[Report of the Postmaster General.]
Sir: The ordinary revenues of this Department for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1871, were $20,037,045 42, and the expenditures of all kinds $24,390,104 08. For the year ended June 30, 1870, the ordinary revenues (not including the amount of money-order funds deposited as postal receipts for convenience of transfer) were $18,879,377 65; and the expenditures (not including the amount of money-order funds retransferred) were $23,348,837 63. The increase of revenue for the year 1871 over the year 1870 was $1,157,667 77, or 6.13 per cent., and the increase of expenditures $1,041,266 45, or 4.45 per cent., showing a net increase in revenue of $116,401 32. The increase in revenue for the year 1871 over the year 1869 was $2,722,869 70, or 15.72 per cent., and the increase of expenditures for 1871 over 1869 was $1,251,972 58, or 5.41 per cent. The increase in revenue for 1871, compared with 1870, was less than the increase for 1870, compared with 1869, by $270,042 16; and the increase of expenditures for 1871, compared with 1870, was greater than the increase for 1870, compared with 1869, by $740,590 32.
If, in addition to the ordinary revenues, the Department be credited with $700,000 appropriated for transportation of free matter and the amounts drawn and expended for subsidies to steamship lines, it will appear that the deficiency provided out of the general Treasury for the year 1871 is $2,928,058 66, against $2,814,116 98 for the year 1870.
The accompanying report of the Auditor fully sets forth the details of the financial operations of the Department.
| The estimated expenditures for the year ending June 30, 1873, are | $27,489,750 00 | |
| The revenues, estimated at 10 per cent. increase over last year | $22,040,749 00 | |
| Standing appropriations for free matter | 700,000 00 | |
| 22,740,749 00 | ||
| Leaving a deficiency of | 4,749,001 00 | |
The foregoing estimates do not include the following special appropriations in the nature of subsidies:
| For mail steamship service between San Francisco and Japan and China | $500,000 00 |
| For like service between the United States and Brazil | 150,000 00 |
| For like service between San Francisco and Sandwich Islands | 75,000 00 |
| Total | 725,000 00 |
| Of the deficiency appropriated for the year 1870 there was unexpended at the close of that year the sum of | $4,740,000 00 | |
| Amount appropriated for deficiency in 1871 | 4,685,032 00 | |
| A total of | 9,425,032 00 | |
| There were drawn during the last fiscal year of the amount unexpended at the close of the year 1870 for payments on account of that year | $1,050,000 00 | |
| Of the amount appropriated for the year 1871 | 1,650,000 00 | |
| A total of | 2,700,000 00 | |
| Leaving in the Treasury, unexpended, the sum of | 6,725,032 00 | |
| Against which there are chargeable sundry unliquidated accounts, estimated as follows: | ||
| Excess of expenditures over receipts during year just closed | $226,858 66 | |
| For balances to foreign countries | 275,000 00 | |
| For mail service under contract and recognized, but not yet reported | 527,867 95 | |
| Mail service still unrecognized | 249,195 00 | |
| 1,278,921 61 | ||
| Leaving, after settlement of all liabilities to June 30, 1871, a net balance of deficiency appropriations of | 5,446,110 39 | |
| The number of adhesive postage-stamps issued during the year was 498,126,175, representing | $14,630,715 00 | |
| Stamped envelopes, plain, 49,954,625, representing | 1,432,474 75 | |
| Stamped envelopes, “request,” 48,111,650, representing | 1,434,181 50 | |
| Newspaper wrappers, 6,609,000, representing | 132,180 00 | |
| The whole number of stamps, envelopes, and newspaper wrappers was 602,801,450, of the aggregate value of | 17,629,551 25 | |
The increase in the issue of stamps, stamped envelopes, and newspaper wrappers is best exhibited by the following table:
| Description. | Fiscal year ended June 30, 1870. | Fiscal year ended June 30, 1871. | Increase, amount. | Increase, per cent. |
| Adhesive, postage-stamps | $13,976,768 00 | $14,630,715 00 | $653,947 00 | 4.67 |
| Stamped envelopes, plain | 1,297,159 00 | 1,432,474 75 | 135,315 75 | 10.43 |
| Stamped envelopes, request | 1,084,250 00 | 1,434,181 50 | 349,931 50 | 32.27 |
| Newspaper wrappers | 98,605 00 | 132,180 00 | 33,575 00 | 34.05 |
| Aggregate | 16,456,782 00 | 17,629,551 25 | 1,172,769 25 | 7.13 |
The number of packages of postage-stamps lost in the mails during the year was six, representing $258; and of stamped envelopes three, representing $51 70; being much less than the losses from similar delinquencies in 1870 and previous, years.
[Page 83]contracts—transportation statistics.
There were in the service of the Department on the 30th June, 1871, 7,286 contractors for the transportation of the mails.
Of mail routes in operation there were 8,951, aggregating in length (exclusive of special routes) 238,359 miles, in annual transportation 107,572,794 miles, and in annual cost $11,529,395. Adding the compensation of railway post-office clerks, route-agents, local agents, mail-messengers, mail-route messengers, and baggage-masters in charge of registered passages, amounting to $1,875,526, the aggregate annual cost was $13,404,921.
The service was divided as follows:
Railroad routes: Length, 49,834 miles; annual transportation, 55,557,048 miles; annual cost, $5,724,979—about 10.30 cents per mile.
Steamboat routes: Length, 20,334 miles; annual transportation, 4,684,778 miles; annual cost, $776,943—about 16.58 cents per mile.
Other routes, on which the mails are required to be conveyed with “celerity, certainty, and security:” Length, 168,191 miles; annual transportation, 47,330,968 miles; annual cost, $5,027,473—about 10.62 cents per mile.
There was an increase over the preceding year in length of routes of 7,127 miles, in annual transportation 10,547,798 miles, and in cost $644,742. Adding the increased cost for railway post-office clerks, route, local, and other agents, $404,636, the total increase in cost was $1,049,378.
The foregoing statements of distances and costs do not include service for “special” offices. There were at the close of the year 2,115 of these, each with a mail-carrier whose pay from the Department is not allowed to exceed the net postal yield of the office. “Special” routes and their carriers are included, however, in the number of contractors and routes as given above.
The new railroad routes put in operation during the year 1871 amounted to 6,107 miles; during 1870, to 4,190 miles; and during 1869, to 3,519 miles—mating in the aggregate an addition in three years of 13,816 miles to the 36,018 miles in operation on July 1, 1868. The increase in three years exceeds 38 per cent., and in the last year alone it reached the unparalleled proportion of 17 per cent
readjustment of pay on railroad routes.
The regular four-years term of contracts for the transportation of mails in the States of West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas expired June 30, 1871. In anticipation of the close of the term, returns of the amount and character of the mail service performed on railroad routes in those States were obtained, as a basis for the readjustment of the rates of compensation for the new term commencing July 1, 1871. These returns, with those from a number [Page 84] of routes in other States, are presented in Table E, hereto appended, from the office of the Second Assistant Postmaster General. The readjustment founded upon these returns, and also the adjustment of rates on certain new routes, are exhibited in Table F. The rates were increased on fifty routes, and decreased on nine, the net excess of the present over the former amount of annual pay being $205,448 87. Table F embraces ninety-five routes in all, of which thirty-six are new.
In both my former reports I have advocated a revision and readjustment of the rates of compensation for the transportation of mails on railroads, but as yet no effective action has been taken by Congress. The Department continues to encounter many annoying difficulties in its efforts to secure a rapid transmission of the mails, particularly those containing newspapers, to the South and West, owing to complaints by the managers of railroads of the inadequacy of their pay, and their refusal to allow the use of their fastest trains and most commodious mail-cars. It is important to the service that this long-pending controversy should be settled, and hence I again renew my recommendation that the act of 3d March, 1845, be so amended as to allow a fair and reasonable increase of the compensation of railroad companies, upon condition that they shall enter into contract with the Department for the prompt and faithful performance of their duties.
post-route maps.
