the entire parcel business of the country would be a. dangerous experi- ment for our postal service That the difficulties of such a plan may be avoided the Department favors a more gradual introduction of parcel bring the issue clearly before Con gress, three items of S50,000 each have been inserted in the estimates, of. the postal service, two of these items to cover the initial expense %of in a parcel post on rural routes and. in the city delivery ser vice, respectively, and the third item to meet the cost Iof an investigation looking to the final extension of. the service to the railways and other lines. If Congress will grant without delay the desired au- thority and provide the necessary ap- it is believed that be- fore the end of another year a satis- on rural routes and in cities with a. carrier service, thus paving the way for the final step in the organization of general parcel post
 Readjustment of Postage Rates.
 Next to the question of establish ing a parcel post, the most important postal problem to be considered by Congress, at the coming session will be that of readjusting postage rates. In the last two annual reports of the nY ,-fv ff1r,t tix,, I I