From the 1st April, 1820, to 1st April, 1821, it appears there was a charge upon the balances due to the Department of From the 1st April, 1821, to the 1st April, 1822, To this sum of two hundred and thirty-two thousand eight hundred and twenty-one dollars and forty-six cents must be added, for expenses incurred in transporting the mail, under bids accepted, in cases where contracts had not been executed, or, if executed, had not been returned to the Department, about $55,464 76 126,649 91 50,706 79 232,821 46 30,000 00 $262,821 46 The amount of postage which accrued for the three years above stated was less than the actual expenditures of the Department by the above sum of two hundred and sixty-two thousand eight hundred and twenty-one dollars and forty-six cents. But the real deficiency will be found much greater than this sum, for there should be added the losses that will inevitably take place in collecting more than a million of dollars in each year from between five and six thousand postmasters. The real excess of expenditure above the receipts for postage, which accrued in the three years stated, cannot be much below three hundred thousand dollars. The whole of this deficiency must have been collected out of the balances due to the Department, except the amount that may yet remain unpaid. The gross amount of postage which accrued from the 1st July, 1822, to the 1st July, 1823, was The expenditures of the Department during the same period are as follows: Compensation to postmasters, including their incidental expenses, &c. Incidental expenses of the Department, Transportation of the mail, Payments into the treasury, $1,114,345 12 353,995 98 30,866 37 784,600 08 423 08 1,169,885 51 1,114,345 12 $55,540 39 This balance of fifty-five thousand five hundred and forty dollars and thirty-nine cents remains against the Department, if every dollar of postage which accrued within the year should be collected. This cannot be expected; and the deficiency will be increased in proportion to the losses sustained in making collections for the year. On the 1st of July last there was due by the Department to contractors, for services rendered prior to that time, twenty-six thousand five hundred and forty-eight dollars and sixty-four cents. This sum must be discharged out of the current receipts for postage, or from collections made out of the balances due to the Department. These balances on the 1st of July last amounted to three hundred and ninety-one thousand nine hundred and ninety-four dollars and fifty-nine cents; one hundred and thirty-five thousand two hundred and forty-five dollars and twentyeight cents of which was due from postmasters, the balance from late postmasters and contractors. As this sum includes delinquencies which have been accumulating since the organization of the Department, and as large sums have been collected from these balances within the last three years, a large proportion of the amount, which for some years has been due from late postmasters and contractors, may safely be assumed as lost. There is now about one hundred and sixty thousand dollars in suit against late postmasters, and in a very short time suits will be commenced for all balances, except those which are due by postmasters in office. Not more than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars will probably be collected from the total amount of balances due to the Department; and, to realize this amount, some years of unremitting exertions will be necessary. A great majority of the accounts are for less than one hundred dollars each, and some hundreds of suits must be brought, in addition to those now pending. It was the constant endeavor of my predecessor, for some years past, to reduce the expenditures of the Department within its receipts; and the reduction of the balances due to the Department shows that within the last three years large sums have been realized from that source. In making the late contracts, the expenditure has been reduced on routes in operation forty-seven thousand eight hundred and twenty-one dollars and twelve cents. And it is believed that the public convenience has been promoted by contracts to have the mail conveyed in stages on several important routes. There will be in operation the next year stages for the conveyance of the mail from the city of Washington to St. Louis, and probably to Franklin, in Missouri, as a proposition has been made by the Department for an extension of the line from St. Louis to Franklin. The weight of the mail and its security require stages on this route. The routes established at the last session of Congress, which will go into operation at the commencement of the ensuing year, amount to fourteen thousand and twenty-one dollars. New routes are always found unproductive; and it may be safely estimated that two-thirds of this sum will be a charge on the revenue of the Department, from other sources, for some years to come. A contract has not yet been made for the transportation of the mail on the route from St. Augustine, in East Florida, to Pensacola, which was established by act of Congress, in the session of 1822. Diligent inquiry has been