over a single route, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, in box-cars, independently of the amount conveyed in the regular mail cars, 665,504 pounds of such publications, as appears from returns of the actual weight thereof taken by the company with the permission of the Department." This was an average of about 7,000 pounds per day. I am informed that matter of the same class has since accumulated at the Capitol to the amount of six or seven hundred thousand pounds. The act of 3d March, 1873, making appropriations for the service of the Post-Office Department for the year ending June 30, 1874, contains the following paragraph:

For increase of compensation for the transportion of mails on railroad routes upon the condition and at the rates hereinafter mentioned, five hundred thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary: Provided, That the Postmaster-General be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to re-adjust the compensation hereafter to be paid for the transportation of mails on railroad routes upon the conditions and at the rates hereinafter mentioned, to wit: That the mails shall be conveyed with due frequency and speed; that sufficient and suitable room, fixtures, and furniture, in a car or apartment properly lighted and warmed, shall be provided for route-agents to accompany and distribute the mails; and that the pay per mile per annum shall not exceed the following rates, namely: On routes carrying their whole length an average weight of mails per day of two hundred pounds, fifty dollars; five hundred pounds, seventy-five dollars; one thousand pounds, one hundred dollars; one thousand five hundred pounds, one hundred and twenty-five dollars; two thousand pounds, one hundred and fifty dollars; three thousand five hundred pounds, one hundred and seventy-five dollars; five thousand pounds, two hundred dollars, and twenty-five dollars additional for every additional two thousand pounds, the average weight to be ascertained, in every case, by the actual weighing of the mails for such a number of successive working-days, not less than thirty, at such times, after June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventythree, and not less frequently than once in every four years, and the result to be stated and verified in such form and manner as the Postmaster-General may direct: Provided also, That in case any railroad company now furnishing railway post-office cars shall refuse to provide such cars, such company shall not be entitled to any increase or compensation under any provision of this act: Provided further, That additional pay may be allowed for every line comprising a daily trip each way of railway post-office cars, at a rate not exceeding twenty-five dollars per mile per annum for cars forty feet in length; and thirty dollars per mile per annum for forty-five feet cars; and forty dollars per mile per annum for fifty feet cars; and fifty dollars per mile per annum for fiftyfive to sixty feet cars: And provided also, That the length of cars required for such post-office railway car service shall be determined by the Post-Office Department, and all such cars shall be properly fitted up, furnished, warmed, and lighted for the accommodation of clerks to accompany and distribute the mails: And provided further, That so much of section two hundred and sixty-five of the act approved June eighth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, entitled "An act to revise, consolidate, and amend the statutes relating to the Post-Office Department," as provides that "the Postmaster-General may allow any railroad company with whom he may contract for the carrying of the United States mail, and who furnish railway post-office cars for the transportation of the mail, such additional compensation beyond that now allowed by law as he may think fit, not exceeding, however, fifty per centum of the said rates," be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

This act, it will be seen, fixes the rate on routes carrying their whole length an average weight of mails per day of 200 pounds at $50 per mile per annum, and allows $25 additional for the next 300 pounds, $25 additional for each of the next three additions of 500 pounds, $25 additional for each of the next two additions of 1,500 pounds, and $25 additional for every additional 2,000 pounds. Under a call made by the Department, in obedience to the requirements of the act, the proprietors of railroad routes throughout the country are submitting returns of the weights of mails taken in the month of October, in the absence of all congressional publications, and the rates of compensation are being re-adjusted on the basis of these weights. Had not the transmission of such publications been discontinued in consequence of the abolition of the franking privilege, the rates awarded in the re-adjustment now being made would be higher in exact proportion to the increase in the weight of the mails which the transmission of this heavy matter would have caused, whatever that increase might be.