The work on the preparation and publication of the series of post-route maps of the United States has been continued during the past year under the supervision of the topographer of the Department. Six maps in all, comprising fifteen sheets, on a large scale, are now completed, embracing the northern tier of States, from Maine to Wisconsin. These maps are in constant demand, as brought up in successive editions, to be furnished, when considered requisite, to postmasters and other agents of the Department. They are also furnished to members of Congress, for their convenience in correspondence with their constituents and with the Department. During the past year the double-sheet map of the States of Michigan and Wisconsin has been completed by the engraver. The compilation and engraving of a map, in four sheets, of the States of Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri are being pushed forward as fast as the peculiar nature of the work, involving the great and rapid changes and extension of the mail service in that region, will allow.
I renew my previous recommendation that an effort be made to secure some more precise and correct system of survey than now exists in some of the Middle and Southern States.
fines and deductions.
The amount of fines imposed upon contractors, and deductions made from their pay, on account of failures and other delinquencies, for the [Page 85] last year, was $75,256 71, and the amount remitted during the same period was $10,076 94, leaving the net amount of fines and deductions $65,179 77, as will appear by the following recapitulation:
| Amount of fines | $4,132 02 |
| Amount of deductions | 71,124 69 |
| Total | 75,256 71 |
| Amount remitted | 10,076 94 |
| Net amount | 65,179 77 |
mail-bags, locks, and keys.
A table appended to this report exhibits in detail the number, description, and cost of mail-bags, locks, and keys purchased and issued during the year. The total number of new mail-bags procured and put in service was 60,400, of which 54,000 were used for transmission of printed matter, and 6,400 for letter-mails. Their cost was $86,015. Contracts for furnishing mail-bags of all kinds were made during the year, according to law, after due advertisement, at prices averaging about 18 per cent. less than the last contracts for similar articles.
The necessity of substituting new kinds of mail-locks and keys for those formerly in use demanded very large purchases during the year The number of locks of the new kinds purchased was 100,000, and of keys 63,000, at a cost of $68,190. Adding $1,273 40, the cost of repairs, the total expenditures are shown to be $69,463 40.
through mails.
Tables accompany the report of the Second Assistant Postmaster General, giving interesting details relative to the transmission of through mails from Washington, New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis to San Francisco and back; from Washington to New Orleans and back; from New York to New Orleans and back, by different routes; and from New York to Memphis and back, by different routes.
On the route to San Francisco and back, the gratifying regularity noted in the last annual report has been fully maintained. Of 644 mails carried through, during the year ended with the month of September, 1871, to San Francisco from New York, 569 were conveyed in schedule time, and only 75 behind time, against 573 in time and 145 behind time the preceding year. Of 364 mails carried through to New York from San Francisco, 321 were conveyed in schedule time, and only 43 behind time, against 280 in time and 72 behind time the preceding year. The average time, going west, was 173 hours, or 7 days, 5 hours—nearly 3 hours less than the average the preceding year. The average time, going east, was 169 hours, 45 minutes, or 7 days, 1 hour, and 45 minutes—nearly 3 hours less than the average the preceding year. The shortest time, going west, was 162 hours; going east, 167 hours; against 144 [Page 86] hours, 40 minutes, going west, and 159 hours, 10 minutes, going east, the preceding year.
Between New York and New Orleans, one mail a day is still sent in each direction over the Southwestern route, via Washington, Lynchburgh, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Grand Junction, and one over the Western route, via Cincinnati, Louisville, Humboldt, and Grand Junction, at which last-mentioned point the two routes unite and run on the same road to New Orleans. Of 357 mails carried through, during the year ended with the month of September, 1871, by the Southwestern route, to New Orleans from New York, 236 were conveyed in schedule time, and 121 behind time, against 214 in time and 149 behind time the preceding year; the average time being 93 hours, 9 minutes—29 minutes more than the average the preceding year. Of 357 mails carried through, by the same route, to New York from New Orleans, 224 were conveyed in schedule time, and 133 behind time, against 221 in time and 142 behind time the preceding year; the average time being 95 hours, 36 minutes—54 minutes less than the average the preceding year. The shortest time, going south, was 85 hours, 29 minutes; going north, 85 hours; against 84 hours, 54 minutes, going south, and 85 hours, 30minutes, going north, the preceding year. Of 355 mails carried through, by the Western route, to New Orleans from New York, only 127 were conveyed in schedule time, and 228 behind time, against 121 in time and 235 behind time the preceding year; the average time being 89 hours, 45 minutes—5 minutes more than the average the preceding year. Of 304 mails carried through, by the same route, to New York from New Orleans, only 70 were conveyed in schedule time, and 234 behind time, against 126 in time and 182 behind time the preceding year; the average being 93 hours, 24 minutes—5 hours, 8 minutes, more than the average the preceding year. The shortest time, going south, was 77 hours, 30 minutes; going north, 77 hours; against 75 hours, 45 minutes, going south, and 77 hours, going north, the preceding year. These figures show a slight improvement of the service on the Southwestern route, and on the Western a deterioration, yet not so great as wholly to destroy its usefulness as an adjunct to the other route, on a portion of which, between Washington and Chattanooga, until recently, only a single train a day was run. Arrangements are now in progress for the transmission of double daily through mails over the Southwestern route.
An order was made in June last to transfer the great through mails for and from New Orleans to the line of the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad, diverging from the Southwestern route at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and running thence, by an air-line, to Meridian, Mississippi, and thence over the Mobile and Ohio and the New Orleans, Mobile and Texas Railroads, by which it appeared the time of transit might be reduced twelve hours; but the execution of the order was prevented by the interruption of the running of trains on the Alabama and Chattanooga road, so that the capability of that line as a route for the through mails remains yet to be tested by actual experiment.
[Page 87]daily mail to california.
An arrangement was made in January last to accommodate the citizens of California with a daily mail to and from the East, without the intermission occasioned previously by the lack of Sunday service between Chicago and the Missouri River. For this purpose, an allowance of $25,000 per annum was made, from January 22, 1871, to the proprietors of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy and the Burlington and Missouri River Railroads, the companies named being alone responsible to the Department for the service, but having the option of performing it on any one of the three lines between Chicago and Omaha, viz: the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy and the Burlington and Missouri River, via Burlington, Iowa; the Chicago and Northwestern, via Clinton, Iowa; or the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, via Rock Island, Illinois. The service has been performed in a manner entirely satisfactory to the Department and to the citizens interested.
mail depredations.
The number of complaints of missing letters during the year is 4,600, of which 2,057 were registered and 2,543 unregistered, containing bonds, drafts, and currency to the nominal amount of $418,748 92. Of registered letters, 659 were accounted for as received at their destination, and only 283 have been reported as actually lost. The remaining cases are in the hands of special agents for investigation.
For violations of the postal laws, 123 persons have been arrested, of whom 51 have been convicted and sentenced to different degrees of punishment, and the remainder are in the hands of the Department of Justice to be dealt with according to law.
railway post-offices.