made, and it does not appear that there is a road between these places, on the route designated, on which the mail can be conveyed. There are Indian paths which pass through different Indian settlements, but none, it is understood, that extend for any considerable distance on the proper direction. The want of a road is not the only obstacle on this route; almost the whole distance is an uninhabited wilderness, except a few Indian villages; and it is represented that very large and impassable swamps and lakes will render the passage of the mail in some places impracticable. The lowest responsible bid that has been made for the conveyance of the mail on this route is four thousand dollars; and it is confidently believed that the route will not add two hundred dollars to the receipts of the Department. As this is an established route, I shall deem it my duty to accept the best bid which has been made, and close the contract, so that an attempt to transport the mail on it may be made, unless Congress shall think proper to modify or repeal the law. It is understood that, whilst Congress are willing that all the revenue of this Department shall be appropriated in extending the travel of the mail, they are unwilling to provide for this accommodation, to any considerable extent, by appropriations from the treasury. It is, therefore, an object of great importance to bring the expenditures of the Department at least within its receipts. This may be done by discontinuing the unprofitable routes-the expense of which greatly exceeds the convenience to the public-and by a rigid economy in the administration of the affairs of the Department. If Congress, at the ensuing session, will discontinue unproductive routes, so as to lessen the expenditure twentyfive thousand dollars, including the expense of the new routes which they may establish, it is believed that the expenditure of the Department may be brought within its receipts for the ensuing year. It will be remarked, that the amount of reduction here proposed is less than the sum due to contractors on the 1st of July last. There has been paid into the treasury of the United States by this Department, since its organization, one million eighty-nine thousand three hundred and thirty-seven dollars and twenty-nine cents. The receipts of the Department, it is expected, will be greater the ensuing year than the present. An arrangement has been made respecting the postage on newspapers, which will probably increase the receipts nearly thirty thousand dollars. The average amount received from this source has been about sixty-six thousand eight hundred dollars annually. There are more than five hundred and sixty newspapers printed in the Union. It has been estimated that, on an average, each newspaper office sends three hundred papers weekly in the mail; one-fourth of which are supposed to be sent out of the State or Territory in which they are printed. This would give an increase to the revenue of the Department of nearly forty thousand dollars. Some country papers may not send weekly in the mail more than from fifty to a hundred papers, but some offices are known to send from ten to twenty thousand. From the best data on which a calculation can be made, it is believed that something near the estimated result may be produced. But as fifty per cent. of the postage on newspapers is paid to postmasters for their compensation, only one-half of the increased receipts from this item will be added to the means of the Department. The deficiencies in the receipts from this item, which are believed to exist, do not arise from any want of integrity in postmasters, but rather from indulgencies which they are in the practice of extending for newspaper postage. It is believed that they generally render an account of the amount received, but they fail to collect what might have been required in advance. An arrangement will soon be made to draw drafts on each postmaster quarterly for the postage received. This will be done by arranging the different post offices under the numbers of the respective routes on which they are situated, and requiring the receipts of the offices on each route to be exhausted by drafts to the contractor for the route, before he is paid from any other source. If there be a deficiency of funds on the route to pay the contractor, he can be paid by drafts on some other convenient offices, or by checks on banks where funds of the Department may be deposited. If there be a surplus of funds on the route, they can be drawn for in favor of some contractor on a convenient route, or deposited in some bauk, as convenience may require. The large offices will all be required to deposite in banks. This arrangement will supersede the practice of remitting by mail, as heretofore; and it will induce a much greater punctuality of payment, as postmasters will always expect quarterly drafts, however small their receipts. This plan will enable the Department to realize quarterly the postage paid more certainly, it is believed, than any other mode which can be adopted. In making remittances to the Department, about one thousand dollars have been lost annually; and, as