What is in fact the precise amount of expense hereby saved, it is impossible to determine, for want of adequate data from which to estimate the extent of the difference in weight. The general interests of the postal service are promoted, however, by relieving the great mail lines of the pressure caused by the carriage of the immense amount of free matter formerly sent over them. So rapid is the increase of postal business that the through lines are taxed to their utmost capacity to convey the letter correspondence and paper-matter dispatched from the commercial and publishing centers of the country. From a careful computation of the quantities of mail-matter disposed of in the New York City post-office, there appears a daily average of 624,275 letters handled, and 1,416 bags of letter and paper mails received and dispatched, the whole weighing 131,286 pounds, or 58.6 tons. This is exclusive of all mails transferred from one railway post-office line to another at New York without passing through the city post-office. Fully 75 per cent. of the aggregate amount passes over lines running to and from the West, Northwest, and Southwest. By one of the great railway post-office lines leading to the Northwest, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, receiving New York mails from the New York Central Railroad at Buffalo, and from the Erie Railway at Buffalo and Dunkirk, there were delivered at Chicago, during the month of November last, 536,113 pounds of mail, an average of nearly 18,000 pounds per day, after discharging large quantities of matter at Cleveland for the State of Ohio, and at Toledo for Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, the Indian Territory, and portions of Indiana and Illinois. It is estimated that on this line the average daily distribution of letters by railway post-office clerks is 50,000 on each westward and 25,000 on each eastward trip, making in all for the two trips, each way, 150,000 letters per day. The great bulk of the matter going west, however, consists of paper-mails, which require to be distributed while in transit, as well as the letters. They are so distributed, and are transferred, with the letter-mails, directly to the depots of connecting roads. These mails have outgrown the facilities for handling them; so that at times, despite the utmost effort, they cannot be all distributed on the trains, and consequent delay occurs. The above figures, indicating the amount of business in the New York City post office, and on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway post-office line, it will be proper to note, are averages. There are many days when they are largely exceeded, and promptness and accuracy of delivery cannot be secured unless the facilities for the service shall be equal to the demands of these exceptional days. These facts are stated to illustrate the difficulty of providing for the due and expeditious transmission of the mails on the great through-lines, apart from the conveyance, free of postage, of vast quantities of public documents. Similar difficulties occur on other through-lines, and especially at Harrisburgh, where the mails from Washington, Philadelphia, and New York meet for transportation westward on the Pennsylvania Railroad and its connections. To illustrate also the rapid augmentation of the postal business of the country, I present herewith, in tabular form, a statement of the number of postoffices and the length of post-roads in the United States, the annual amount paid for mail-transportation, and the amounts of postal revenues and expenditures, at periods of five years from 1790 to 1840, inclusive, and in each year from 1840 to 1873, inclusive, with the length of the railroad portion of the post-roads, the length of railway post office lines, and the cost of the railroad portion of the transportation, from the date of the commencement thereof. From this statement it will be seen

that the length of railroad-routes, in miles, increased from 4,092 in 1845 to 6,886 in 1850; 18,333 in 1855; 27,129 in 1860; 43,727 in 1870, (passing over the intermediate year 1865, in view of the fact that but a small portion of the 6,886 miles of railroad-routes discontinued in rebellious States in 1861 had been then restored,) and 63,457 in 1873: that the amount paid for railroad mail-transportation increased from $562,141 in 1845 to $818,227 in 1850; $2,073,089 in 1855; $3,349,662 in 1860; $5,128,901 in 1870; and $7,257,196 in 1873: that the postal revenues increased from $4,439,841.80 in 1845 to $5,499,986.86 in 1850; $7,352,136.13 in 1855; $9,218,067.40 in 1869; $19,772,220.65 in 1870; and $22,996,741.57 in 1873: and that the expenditures increased from $4,320,731.99 in 1845; to $5,212,953.43 in 1850; $9,968,342.29 in 1855; $14,874,772.89 in 1860; $23,998,837.63 in 1870; and $29,084,945.67 in 1873. The length of railway post-office lines, it will be observed, increased, in miles, from 4,435 in 1867 to 7,201 in 1869, 11,208 in 1871, aud 14,866 in 1873. Herewith, moreover, is a statement, from the office of the Aud itor of the Treasury for the Post-Office Department, exhibiting the oper ations of the money-order system during each fiscal year, from November 1, 1864, to June 30, 1873. Comment upon the figures presented in these exhibits is unnecessary.

The net sales of official stamps for the next fiscal year, to cover the transmission of matter formerly sent through the mails under the franks of the heads of Departments, are estimated at $2,250,000.

2d. No employés in the postal service have been discharged in consequence of the abolition of the franking privilege, the constant and rapid augmentation of the postal business of the country, above indicated, furnishing ample employment for the whole corps; nor have any additions been made to the clerical force, or the expenses of the Department for the care, sale, &c., of postage stamps. A claim for compensation for the manufacture of official stamps has been presented, however, which is now in process of adjustment. The answer to the 1st query shows that it is impracticable to state precisely "how much less is charged by railroads ;" and there are no data from which to estimate the saving on the pay of "other carriers."

3d. The amount of revenue derived from each class of mailable matter during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1873, is shown in the following statement of the Auditor embraced in the appendix to my report for 1873, page 197 :

No. 1.-Statement exhibiting quarterly the receipts of the Post-Office Department, under their several heads, during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1873.

The following letter from the Auditor gives the revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 1873. It is proper to observe that he gives the amounts approximately, an exact statement thereof being impracticable until the returns shall have undergone a more thorough examination:

OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR OF THE TREASURY
FOR THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT,
Washington, January 5, 1874.

SIR: I have the honor to report the following approximate amounts of revenue derived from the respective sources for the quarter ended September 31, 1873:

The law requiring the fees on registered letters to be paid in stamps, the revenue derived from that source is included in stamps sold.