The statement hereto appended shows an increase of eight lines and 2,956 miles of railway post-office service. The number of lines in operation on the 30th day of June, 1871, was 49, extending in the aggregate over 11,208 miles of railroad and steamboat routes. Upon 8,660 miles the service is performed daily, upon 2,527 miles twice daily, and upon 21 miles four times daily, equivalent in all to 13,798 miles each way daily. Counting all the lines both ways, the aggregate service is 27,596 miles daily, and 10,072,540 miles annually. The number of clerks employed was 513, at an annual cost of $649,400, against 375 clerks, at a cost of $442,600, for the previous year, showing the increased cost for the fiscal year to be $206,800. Of this amount, the sum of $28,600 was expended for the equalization of salaries, the clerks in the western division and on two lines in Massachusetts, numbering in all 143, having been paid, previous to July 1, 1870, for the same class of duties, each $200 per annum less than those upon the other lines. Deducting this sum, the increased expenditure is $178,200.
[Page 88]During the last year, the Union Pacific Railroad, 1,032 miles in length, from Omaha, Nebraska, to Ogden, Utah, has been added to this service, and it has been decided to extend this line over the Central Pacific Railroad, an additional distance of 881 miles, from Ogden, Utah, to San Francisco, California.
There is twice-daily service between Portland, Maine, and Chicago, Illinois, and over the greater portion of this route the mail-cars are carried upon the fastest passenger trains, thereby insuring the delivery of all through and way mails in the shortest possible time.
Arrangements have recently been completed to establish a continuous line of railway post-offices from Portland, Maine, over the Maine Central and the European and North American Railways, to Vanceborough, at the boundary-line between New Brunswick and the United States. The authorities of the Dominion of Canada will connect and continue a similar service to St. John, New Brunswick.
Partial arrangements have also been made for a line of railway post offices from Washington, D. C., to New Orleans, Louisiana, an organization having been effected this month (November) as far as Chattanooga, Tennessee. From that point to New Orleans the service will be established as soon as the negotiations, now pending, can be concluded.
On the 15th instant, a line of railway post-offices was also established from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Saint Paul, Minnesota, for the purpose of securing a more accurate and expeditious distribution of the mails for the States of Wisconsin and Minnesota.
The distance from Vanceborough, Maine, to San Francisco, California, via Boston, Albany, Buffalo, Toledo, Chicago, and Omaha, is 3,832 miles; and from Vanceborough to New Orleans, via Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Chattanooga, is 2,108 miles. It is the purpose of the Department to establish continuous lines of railway post-offices connecting these remote points and supplying all diverging lines. They will be the longest lines in the world, and will afford the most ample facilities now known for the transmission and distribution of the mails between the States and Territories which they will respectively traverse.
Special efforts have been made during the past year to perfect the distribution of mail matter upon the several lines. Thorough schemes of distribution have been carefully prepared and furnished the clerks, thus enabling them to facilitate greatly the delivery of mails by the quickest attainable routes.
The value of the railway post-office system was especially demonstrated after the destruction, by fire, of the great distributing post-office at Chicago, Illinois, on the 9th of October last. But for the lines leading to the West and concentrating at Chicago, the mails for the extreme Western and Northwestern States would have been seriously interrupted for many weeks. During the month of October, besides the letter-mails, [Page 89] a large portion of the great paper-mails for the States mentioned were successfully distributed on the cars and passed to their destination with the usual dispatch.
The want of sufficient room upon the cars now in use prevents, however, the proper distribution of the large through paper-mails, subjecting them to frequent delays at the various distributing offices for separation, while the letter-mails go directly forward to their destination.
foreign mails.
The total number of letters exchanged, during the year, with foreign countries, was 20,295,098, an increase of 1,936,620 over the number reported for 1870. Of this number, 10,461,868 were sent from, and 9,834,130 were received in, the United States.
The number of letters (single rates) exchanged in the mails with European countries was 14,113,560, an increase of 912,114 over the number reported for 1870.
The total postages on the letters exchanged with foreign countries amounted to $1,735,266 32, being $229,298 16 less than the amount reported for 1870.
The aggregate amount of postage (sea, inland, and foreign) on the letter-mails exchanged with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, and France, was $1,181,057 41, being $264,885 19 less than the amount reported for 1870. The postages on letters sent exceeded the postages on letters received from the same countries in the sum of $5,802 15, being less than one-half of one per cent. of the aggregate amount. The postages collected in the United States amounted to $755,724 39, and in Europe to $425,333 02, the excess of collections in the United States being $330,391 37, or 28 per cent. of the entire postage receipts.
Comparing the year 1871 with the year 1870, the rate of increase in the total number of letters exchanged in the mails with foreign countries was 10½ per cent., and the rate of decrease in the amount of postages thereon was 11? per cent. The increase in the number of letters exchanged with European countries was nearly 7 per cent., and the decrease of postages thereon amounted to 18 3/10 percent.; this large reduction in postage receipts having resulted from the greatly reduced rates of international postages established between the United States and the different countries of Europe, which came into operation during the latter half of the fiscal year 1870, but the full effect of which was not realized until the year 1871. The most important of these reductions was that made between this country and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on January 1, 1870, when the single rate for prepaid letters was reduced from 12 to 6 cents, causing a like reduction of 6 cents per single rate in the postage charges on letters to and from all countries and places served by the British mails. This was followed by reduced postage charges, from 15 to 10 cents per single rate, on the letters [Page 90] exchanged by closed mails, via England, with Germany, Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, and Switzerland, including all countries and places to which they respectively serve as intermediaries, which came into operation near the close of the last fiscal year. Reduced rates of postage were also established, at the same time, to countries on the west coast of South America, British Columbia, Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, Australia, and the East Indies.
The total weight of the mails exchanged, during the year, with European countries, under provisions of existing postal conventions, was 1,298,966 pounds; the weight of the letter correspondence being 281,905 pounds, and of printed matter and samples 1,017,061 pounds. The aggregate weight of the mails sent to Europe was 627,591 pounds, and of mails received from Europe 671,375 pounds. The weight of letter correspondence sent to Europe was 155,601 pounds, and of letter correspondence received from Europe 126,304 pounds.
The cost of the United States transatlantic mail steamship service for the year 1871 was $174,138 39, being $148,153 48 less than the cost of the same service during the year 1870. The steamships employed under contract with this Department received the sea postages of 6 cents an ounce on letter-mails, and 6 cents a pound on other matter, as full compensation for the service. The earnings of the respective lines were as follows, viz:
| The Liverpool and Great Western line, for 53 trips, from New York to Queenstown | $60,805 38 |
| The Inman line, for 53 trips, from New York to Queenstown and Liverpool | 49,537 35 |
| The Cunard line, for 49 trips, from New York to Queenstown and Liverpool | 22,178 81 |
| The Hamburg-American Packet Company, for 29 trips, from New York to Plymouth and Hamburg | 20,415 69 |
| The North German Lloyd, of Bremen, for 48 trips, from New York to Southampton and Bremen | 15,676 32 |
| The Canadian line, for 52 trips, to Liverpool | 5,524 84 |
| Total | 174,138 39 |
The United States postages on the mails conveyed to and from the West Indies, Mexico, Panama, South Pacific, Belize, (Honduras,) Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Bermuda, amounted to $125,780 93, and the cost of the sea conveyance thereof was $76,857 32. The United States postages on the mails exchanged with Brazil, Japan and China, the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, and Australia, by means of the subsidized lines of direct mail steamers, amounted to $46,993 52.
The total cost of the United States ocean mail steamship service for the year 1871 (including $725,000 paid from special appropriations for steamship service to Japan and China, to Brazil, and to the Hawaiian Islands) was $975,995 71.