the same noney is sent by mail to contractors, sometimes into the neighborhood from whence it was remitted, the loss in this transmission must at least be equal to that of remitting by postmasters. By the arrangement proposed, the labor of the Department will be lessened, and the moneys appropriated will always appear by the transactions of the office, without passing through the hands of any one employed in the General Post Office. No check whatever, except the integrity of the postmaster and of the receiving clerk in the Department, has heretofore existed for all the moneys which have been remitted. If the postmaster states that he has remitted any amount, and will make affidavit of the fact, he obtains a credit, though the money has never been received. Should the clerk who receives the quarterly return, in which the remittance is usually enclosed, take the amount and destroy the return, there is nothing that can lead to a discovery; the return is supposed to have been lost in the conveyance. Without entertaining any illiberal suspicions against either postmasters or clerks, such a system is considered as radically defective, and a change is deemed indispensable. It is believed that no change is preferable to the one contemplated, as it will give certainty, and, at the same time, simplify and lessen the labor of the Depart ment. Before the commencement of the ensuing session of Congress, copies of al! contracts for the conveyance of the mail, made prior to the 1st of July last, will be deposited in the Treasury. After that period a duplicate of all contracts will be filed in the Treasury Department, as the law requires. Accounts have been rendered to the Treasury up to the 30th September, 1821. This part of the business of the office has not generally been brought up as near the current transactions as at present, but it is contemplated to have the accounts rendered to the Treasury as promptly, in future, as the operations of the Department will admit. I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant, To the PRESIdent of the UNITED STATES. JOHN MCLEAN. INDEX ΤΟ POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. A. Abstract of statements rendered by postmasters for the year ending September 30, 1820, Account of Chester Bailey with General Post Office, Acceleration of southern mail, and arrangement of the post office at Washington, Same to Henry Weist, mail contractor, Additional clerks-Report in relation to, 1830, Advancement of money for printing-Answer of Postmaster General to the resolution of the Senate in relation to, Alabama-Post offices in, 1827, Of Thomas Moore to the same, Of Benjamin Huger to the same, Of clerks in Washington post office to interrogatories of the Postmaster General, Arkansas-Post offices and postage in, 1827, Same, 1828, Austill, Jeremiah-Report of a committee of the House of Representatives on his claim, Bowen, George, mail contractor-Report on his petition for correction of error in his bond, Branch of General Post Office in western States, Building Purchase of, for Post Office and Patent Office, Pages. 103 94 99 141 34 38 222 249 251 177 207 294 178 208 294 260 17 24 25 26 26 142 349, 356 180 210 295, 296 150 223 236 297 148 99 147 150 151, 152, 153 237 341 343 336 61 44 Circular of Postmaster General in relation to horses, feed, prices, roads, entertainment, travel, carriage builders, &c. 23 Communication of Postmaster General in relation to employing of negroes in transportation of mail, 1802, Same-Obstructions to transmission of mail from Athens, Georgia, to New Orleans, March, 1806, 39 40 41 Communication of Postmaster General-Giving opinion that Samuel Gordon, a mail carrier, ought not to receive Same Giving a tabular view of the Post Office establishment from 1789 to 1809, Of President of the United States-Purchase of a building for the Post Office and Patent Office, Of Postmaster General-Remonstrance against delivery of letters on the Sabbath, Same Sunday mails in 1815, - Of President of the United States-Number of post offices and produce of postage, February, 1815, Same, same, Same-Mail guards, 1819, From Treasury Department in relation to receipts and expenditures of Post Office Department, Same-Nett amount of postage accruing at each office for the year ending March 31, 1827, Same-Repair of a post road in Ohio, Same-Postage on pamphlets, Same-Routes on which the mail is transported on Sunday, 1830, Same-Road from Zanesville, Ohio, to Florence, Alabama, Pages. 43 43 44 44 46 46 47 48 49 62 63 72,76 86 90 92 111, 113 113 113 115 119 139 141 141 146 156 180 183 226 241 242 249 262 338 137. 144 155 183 215 242 256 301 337 350 359 165 193, 194 270,271 76 80 147 147 149 151, 152, 153 316 318, 321 251 23 111 298 147 139 Same-Postmasters removed, from March 4, 1829, to March 22, 1830, Same-To the Senate, in relation to printing, changes in contracts, extra clerks, duties of Assistant Postmas- Estimate of the expense of a line of stages from Portland, Maine, to Louisville, Georgia, Expense Of carrying the mail from Portland, Maine, to Louisville, Georgia, 139 87 168 197 280 327, 329 113 180 210 281 139 220 222 221 23 15 23 111 120 147 298 |