152 order of the Postmaster General, in May, 1861, and were not in operation thereafter, but not regularly discontinued. These offices were reported by the Auditor to the appointment office as having failed to make returns for five years, and their discontinuance,recommended as necessary to enable that officer to close the accounts of the late postmasters on the books of his office, and for that reason it was deemed advisable to formally discontinue them. The free delivery of letters by carriers has been in operation during the past year in forty-eight of the principal cities. The number of carriers employed was 1,198, at an aggregate compensation of $995,934.34. This mode of delivery continues to grow in public favor, and experience justifies the belief that it will supersede the system of box delivery, increase correspondence, and not only pay its expenses, but yield a revenue to the department. STATISTICS FOR FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1867. Number discontinued.. Appointments. The number of post offices established during the year was.. 1,885 6,111 Decrease of offices.. 4,226 Number of post offices in operation on the 30th of June, 1866, including suspended offices in the Southern States... .29,389 Total number in operation on the 30th of June, 1867.. 25,163 Number of offices subject to appointment by the President.. 837 Number by the Postmaster-General.. 24,326 Appointments made to fill vacancies by resignation of postmasters. 4,005 By removals. By change of name and sites. By death of postmasters.. By establishment of new offices.. Total number of appointments.. 3444 195 215 1.885 9,744 .15,960 Number of postal route clerks. 170 Aggregate compensation. 197,500 Number of route agents... 493 Aggregate compensation. 485,100 Number of local mail agents.. 60 Aggregate compensation. 40,358 Number of regular baggage-masters.. 48 Aggregate compensation.. 3,920 Number of temporary baggage-masters.... 56 Aggregate compensation... 3.402 Number of mail route messengers. 29 Aggregate compensation... 16,060 $859,330 Postage Stamps and Stamped Envelopes. There were issued during the year, 371,599,605 postage stamps of the value of $11,578,607; 44,566,150 plain stamped envelopes, representing $1,290,588.50; 16,662,150 stamped envelopes bearing printed cards and requests, representing $494,712.50; and 1,857,750 newspaper wrappers, valued at $37,155. The aggregate value was $13,401,063. The issue of postage stamps compared with the previous year shows an increase of about 6.5 per cent., whilst the issue of stamped envelopes increased almost 61 per cent. The sales of postage stamps and stamped envelopes during the year amounted to $12,988,134.32, leaving unsold in the hands of postmasters, $412,928.78. Contracts and Mail Routes. There were in the service of the department on the 30th June, 1867, 6,376 contractors for the transportation of mails. Of mail routes in operation there were 7,743; aggregate length, 203,245 miles; aggregate annual transportation, 78,982,789 miles; aggregate annual cost, $9,336,286; including the compensation of postal railway clerks, route agents, local agents, mail messengers, mail route messengers, and baggage masters in charge of mails, $1,020,871, the aggregate annual cost was $10,357,157. This service was divided as follows, viz: Railroad Routes: Length, 34,015 miles; annual transportation, 32,437,900 miles; annual cost, $3,812,600; about 11.75 cents per mile. Steamboat Routes: Length, 15,094 miles; annual transportation, 3,210,740 miles; annual cost $472,206; about 14.7 cents per mile. Celerity, Certainty, and Security Routes: Length, 153,136 miles; annual transportation, 43,334,149 miles; annual cost, $5,051,480; about 11.65 cents per mile. The length of routes was increased over the preceding year 22,324 miles; the annual transportation, 7,144,875; and cost, $1,705,812; to which add increased cost for railway postal clerks, route, local, and other agents, $241,161, makes an aggregate of $1,946,973. Fines and Deductions. The amount of fines imposed and deductions made from the pay of contractors, for failures and other delinquencies during the year, was $188,839.46, and the amount remitted for the same period was $42,931.79, leaving the net amount of fines and deductions $145,907.97. Mail Bags. The amount expended for mail bags was $80,440, an excess of $26,812.50 over the expenditure of the previous year, but less by $11,275.86 than that of the year next preceding. Railway Postal Service. There are now in operation in the United States eighteen railway postal routes, extending in the aggregate over 4,435 