[Page 91]The mail steamship service on all the ocean routes has been regularly performed according to contract. The transatlantic mails have been conveyed exclusively by foreign steamship lines, receiving, under the general law, the sea postages thereon as compensation for the service. Regular monthly service has been maintained on the United States mail steamship routes to Japan and China, to Brazil, and to the Hawaiian Islands. There is no doubt that an increase of service from monthly to semi-monthly trips on the Brazil and China lines would greatly promote their efficiency for postal and commercial purposes. The great length of each of these routes, between ports distant from each other 5,500 and 7,000 miles, respectively, renders a monthly mail service on either of them disjointed and inadequate for rapid reliable postal communication. This is peculiarly the case with regard to the mail service performed on the United States and Brazil line. The schedule of sailing-days is the best that can be arranged for a monthly service on a route of that length, and allows, at most, only two days at New York between the arrivals and departures of the steamers, so that merchants in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other Atlantic seaboard cities are usually unable to answer correspondence or fill orders by the return steamers, causing them great delay, inconvenience, and loss. The result is that a majority of the letters from the United States for Brazil are forwarded in the British mail via Southampton, reaching their destination by that circuitous route sooner than if detained a month for transmission by the next direct steamer from New York to Rio de Janeiro. It is manifest, therefore, that a monthly service on this commercially important route is inadequate to the wants of the public, and fails to accomplish the purposes which Congress had in view in granting a money subsidy to this line of steamers.
In my report of last year I renewed the recommendation of the preceding year for an increase of mail service to semi-monthly trips on the route from San Francisco to Japan and China. I am still impressed with the importance of authorizing additional trips on this line, the establishment of which has already given us the control of the large and rapidly increasing commerce of the North Pacific Ocean with Japan and China; and, for like considerations, I deem it expedient that suitable provision should be made for increasing the service from monthly to semi-monthly trips on the steamship line from New York to Rio de Janeiro.
An application was made to Congress at its last session, by American citizens, for governmental aid in establishing an American line of mail steamships between San Francisco, New Zealand, and the Australian colonies, by way of the Sandwich Islands. A bill granting a money subsidy to the proposed line was reported by the Senate Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, but it failed to pass the Senate, as did all other similar bills proposing Government aid to projected steamship lines. Disappointed in obtaining the desired legislation from Congress, [Page 92] the projectors of this enterprise entered into a contract for the contemplated service with the government of New Zealand, which government had previously signified its readiness to assist, by a moderate subsidy, in establishing a direct postal communication by steamships with the United States. An American line of steamships has thus been placed upon the route between San Francisco, New Zealand, and Australia, via the Sandwich Islands, and is now carrying our mails regularly once in four weeks from San Francisco, under the patronage of the New Zealand government, with the expectation, on the part of the proprietors of the line, that additional aid to maintain this service will be granted by Congress at the approaching session. There can be no question of the commercial importance to the United States of establishing and maintaining a direct and rapid steam communication by American steamships with the countries and islands of the Southwest Pacific Ocean. Such a line will secure to our citizens a large share of the trade of those colonies, now rapidly growing in population and wealth, and greatly benefit the general business interests of the country. A large portion of the heavy traffic and travel between Europe and Australia, which has heretofore taken the routes via Suez and the Cape of Good Hope, will be transferred to the American route via San Francisco, if reliable and rapid steam communication shall be permanently established between that port and the countries of Australasia. Already, since the inauguration of direct steamship service from San Francisco, heavy English mails are being transported across our continent to and from New Zealand and the Australian colonies, the time occupied in their conveyance to destination being less by nearly two weeks than by the Suez route. As manifest considerations of public policy and commercial advantage make it desirable to sustain a first-class line of American steamships upon this route, the question of uniting with the Australian colonies in the support of the existing service by a moderate money subsidy is respectfully submitted to Congress for its consideration and appropriate action.
In previous reports I have called attention to the importance of judicious legislation to encourage the establishment of American mail steamship lines. For several years past we have practically ceased, as a nation, to compete with other maritime powers in ocean steam navigation. Various projects have been devised and urged upon Congress by interested parties, many of them without capital or practical experience in steam commerce, seeking large subsidy grants, in a variety of forms, for the conveyance of our mails in American steamships to European ports. Much valuable time has been devoted by the Post-Office committees and by Congress to the consideration and discussion of the many conflicting schemes presented for their action, without accomplishing any practical results; and the transportation of our mails, passengers, and freights across the Atlantic is still performed exclusively by the steamship lines of other nations. Surely some legislation [Page 93] is demanded to revive the great maritime interests of the country and encourage the construction and equipment of an efficient ocean steam mercantile marine. The subject is one of paramount importance to the material interests of the country, and should receive the most thorough and careful attention of Congress.
It is a very gratifying fact, in this connection, to state that, amid all the discouragements of the present situation, a new line of American iron steamships, to ply between Philadelphia and Liverpool, consisting of four first-class propellers of 3,000 tons each, (old measurement,) are now being built on the Delaware for the American Steamship Company of Philadelphia, of materials exclusively of American manufacture. They will be completed and ready for service early in the fall of 1872, and will form a regular weekly line between the above-named ports. The proprietors of this pioneer line of American iron steamships are among the most enterprising merchants and capitalists of Philadelphia, and deserve such encouragement in their praiseworthy undertaking as can properly be extended by Congress. A reasonable compensation for conveying the mails, in excess of the postage receipts, is probably the only Government aid needed to insure the permanent establishment of this or any other similar line of American ocean steamers plying between our own and foreign ports; and, in my judgment, the granting of such incidental aid, in connection with proper legislation to encourage the construction by American builders of first-class iron steamships, is the most simple, economical, and practical method of establishing American lines of ocean steamers and advancing the general commercial prosperity of the country.
An additional article to the postal convention between the United States and Germany was signed at Washington March 3, and at Berlin May 14, 1871, reducing the postage on direct letter-mails exchanged between the two countries, a copy of which is annexed. Arrangements have also been concluded with the German postal administration, and carried into operation on the 1st of October, 1871, further reducing the postage charge for prepaid letters between the United States and Germany transmitted by closed mail via England from 10 to 7 cents per single rate, and also the postage charges for prepaid letters by the direct routes via Bremen and Hamburg, respectively, from 7 to 6 cents per single rate.
Postal conventions have been negotiated with the republic of Ecuador and with the Argentine Republic establishing and regulating the reciprocal exchange of correspondence with each of those countries at reduced rates of international postage. The duplicate originals of said conventions have been transmitted to those governments, respectively, for ratification, and notice was recently received through the Department of State that the convention with Ecuador had been ratified by the congress of that republic.
Negotiations are in progress with the governments of Denmark, Sweden, [Page 94] and Norway for the conclusion of postal conventions ameliorating the exchange of correspondence and reducing rates of postage between the United States and each of those kingdoms. I have every reason to hope for the early conclusion of the desired conventions.
I have also submitted to the Russian government, through its minister at Washington, propositions for a postal convention with Russia providing for an exchange of correspondence with that country in closed mails via England and Germany, at moderated postage charges.
Negotiations have been renewed for a postal convention with France, but I regret to state that there is little prospect of a favorable result. Modified propositions, based on the liberal provisions of our postal arrangements with Germany and other leading countries of Europe, were submitted by this Department more than a year ago, at the request of the French minister at Washington, and transmitted by him to his government for consideration and instructions. No reply having been received, the attention of Mr. Washburne, our minister to France, was recently invited to the subject, with request to bring these proposals to the notice of the French government, and, if possible, have them considered and acted upon by the proper authorities at Paris; but I am not advised that any action has yet been taken.
appointments.