The superintendent of the money-order system makes no return of the revenue until the end of the fiscal year, therefore no amount can be stated as derived from that source at this time.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. J. A. J. CRESWELL,

Postmaster-Generql.

J. J. MARTIN, Auditor.

A comparison of the receipts on four items during the quarter ended 30th September, 1873, with those on the same items for the corresponding quarter of the preceding year shows an aggregate increase of $1,668.445.41, and an increase, exclusive of official stamps, of $614,912.15. These figures, which do not include the postage on congressional matter, confirm me in the opinion, heretofore expressed in a special report to Congress, under date of January 12, 1871, that the cost of all free matter, if charged with the regular rates of postage, would amount to $2,543,327.72 annually.

The Department has no means of determining the "gross amount avoirdupois" of each class of mailable matter transported; nor could it be ascertained, in view of the brief time allowed for the dispatch of mails after they are deposited in mailing-offices, without serious interruption and delay.

4th. It has not been the practice of the Post-Office Department, since appropriations have been made for official stamps, to send by express documents or packages heretofore sent by mail, nor have any orders been issued to its subordinates to such effect. I am not able to answer the question as it relates to other Departments.

5th. In a table (of which I transmit herewith an exact copy) submitting to Congress an estimate of the amount necessary to be appropriated to prepay postage for the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874, the postage on letters was set down at $808,067 ; on directories, postal codes, blank-books, money-order books, &c., at $35,704.58; and on wrapping-paper, twine, balances, hand-stamps, matter from mail equipment division, advertisements issued and locks and keys returned, registered package envelopes and seals issued to offices, official envelopes for postmasters, adhesive postage-stamps, stamped envelopes and wrappers, postal cards, money-order blanks, and blanks from the bureau of foreign mails, at $281,723.42. The Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives reduced the estimate

for letter-postage to $800,000, which amount alone was appropriated and the remaining items were stricken out, on the ground, as it is understood, that they came under the head of supplies for post-offices, and being essential to the proper working of the Department, and, in fact, a part of the material and machinery employed, should be distributed free of postage. I append hereto a copy of a circular issued by the Department, under date of June 11, 1873, in consequence of the action of Congress on this subject. From the fact that the above-mentioned estimates were submitted, it is clear that the Postmaster-General did not construe the law as authorizing the free transmission of mail by or to the Post-Office Department. The decision announced in the Department's circular of June 11, 1873, that the articles stricken out of the estimates should be transported without payment of postage, resulted, as already intimated, from the action of Congress. The Department will be happy in future to pay postage on all matter which it may be required to send through the mails, if Congress shall show that such is its pleasure by making an adequate appropriation.

6th. The estimates of expenditures for the next fiscal year on account of inland mail-transportation and the items incident thereto, compared with the appropriation for the current year and the cost for the past three years for the same purposes, may be deemed to indicate "how much less appropriation will be required for the postal service now than prior to the abolition of the franking privilege." The estimates for the next year for the purposes named amount to $19,270,986. This is an increase of 4.97 per cent. on the $18,357,931 appropriated for the current year; the appropriation for the current year is an increase of 13.5 per cent. on the cost for the same items for the past year, which was $16,174,003; the cost for the past year was an increase of 9.48 per cent. upon the cost for 1872, which was $14,773,346; and this was an increase of 10.2 per cent. upon the cost for 1871. The average annual increase from 1871 to 1874 was 11.06 per cent. To have increased the estimates for the next year upon the appropriation for the current year ($18,357,931) at the rate of 11.06 per cent. would have made the amount thereof $20,388,318. The amount asked for, as stated above, is only $19,270,986, a difference of $1,117,332. And this despite the fact that simultaneously with the abolition of the franking privilege the act of 3d March, 1873, took effect to increase the compensation for the transportation of mails on railroad-routes.

I have thus answered the questions embodied in the foregoing resolution with as much accuracy as is possible from the little material at my command. It must be remembered that the law repealing the franking privilege did not go into operation until the 1st of July last, and that the Department has had the advantage of that repeal for six months only. To arrive at anything like fair conclusions on the subject a trial of at least a year should be made, and time should then be given for gathering accurate results from the entire country. In a machinery so vast and complicated as the Post-Office of the United States, full accounts cannot be made up for at least four months after the end of any quarter. Of necessity the accounts of the Auditor of the Treasury are always that much behind time. Thoroughly impressed as I am with the belief that the repeal of the franking privilege was a wise measure, and will be productive of the best results in the postal service, I earnestly recommend that it be not restored until at least a fair trial can be made. In my last report I recommended a reduction of postage on books to one cent for two ounces, which is the lowest rate now allowed by law for any kind of matter. If that suggestion should be adopted I