miles, upon 879 miles of which twice daily service is performed, making a total equal to 5,314 miles of railway postal service daily each way. There are employed in this service 160 men, as head clerks, and clerks, at a cost of $187,900 per annum. Foreign Mail Service. The aggregate amount of postage upon the correspondence exchanged with foreign countries was $2,441,242.52, an increase of $152,023.22 over the previous year. Of this amount, $1,969,605.55 accrued on the correspondence exchanged in the mails with Great Britain, France, Prussia, Bremen, Hamburg and Belgium, $348,303.88 on correspondence exchanged with the British North American provinces, and $123,333.09 on mails transmitted to and from the West Indies, Mexico, Central and South America, the Sandwich Islands, Japan and China. The United States portion of the postage on correspondence exchanged with Great Britain and the continent of Europe, amounted to $871,223.45; with the British North American provinces, $196,848.13; and with the West Indies, &c., $123,333.09, making the total United States postages on foreign mails, $1,191,404.67. The number of letters exchanged with foreign countries (exclusive of the British North American provinces) was 10,298,234, of which 5,312,401 were sent from, and 4,985,833 received in the United States. Of this number 9,442,111 were exchanged with European countries, an increase of 877,264 as compared with the previous year. The estimated number exchanged with the British provinces was 2,806,000, making a total of over 13,100,000 letters exchanged in the mails with foreign countries. The number of newspapers sent to foreign countries, exclusive of the British North American provinces, was 2,956,599, and the number received, 1,871,710, making a total of 4,828,482. Of this number, 4,418,482 were exchanged with European countries. The cost of the trans-Atlantic mail steamship service under the provisions of the law allowing sea and inland postages to American, and sea postages only to foreign steamships was $551,338.01. The amount paid for the transportation of mails to and from the West Indies, was $60,711.77, and the amount paid for sea and Isthmus conveyance of mails to and from Central and South America via Panama, was $22,956.79; making a total expenditure for ocean transportation of $635,006.57, exclusive of the payments made to the Brazil and China lines, receiving subsidies for mail service under special acts of Congress. Balance due Foreign Post Departments: The excess of postage collections in the United States on the correspondence exchanged with Great Britain and countries on the continent of Europe was $564,757.13, and the balance against the United States on adjustment of the international postage accounts with those countries amounted to $357,223.77. Dead Letters. The number of letters consigned to the dead letter office during the past fiscal year, was 3,619,062 dead domestic letters, partly estimated; 443,786 unmailable letters, chiefly held for non-payment of postage; 179,466 dead letters mailed in foreign countries, and 64,194 letters mailed in the United States, and returned as "dead" from the foreign countries to which they were originally addressed; making a total from all sources of 4,306,508, a decrease of 802,097 letters from the same total as estimated for the previous year. The whole number of dead letters, of domestic and foreign origin, and returned from the local offices of the United States, was 3,798,528; a decrease of 789,514 as compared with the returns of the previous year. The whole number of unmailable letters was 443,786, a decrease since last report of 94,337. Of the number received, 7,961 letters were directed to places having no mail service. The number of money letters containing sums of one dollar and upwards was 21,965, enclosing $138,365, of which 668, containing $8,564.56, were registered. There were restored to owners 18,577 letters, containing $127,135.43. The number of money letters containing sums of less than one dollar was 13,770, enclosing $3,369.24; of these, 10,372 containing $3,485.09, were restored to owners. The amount of money taken from unclaimed letters filed prior to July 1, 1867, was $19,914.67, which, together with $5,159.20 realized from the sale of waste paper, amounting to $25,073,87, was deposited in the treasury. The number of letters enclosing bills of exchange, checks, deeds, and other papers, classed as "minor" letters, was 21,262 with a nominal value of $5,109,554.48. Of this class 19,991 letters were restored to owners. The number of letters enclosing photographs, jewelry, and other articles, classed