The report of the Appointment Office shows the following:
| Number of post-offices established during the year | 2,407 |
| Number discontinued | 854 |
| Increase | 1,553 |
| Number in operation on June 30, 1870 | 28,492 |
| Number in operation on June 30, 1871 | 30,045 |
| Number to be filled by appointments of the President | 1,172 |
| Number to be filled by appointments of the Postmaster General | 28,873 |
| Appointments were made during the year: | |
| On resignations | 4,307 |
| On removals | 1,179 |
| On changes of names and sites | 178 |
| On deaths of postmasters | 309 |
| On establishment of new post-offices | 2,407 |
| Total appointments | 8,370 |
| Number of cases acted on during the year | 9,416 |
The number and aggregate compensation of special agents, route-agents, mail-route messengers, railway post-office clerks, and local agents in service during the year ended June 30, 1871, were:
| 50 special agents | $121,899 00 |
| 684 route-agents | 671,280 00 |
| 103 mail-route messengers | 61,910 00 |
| 513 railway post-office clerks | 649,400 00 |
| 82 local agents | 58,430 00 |
| Total compensation | 1,562,919 00 |
free-delivery system.
The free-delivery system has been in operation during the year in fifty-two of the principal cities, with the following aggregate results:
| Number of letter-carriers | 1,419 |
| Mail letters delivered | 112,612,693 |
| Local letters delivered | 27,045,760 |
| Newspapers delivered | 32,610,353 |
| Letters collected | 113,287,602 |
| Amount paid carriers, including incidental expenses | $1,353,923 23 |
| Postage on local matter | $758,120 78 |
This shows the following increase, compared with last year:
| Letter-carriers | 57 |
| Mail letters delivered | 14,800,862 |
| Local letters delivered | 5,248,111 |
| Newspapers delivered | 4,743,330 |
| Letters collected | 15,496,556 |
| Amount paid carriers, including incidental expenses | $123,843 38 |
| Postage on local matter | $76,256 08 |
employés in the post-office department.
The following table will show the number of employés in the Post-Office Department; also the number of postmasters, contractors, clerks in post-offices, route-agents, railway post-office clerks, and other officers, in service on the 30th June, 1871:
| Department officers: | ||
| Postmaster General | 1 | |
| Assistant Postmasters General | 3 | |
| Superintendent of Foreign Mails | 1 | |
| Superintendent of Money-Order Office | 1 | |
| Chief of division of dead letters | 1 | |
| Chief clerk of Department | 1 | |
| Chief clerks of Bureaus | 4 | |
| Clerks, laborers, watchmen, &c | 319 | |
| Total departmental | 331 | |
| Other officers: | ||
| Postmasters | 30,045 | |
| Contractors | 7,286 | |
| Clerks in post-offices | 3,439 | |
| Letter-carriers | 1,419 | |
| Route-agents | 684 | |
| Railway post-office clerks | 513 | |
| Mail-route messengers | 103 | |
| Local agents | 82 | |
| Special agents | 52 | |
| 43,623 | ||
| Total in service | 43,954 |
dead letters.
The number of letters, domestic and foreign, received at the dead-letter office during the last fiscal year was as follows:
| Domestic letters, classed as— | |
| Ordinary | 2,931,244 |
| Drop | 492,300 |
| Unmailable | 373,363 |
| Hotel | 26,732 |
| Fictitious | 66,264 |
| Registered | 6,162 |
| Returned from foreign countries | 77,010 |
| Total domestic letters | 3,973,075 |
| Foreign letters | 221,673 |
| Whole number | 4,194,748 |
Of domestic letters not registered, 16,218 contained money amounting to $59,608 37, in sums of one dollar and upward; and of the registered letters, 2,359 contained $19,204 61, making a total of 18,577 letters, containing $78,812 98. Of these, 17,082, containing $74,420 90, were delivered to the writers or persons addressed; 2,902, containing $10,397 02, which could not be returned to the owners, were filed for reclamation; and 1,495, containing $4,392 08, were outstanding. The number inclosing sums less than one dollar was 14,956, containing $3,808 92; of which 12,413, containing $3,094 90, were delivered to the writers, and 2,543, containing $714 02, were filed for reclamation.
The number of letters containing bank checks, drafts, deeds, &c., was 19,193, of the nominal value of $3,075,869 23; of which 17,905, of the nominal value of $2,855,030 31, were delivered to the owners, and 1,288, of the nominal value of $220,838 92, were outstanding or filed for reclamation.
The number of packages and letters containing jewelry, books, and other property was 6,498; of which 4,298 were delivered, and 2,200 were filed for reclamation.
The number containing photographs was 42,119; of which 36,544 were delivered, and 5,575 were filed. The number containing receipts, bills of lading, &c., was 28,196; of which 27,081 were delivered, and 1,115 were filed. The number containing postage and revenue stamps and articles of small value was 40,749; of which 37,889 were delivered, and 2,860 were filed.
The number of letters without inclosures remailed to the writers was 1,628,803; of which 1,334,303 were delivered, and 294,500 were returned to the office and destroyed. The number in which the writer’s name and local address were omitted or were illegible, and of letters containing circulars, &c., and consequently destroyed, was 2,173,984.
Of the unmailable letters, 301,472 were detained for postage, not being prepaid, as required by law. They were either wholly unpaid, [Page 97] were not prepaid one full rate, or were stamped with illegal or revenue stamps; 68,373 were misdirected, the post-office, State, or some necessary part of the address being omitted; and 3,518 had no address whatever.
The number of applications for dead letters was 7,371, and in 2,471 cases the letters were found and forwarded to the owners.
The amounts deposited in the United States Treasury were—
| For unclaimed dead-letter money during the year | $8,480 16 | |
| For unclaimed dead-letter money on July 5, 1871 | 2,200 00 | |
| $10,680 16 | ||
| For proceeds of sale of jewelry, hooks, &c | 1,669 35 | |
| For proceeds of sale of waste-paper during the year | $2,229 45 | |
| For proceeds of sale of waste-paper on July 1, 1871 | 1,248 75 | |
| 3,478 20 | ||
| Total deposited to July 5, 1871 | 15,827 71 |
postal money-order system.
During the last fiscal year, the number of money-order offices in operation was 2,076. On the 31st of July, 1871, 376 additional money-order offices were established, so that the whole number of such offices is at present 2,452.
| The number of domestic money-orders issued during the year was 2,151,794. the aggregate value of which was | $42,164,118 03 | |
| The number of such orders paid was 2,121,664, amounting in value to | $41,705,667 03 | |
| To this sum is to be added the amount of orders repaid to the purchasers | 321,669 28 | |
| Total of payments | 42,027,336 31 | |
| Excess of issues over payments | 136,781 72 | |
The amount of fees or commissions paid by the public to postmasters for the issue of orders was $295,286 15.
This statement shows an increase over 1870, in the amount of orders issued, of $8,109,923 32, or 23? per cent.; in the amount of orders paid, of $8,099,411 52, or 23? per cent.; and in the amount of fees received, of $60,050 35, or 25½ per cent.
The average amount of the money-orders issued during the year was $19 59. This amount varies but little from year to year, not having fallen below $19 for the last five years, and having only once slightly exceeded $20.
The whole number of duplicate orders drawn was 8,858, of which 8,725 were issued in lieu of original orders which failed to reach the respective payees because of their change of residence, or because of erroneous or imperfect address, or for other causes; 111 were substituted for orders which became invalid because not presented for payment before the expiration of one year after date; and 22 for orders [Page 98] rendered invalid in consequence of bearing, contrary to law, more than one indorsement.
The increase in the number of duplicates during the last year was 1,683, or 23? per cent., nearly the same rate of increase as that of the orders issued and paid.
The receipts and expenditures of the last year, as adjusted and reported by the Auditor, were as follows, viz:
| Receipts: | ||
| Fees received for money-orders issued | $295,286 15 | |
| Amount received for premium on drafts | 277 23 | |
| Total | 295,563 38 | |
| Expenditures: | ||
| Commission to postmasters and allowances for clerk hire | $177,773 56 | |
| Allowances for remittances lost in transmission by mail | 7,715 00 | |
| Incidental expenses for stationery and fixtures | 8,893 04 | |
| 194,381 60 | ||
| Excess of receipts over expenditures, being revenue derived from the transaction of the money-order business | 101,181 78 | |
During the past year, the amount of surplus money-order funds accruing at the smaller post-offices from the sale of money-orders, and by them remitted to and deposited in the larger or first-class offices designated as their depositories, was $30,965,223 35.
Forty-two remittances, to the aggregate amount of $11,053 52, were reported as having been lost in transmission by mail last year, of which the sum of $4,492 52 was recovered through the efforts of special agents of the Department; the sum of $2,627 was allowed to the credit of postmasters who furnished satisfactory proof that they had, respectively, duly remitted the several amounts stated by them; credit claimed for remittances to the amount of $495 was disallowed; and claims amounting to $3,439 were unsettled and pending at the close of the year.
The total amount of allowances made to postmasters during the year for lost remittances was $7,715; but of this amount the sum of $5,088 was on account of losses during previous years.
The drafts drawn by postmasters whose money-order payments habitually exceed their issues against credits furnished them to a designated amount, in each case, with the postmaster at New York, amounted to $3,850,227 86. Funds amounting in the aggregate to $58,636 15 were also furnished by the postmaster at San Francisco to postmasters in the Pacific States and Territories who required assistance to pay orders drawn upon them.
Out of the whole number of orders paid, viz: 2,121,664, payment of 30, amounting to $922 68, was claimed to have been improperly or fraudulently obtained. In nine cases, the amount of the orders, $381 54, was recovered by special agents and paid to the rightful owners. In five cases, amounting to $141, the paying postmasters were held responsible [Page 99] for the erroneous payment and required to pay over that amount to the several persons entitled to receive it. The Department refunded the amount of two orders, for $45, improperly paid, the postmaster not having been found at fault. In four cases, amounting to $81, the claim for compensation was not allowed, as it was discovered upon investigation to be without good foundation. Ten cases, of the value of $274 14, are still pending.
From the establishment of the money-order system, on the 1st of November, 1864, the profits accruing from its operations have been as follows, viz:
| Proceeds from November 1, 1864, to July 1, 1866 | $90 82 |
| Proceeds during the fiscal year 1867 | 26,260 61 |
| Proceeds during the fiscal year 1868 | 54,158 15 |
| Proceeds during the fiscal year 1869 | 65,553 87 |
| Proceeds during the fiscal year 1870 | 90,174 63 |
| Proceeds during the fiscal year 1871 | 101,181 78 |
| 337,419 86 |
Postmasters are allowed, by the standing regulations of the Department, “to make deposits of surplus money-order funds, by procuring from any disbursing officer of the United States a check on an assistant treasurer or designated depositary thereof located in the same city or town as the post-office where the deposit is to be made.” This mode of remittance is not only very convenient for postmasters of money-order offices at or near military posts, but is often the only means by which they can forward their surplus funds without extreme danger of loss. The Treasury Department, however, by the Second Comptroller’s circular of May 15, 1871, notified disbursing officers that it would decline thereafter to approve any duplicate check except for “additional bounty and pensions, as specially authorized by law,” for the reason that Congress, at its last session, declined to pass a bill providing a general system for the issue and payment of duplicates of lost checks drawn by disbursing officers of the United States. Hence, if such check, drawn in consideration of money-order funds received from a postmaster, is lost or destroyed, the money which it represents is lost to this Department. A case of this kind has already occurred, a quartermaster’s check for $522, in favor of the postmaster at New York, having been lost in course of transmission by mail by the total wreck of a steamer off Cape Hatteras. For this check no duplicate can now be obtained. Under these circumstances, I would respectfully suggest such legislation as would authorize disbursing officers of the Army, under regulations to be prescribed by the Treasury Department, to issue duplicates of lost checks drawn by them in favor of one postmaster on account of public moneys received from another.
By the act of February 13, 1865, any assistant treasurer or depositary of the United States is allowed, in case of sickness or unavoidable absence [Page 100] from his office, to authorize, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, his chief clerk, or some other clerk employed therein, to act in his place, and to discharge all the official duties required of him by law, “provided that the official bond given by the principal of the office shall be held to cover and apply to the acts of the person appointed to act in his place in such eases.” The interests of the postal service require the passage of an act giving postmasters at money-order offices similar authority in like circumstances.
The recommendation made in my last report with reference to the expediency of additional legislation to authorize the extension of the money-order system to the stations or sub-post-offices in the large cities is respectfully renewed.
During the year 1871, the amount, in currency, received by postmasters for orders issued by them on the exchange office at New York in favor of payees in Switzerland, was $38,489 56. The amount of orders paid in the United States on account of remittances from Switzerland was $12,003 53; showing an increase over the corresponding transactions of last year of $16,299 86, or 73.45 per cent., in the issues, and a decrease of $8,447 39, or 70.37 per cent., in the payments. From the commencement of the international system with Switzerland, on the 1st of September, 1869, to the close of the last fiscal year, a period of twenty-two months, the amount of orders issued by the United States offices for payment in Switzerland was $60,679 26, and the amount of orders paid on account of remittances from that country was $32,454 45. After payment of the entire balance due Switzerland on account of this exchange of money-orders, a net profit of $4,521 21 accrued to the United States, the expenses proper, exclusive of the premiums paid for gold funds purchased to pay balances found due periodically to Switzerland, having amounted to but $51 87. The total cost of such premiums was $2,623 77.
It was stated in my last annual report that negotiations were in progress for the establishment of an international system of postal money-orders between the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. As these negotiations, which were conducted by means of epistolary correspondence for a period of eighteen months, failed to effect an agreement as to the provisions of such a system, I decided, in May last, to send a competent officer of this Department to confer personally with the postal authorities of the United Kingdom upon the points in controversy. The Superintendent of the Money-Order System was accordingly dispatched to London for that purpose on the 25th of that month, as a special agent, duly authorized to negotiate the terms of a convention for a money-order system between the two countries, subject to my approval, by and with the advice and consent of the President. The special agent succeeded in negotiating a convention for that object, which was signed in London June 30, 1871, and approved and signed in Washington July 27, 1871. A copy of that convention [Page 101] will be found in the appendix. In pursuance of its provisions, the money-order system between the two countries went into operation October 2, 1871. From that date up to October 28, a period of four weeks, the amount of the orders remitted from this country to Great Britain was $63,061 13, and of orders in the opposite direction $14,684 19, a manifest indication that this system of exchange supplies an existing public want and will be extensively used by remitters of small sums to and from Great Britain.
A communication having been received May 15, 1871, from the post department of the German Empire, expressing a desire to enter into negotiations “for the introduction of the money-order system into the postal intercourse between the two countries,” I instructed the special agent above mentioned to proceed, after having completed negotiations with the British office, to Berlin, and to treat with the post department of Germany as to the terms of a convention for establishing an international money-order system with that country. A convention to that end was duly negotiated, in pursuance of these instructions, with an authorized agent of the German post department, at Berlin, July 22, 1871, and now awaits complete ratification by the proper authorities of both countries. By the terms of this convention, the money-order business between the two countries is to commence on the 1st of October, 1872.
miscellaneous.
The recent experience of the Contract Office of this Department indicates the propriety of a material amendment to the laws regulating mail contracts.