as “property" letters, was 49,386, of which 34,892 were restored to owners. The number of foreign letters returned unopened to the countries where they originated was 186,189, and those received from foreign countries was 64,194. The number of ordinary letters remailed to writers was 1,677,875; of these, 1,421,871, or 84 per cent. were delivered. It thus appears that of 4,306,508 letters consigned to the dead letter office during the year, there have been restored to owners 1,611,686; filled and held for future disposition, 18,553; and returned to foreign countries 186,189, leaving a balance of 2,490,080 indicative of the number that were properly or unavoidably destroyed. Of these, about 1,500,000 were worthless, being mostly circulars and gift or lottery advertisements; 256,004 were sent out but not delivered, leaving about 1,000,000 without signatures, or so written as to be unintelligible. In 1859, there were 381 dead letters to every one thousand dollars of postage revenue; in 1861, 339; in 1862, 302; in 1863, 246; in 1864, 301; in 1865, 326; in 1866, 347; in 1867, 278. Postal Money Order System, The whole number of money order post offices in opeeration at the close of the fiscal year, 1867, was 1,224. The number of orders issued during the year was 474,496 of the aggregate value of....... .$9,229,327.72 The number paid was 461,876 of the value of.. $8,977,874.71 To which is to be added the amount of orders repaid to purchasers......93,366.02 9,071,240.73 Excess of issues over payments..... .$158,086.99 The money order business was more than doubled the last year. The receipts for fees on money orders issued and for premium received on exchange were...... 70,889.57 The expenditures for commissions to postmasters, clerk hire, remittances lost in the mails, and incidental expenses were... 44,628.96 *Not including the standing treasury credit of $700,000 for free matter. Not including $1,191,666.67 paid for service for which special appropriation was made. Including $900,000 drawn under acts making appropriation for carrying free mail matter. From postages only. ESTIMATES FOR 1869. The ordinary expenditures for the year ending June 30, 1869, are estimated at... .$21,200,000 .500,000 12,500 Making the total estimated expenditures..... 1,637,500 $22,837,500 The ordinary receipts, including the standing appropriation of $700,000 for carrying free mail matter, are estimated at... $16,700,000 Add amounts of special appropriation for California, China, and Brazil mails, and for the deficiency above named 1,562,500 18,262,500 Showing an excess of expenditures of.. .$4,575,000 Deducting the undrawn balances of appropriations for the department, amounting to........ 2,000,000 $2,575,000 Leaves the deficiency to be provided for from the general treasury.. APPROPRIATIONS FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. Overland mail transportation and marine service between New York and California...$900,000 Mail steamship service between San Francisco, Japan, and China.. .500,000 Mail steamship service between the United States and Brazil. .150,000 Deficiency on account of service between the United States and Brazil during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1866.. 12,500 Mail steamship service between San Francisco and the Sandwich Islands.. Miles. TABLE OF MAIL SERVICE AND OF POSTAL RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1867, BY STATES. portation.-Miles. Statement showing operations and results of foreign mail service for the fiscal year, ended Being an increase over the amount reported for the previous year of. 128,804.63 Being an increase of 877,264 over the number reported for the previous year. Number of newspapers sent from the United States.. 2,652.317 1,766,165 Total..... .4,418,482 Number of newspapers received from Europe.... Being an increase of 590,347 over the number reported for the previous year. The excess of postages on mails sent from the United States to different countries of Europe over that accruing on mails received from the same countries was as follows: Great Britain, $17,776.32; France, $3,842.07; Bremen, $48,140.46; Hamburg, $27,304.84; total, $97,063.69. The excess of postages accruing on mails received over those sent, was as follows: Prussia, $41,610.86; Belgium, $1,507.76, total, $43,118.62. The sea transportation of mails to and from Europe was performed by the following steamship lines: Conveyed on foreign account:-Cunard line, $785.413.31; French line, $55,574.53; Bremen line, $154,318.02; Hamburg line, $95,791.44; Belgian line, $62.25; total on foreign account, $1,091,189.55. |