On the 30th of September, 1870, advertisements were issued, in regular form, for all mail contracts in the section comprising the States of West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas. In response to these advertisements, many bids were received and duly entered, and, under the 24th section of the act of July 2, 1836, contracts were, without exception, awarded to the lowest bidders. On the 1st of July, the time when, agreeably to the advertisement and the usage of the Department, the new contractors were required to commence the discharge of their duties, it was ascertained that the bidders to whom contracts on most of the important routes had been awarded had failed to perform the service. The whole number of failing bidders was 195, and the routes thus left without regular contractors were found to be located as follows: 3 in West Virginia, 11 in Virginia, 2 in Georgia, 2 in Florida, 77 in Alabama, 2 in Mississippi, 11 in Louisiana, 42 in Texas, and 45 in Arkansas. Suspecting that the bidders who had thus failed were not acting in good faith, and that in many cases they were fictitious and what are called “straw bidders,” the Department, on the 19th July last, addressed a letter to the Attorney General, stating the condition of affairs, and asking for an authoritative interpretation of the laws [Page 102] as to the powers of the Postmaster General in making contracts for the conveyance of the mails.
In strict conformity with the opinion of the Attorney General, dated July 22 last, the Department proceeded to make temporary contracts, on the best terms attainable, for six months, or longer, in the discretion of the Postmaster General, and to readvertise, for the residue of the contract term, all the routes whereon service had failed. The new advertisements, for a reletting from January 1, 1872, to June 30, 1875, were issued on August 4, 1871, and the new awards were made on the 1st of November, instant.
It was hoped that, under the operation of the 4th section of the act of March 3, 1871, which required all bidders to accompany their bids for five thousand dollars or over with a certified check or draft, payable to the order of the Postmaster General, for an amount not less than five per cent. of their bids, and which was applied, for the first time, to the bids under the last-named advertisement, a more favorable result would be obtained. I regret, however, to be obliged to say that the bids under the last advertisement are in no respect an improvement on those under the first, and that, of all the routes readvertised, only two were awarded to bidders who bid over five thousand dollars and who gave evidence of honesty of purpose by accompanying their bids with a check for five per cent. of the amount thereof.
This second failure satisfied me that, under existing laws, it is impossible for the Department to secure a fair competition among responsible parties who are willing and able to perform the required service for a fair price. Herewith I file a statement of the Second Assistant Postmaster General, showing the number and termini of all the routes readvertised, the compensation under the old contracts, the amount of failing bids, the cost per annum of temporary service for six months, and the amount of accepted bids for the same from January 1, 1872, from which it will appear that the cost of temporary service is largely in excess of the cost of a like amount of service under the regular contracts, which expired on the 1st of July last.
Hoping to frustrate like attempts to defraud the Government in the future, I respectfully recommend that the laws regulating mail contracts be so amended as to make it a misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment, for any person who, after bidding for mail service and receiving an award thereof, shall fail to make a contract in due form and perform the service described in his bid or proposal, and also so as to declare it to be a misdemeanor, punishable in like manner, for any person to withdraw or attempt to withdraw, after the day appointed for the opening thereof, any bid he may make for such service, until a contract therefor shall have been duly signed and accepted and the contractor shall have proceeded to perform his duties thereunder to the satisfaction of the Postmaster General. I furthermore recommend that additional power be given to the Postmaster General to reject manifestly fraudulent [Page 103] or fictitious bids, and, after a regular bidder or contractor shall have failed to enter into contract, or to fulfill his contract when made, to proceed to contract on the best terms obtainable from any responsible party, whether a bidder or not, for the performance of the service for the residue of the contract term. If it be deemed advisable to continue in force the provision requiring certified checks or drafts to accompany the bids, then I recommend that the amount of the check or draft in each case be fixed at five per cent. of the last regular contract price, where said contract price exceeded $5,000. This would compel bidders to make deposits in support of their proposals on all the more important routes, and would not leave open, as now, an opportunity to the fraudulent bidder to defeat the law by simply reducing his bid below five thousand dollars.
The Postmaster General being required by a clause of the first section of the civil appropriation act of March 3, 1871, to fix the rates to be paid for telegraphic dispatches by the several Departments of the Government, I called to my assistance Brigadier General Albert J. Myer, Chief Signal Officer of the Army, and, upon his recommendation, supported by the legal opinion of Hon. William Whiting, specially retained as Assistant Attorney General, I passed an order, dated June 29 last, declaring—1st. That the rates for all telegraphic communications known as the signal-service messages and reports should be two cents for each word for each circuit over which it may pass in accordance with the schedule of circuits and plans of the Chief Signal Officer of the Army, and that no additional or extra allowance should be made under any pretext whatever; 2d. That for all other communications on behalf of the Government the rate should be one cent per word for each distance of two hundred and fifty miles or fraction of such distance. The views of General Myer are fully stated in a communication addressed to the Postmaster General, dated 18th of July last, and made part of this report.
The postal telegraph is by far the most important subject now inviting consideration in connection with the transmission and interchange of intelligence. The governments of the continental countries of Europe have, with few exceptions, claimed and exercised for years past the right of controlling and managing the electric telegraph, and in every instance with a degree of success commensurate with the care and attention bestowed upon their respective administrations. In Sweden, Norway, Russia, Bavaria, Italy, Turkey, Greece, and Spain, great advantages have been gained by making the telegraph a part of the public postal system; while in Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Prussia, and France, where modern appliances and improvements have been more thoroughly utilized, the policy of governmental control has been fully vindicated. It remained for Great Britain to give a practical test of the public system as compared with the management of corporations and companies of private stockholders. After a protracted and [Page 104] most laborious investigation, Parliament passed, on 31st July, 1868, “An act to enable Her Majesty’s Postmaster General to acquire, work, and maintain electric telegraphs,” which was followed on the 9th August, 1869, by an act providing the money necessary to purchase the undertakings of the several telegraph companies in Great Britain and Ireland. On the 5th of February, 1870, the transfers were effected, and the work of the postal telegraph began. At first, serious difficulties were encountered by reason of the delay in passing the money bill and the inadequate preparations to accommodate the immense increase of business which immediately followed the large reduction of rates. These difficulties, however, were soon overcome, and, thanks to the indefatigable and intelligent labors of Hon. Frank Ives Scudamore, second secretary, and his assistants, the advocates of the measure can already boast of its triumphant success. The charges established in the beginning were uniform throughout the United Kingdom, without regard to distance, and were fixed at the maximum permitted by law, that is to say, one shilling (24 cents) for the first twenty words or part of twenty words, and threepence (six cents) for each additional five words or part of five words, exclusive of signature and address. Referring to an elaborate report of Mr. Scudamore, it appears that the average cost of inland messages was about one shilling, one penny, (26 cents,) against an average cost prior to the transfer of one shilling, sevenpence, (38 cents,) showing a reduction in price of nearly one-third. In the first week after the transfer, the number of messages (exclusive of news and press messages) forwarded from all stations was 128,872; in the week ending 31st March, the number had risen to 160,775. The average weekly number in 13 weeks, to 30th June, was 177,410; the average number in 13 weeks, to 30th September, was 200,787; and the average number in 13 weeks, to 31st December, was 203,572. In the week ending on the 31st December, which is usually considered the worst week in the year for telegraphic work, the number was 144,041, or nearly 16,000 in excess of the number of the first week. The total number of messages forwarded in the three quarters, to 31st December, 1870, was as follows:
| In quarter to 30th June | 2,306,340 |
| In quarter to 30th September | 2,610,237 |
| In quarter to 31st December | 2,646,438 |
| In three quarters | 7,563,015 |
In addition to the foregoing, ample provision was made for the press and news work. The companies, before the transfer, sent news to 306 subscribers in 144 towns only in the United Kingdom; the postal telegraph sent news to 1,106 subscribers in 365 towns. The companies sent news to 173 newspapers only; the postal telegraph sent news to [Page 105] 467 newspapers: showing an increase of 221 in the number of towns to which news was sent, an increase of 800 in the total number of subscribers for news, and an increase of 294 in the number of newspapers taking news. There was, moreover, a vast increase in the quantity of news transmitted. The companies sent, during the session of Parliament, nearly 6,000 words of news daily; during the remainder of the year, they sent nearly 4,000 words daily. The postal telegraph sent, during the session of Parliament, in behalf of the news associations, nearly 20,000 words of news daily; and during the remainder of the year, nearly 15,000 words daily. The postal telegraph also transmitted from 15,000 to 20,000 words daily for the ordinary newspaper correspondents; and seven newspapers rented special wires during the night at the uniform rate of £500, instead of rates ranging from £750 to £1,000, as before. Two other wires were about to be rented to newspaper proprietors at the close of the year, and many more could have been rented if the department could have spared them. There has been doubtless a still further increase of messages during the current year. By an official statement received from the British office, the number of messages for the week ended September 23, 1871, is shown to be 256,456, against 189,636 for the corresponding week of last year. This increase for a single week of 66,820, averaged through the year, would exhibit an annual increase of 3,474,640 messages. The financial results are even more satisfactory. The official report of Honorable George Chetwynd, receiver and accountant general of the British office, shows the following most favorable result for the fiscal year ended 31st March last.
| Gross receipts. | Payments out. | Net produce. | |||||||
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | |
| Amount received for thé transmission of telegraphic messages, &c., in cash. | 212,519 | 5 | 4 | 273,281 | 17 | 3½ | 697,933 | 16 | 8 |
| Amount received for the transmission of telegraphic messages, &c., in postage stamps. | 758,696 | 8 | 7½ | ||||||
| 971,215 | 13 | 11½ | 273,281 | 17 | 3½ | 697,933 | 16 | 8 | |
Let it be noted that the net produce is £697,933, or, computing the pound sterling at $4 86, $3,391,954 38.
These facts, all tending, with overwhelming force, in one direction, demonstrate conclusively the utility of the postal telegraph for both government and people.
Some may hesitate to adopt it in this country because of the great extent of our territory, the paucity of our population in certain large sections, and the great expense involved in extinguishing the rights of telegraph companies. The first two are the same objections that were urged for many years against all ameliorations of our postal service; nevertheless, [Page 106] postages have been cheapened and made uniform, and, at the same time, the postal system has been maintained and improved. Rightly viewed, the extent of the country is a strong argument in favor of a postal telegraph and the additional facilities and uniform rates it will afford. It is only in countries of large extent that the value of instantaneous, or nearly instantaneous, communication can be appreciated. Who, that desires to convey or acquire any information, would hesitate between sending a telegram from New York to California in seven minutes for twenty cents, and sending a letter in seven days for three cents? Our sparse population is rapidly growing more dense by the acquisition of one million and a quarter of people per annum. As railroads are extended across the plains and through the mountains, they banish solitude and reclaim the wilderness with a celerity unknown to men of the last generation. The emigrant of to-day moves as part of an organized community. The railroad preserves for him a channel of constant supply, and the telegraph keeps unbroken the communication between the new and the old homestead. Before many years we shall bear complaints, not that we have too much land, but rather that we have not land enough.
It is true that a large sum of money will be required for the purchase of the present telegraph lines and their appurtenances. But if this be a difficulty, delay only magnifies it; for, admitting that the Government must at some time become the exclusive proprietor of the telegraphs, it is clear that every year will add to the amount of purchase-money it will have to pay. The companies now in existence will extend their operations, and new companies will be organized from time to time, all of whom would demand compensation for a surrender of their privileges and property. I therefore deprecate further delay as injurious to the public interests. The Post-Office Department is now prepared to undertake the organization and management of the telegraph in connection with its other duties. Indeed, I believe that the Department itself can aid materially in raising the money needed for the purchase through post-office savings banks, if Congress will authorize their establishment. The security of the Government being the best that could be obtained, many depositors would give it the preference over every other. By paying four per cent. interest, at the most, on deposits, a large fund could be readily accumulated and invested, under the direction of the Treasury Department, in the public securities. The proceeds of these investments could be used to reimburse the original purchase-money and all other expenditures for construction and repairs.
To prove the feasibility of this plan, I recur to the history of the British office. Savings banks in connection with post-offices were established in Great Britain on the 16th of September, 1861, with a limitation in the law creating them that they should not pay exceeding 2½ per cent. interest on deposits. The following table will show with what [Page 107] rapidity and to what extent they have been intrusted with the money of the people:
| Period. | Number of post-office savings banks. | Number of deposits. | Amount of deposits. | Total sum standing to credit of post-office savings banks on books of National Debt Commissioners at close of the year. | Balance in hands of Postmaster General, after allowing for charges of management, at close of the year. | Total balance in hand applicable to payment of depositors at close of the year. | |
| From September 16, 1861, to December 31, 1862 | 2,535 | 639,216 | £2,114,669 | £1,659,032 | £35,692 | £1,694,724 | |
| Year | 1863 | 2,991 | 842,848 | 2,651,209 | 3,328,182 | 44,413 | 3,372,595 |
| 1864 | 3,081 | 1,110,762 | 3,350,000 | 4,995,663 | 5,522 | 5,001,185 | |
| 1865 | 3,321 | 1,302,309 | 3,719,017 | 6,582,329 | 4,327 | 6,586,656 | |
| 1866 | 3,507 | 1,525,871 | 4,400,657 | 8,231,176 | 25,791 | 8,256,967 | |
| 1867 | 3,629 | 1,592,344 | 4,643,906 | 9,867,703 | 47,690 | 9,915,393 | |
| 1868 | 3,813 | 1,757,303 | 5,333,638 | 11,963,053 | Nil. | 11,899,400 | |
| 1869 | 4,047 | 1,998,644 | 5,787,218 | 13,755,547 | 19,386 | 13,774,933 | |
| 1870 | 4,082 | 2,135,993 | 5,995,121 | 15,305,040 | 158,888 | 15,463,928 | |
The total amount in hand after ten years’ operations, and for which the British government pays only 2½ per cent. interest, is £15,463,928, or $75,145,690—a much larger sum than will be required for the purchase and thorough repair of all the telegraphic lines in the United States.
Convinced of the wisdom of establishing the postal telegraph and post-office savings banks in this country, I earnestly recommend the passage by Congress of the laws necessary therefor. In my judgment, those laws should provide as well for the absolute purchase of the lines and appurtenances of all telegraph companies now in operation as for the exclusive right and authority of the Government, after the several purchases shall be concluded, to conduct the business of transmitting telegraphic messages.
Again I renew my recommendation for the repeal of the franking privilege. Its existence is utterly incompatible with an economical and vigorous administration of postal affairs. Flagrant frauds have been practiced during the past year, and will continue to be practiced, under its cover, so long as the privilege is protected by law. I refer to my arguments on this subject in former reports with unshaken confidence in their soundness.
The bill “to revise, consolidate, and amend the statutes relating to the Post-Office Department,” known as the postal code, having failed in the last Congress, has been again introduced into the Senate. Much time and labor having been expended in perfecting it, I trust it may be passed at the approaching session with as little delay as possible. It contains some new provisions of much importance—among others, an [Page 108] authority for the introduction of correspondence-cards, an improvement for which a strong desire has been manifested on the part of the public.
The salaries of the three Assistant Postmasters General and the Superintendents of Foreign Mails and the Money-Order System are entirely incommensurate with their valuable services. The Government, in simple justice to a class of officers whose faithful labors in its behalf require them to remain with their families in Washington during the entire year, should not hesitate to increase their annual compensation to $5,000. I cheerfully reiterate my acknowledgment of their conspicuous merit and industry, and earnestly commend them to the favorable consideration of Congress.
Renewing the assurances of my high regard, I have the honor to be your obedient servant,
The President,