3. Number of Post-Offices, Extent of Post-Routes, and Revenue and Expenditures of the Post-Office Department; with the Amount paid to Postmasters and for Transportation of the Mail, since 1790.

*The returns for 1846, 1847, 1848, 1849, 1850, and 1851 are for the six years under the

law of March 3, 1845.

4. Post-Offices in each State classified according to the Compensation allowed each Postmaster, for the Year ending June 30, 1851.*

Nebraska,
Minesota,

Oregon,

36 179 347 208 381 697, 2.022 3 279 4,086 8,369 19,604

5. Amount paid for Mail Transportation, and the Net Revenue arising from Postages in each State and Territory for the Year ending June 30, 1851.

paid. Revenue.

$46.690.25 $ 89,761.92 Indiana,

27,662.00 59.902.20 Illinois,

58,965.44 Wisconsin,

132,164.84 358,120.72|| Iowa,

12.088 20 39,328.34 Missouri,

62.176.13 110,971.81 Kentucky, 321.970.14 933.977 13 Tennessee, 42.813.37 66.156.20

Alabama,

146,105 64

Delaware, .

6.489 87

12.521.38 Arkansas,

61,244.90

17.215.53

Dist. of Columbia,

11,109.45 Texas,

North Carolina,

South Carolina,

1,874.13

Georgia,.

Florida,

213.63

718.90

Ohio,

138,536 32 286,311.24 Nebraska,

25.17

Michigan,

39,634.58 62,387.69 Total amount..

$2,935,097.81 54.035.915.30

*This table does not embrace 192 offices from which no returns were received during the year, a portion of which had been recently established, and are supposed not to have been in operation.

6. Revenue and Expenditure of the Post-Office from July 1, 1836, to

The above statistics apply wholly to the revenue under the old law.

The following table shows the income for the six years the law of 1845 was

The foregoing tables show the total annual and average annual income from the several items, and also the total annual and average annual expenditures, under the law of 1835, and also under that of 1845.

The diminution of the revenue from letters, newspapers, and pamphlets, for the year ending June 30, 1846, as compared with the preceding year, was 19.32 per cent., and as compared with the average of the nine years preceding, it was 20.59 per cent. In 1847 there was an increase over 1846 of 11.27 per cent.; in 1848 over 1847, of 7.43 per cent.; in 1849 over 1848, of 14.20 per cent.; in 1850 over 1849, of 12.105 per cent.; and in 1851 over 1850, of 15.48 per cent. Thus it will be seen that the income from these sources for 1851 was 41.165 per cent. greater than that for 1845; and 39.895 per cent. greater than that of the average for the nine years ending June 30, 1845. The average rate per cent. of increase in the postage on letters,

* Including fines and miscellaneous receipts.

↑ Including fines and miscellaneous receipts, except for 1848, the amount for which year does not include fines.

! Including postage stamps sold, but excluding foreign postage.

newspapers, pamphlets, &c., for the years 1847, 1848, 1849, 1850, and 1851, was 12.096.

The actual cost per mile for transportation of the mail for the year ending June 30, 1842, was 8.9 cents; for the year ending June 30, 1845, was 8.2 cents; for the year ending June 30, 1848, it was 6.2 cents, and for the year ending June 30, 1851, it was 7.2 cents. In 1851 the total annual transportation was 53.4 per cent. greater than in 1842, and at 19.1 per cent. less cost. The cost of service, so far as it is open to competition, is reduced from what it was in 1842, or even in 1849; but in the railroad and steamboat service, where the monopoly excludes competition, the cost is increased. The new contracts made under the lettings in the spring of 1850, for the Northwestern and Southwestern Sections, show an increase of 10.8 per cent. in the service, and 25 per cent. in the aggregate cost. The lettings in the Southern Section show an increase of 12.36 per cent. in the service, and 9.97 per cent. in the aggregate cost.

The conveyance of mail matter between this and foreign countries, and between the Atlantic and Pacific portions of the United States, is a large and important branch of the mail service. Connected with this is the land service across the Isthmus of Panama, performed by New Granada under a treaty, for a compensation varying with the weight of the mails. The following table exhibits this service.

Foreign Mail Service of the United States in Operation October 1, 1851.

The gross amount received from the mail service to Bremen, via Southampton, from June 1, 1847, to Oct. 4, 1848, was $20,082.51; for the year ending Oct. 4, 1849, it was $61,114.20; from Oct. 5, 1849, to Sept. 30, 1850, it was $56,865.60; and during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1851, it was

$94,598.03. In the adjustment of the postal accounts between the United States and Germany for the last fiscal year, the balance of $ 14,196.45 was found due and paid by the Bremen line to the United States.

The postages on the Charleston and Havana line, from Oct. 18, 1848, to Sept. 30, 1850, were $22,406.37; those on the New York and Chagres line, from December 1, 1848, to Sept. 30, 1850, were $402,590.63; and during the last fiscal year were $529,341.04.

The postage on letters, &c., under the postal treaty of December, 1848, with Great Britain, from its date to June 30, 1850, was $885,000.95. Of this there was collected in the United States $ 424,391.08; due British government in adjustment of accounts, during same period, $ 182,675.04; leaving in favor of the United States $241,716.04. The accounts for the three quarters of the fiscal year (to March 31, 1851) show a balance due Great Britain of $58,626.44. Under the postal arrangement with the British Provinces, up to Sept. 30, 1851, the balance in favor of the United States was $701.65.

The following is the detail of the receipts and expenditures of the Department for the contract year: :

first two quarters of that year,
Total expenditures,

46.120.35

$ 6,279,401.68

Deduct from $6,727,866.78, the additional appropriations of $163,888.89, and

of $12,000, and it gives for the ordinary revenue of the year, Deduct from $6,278,401 68, the amount paid British Post-Office, $ 233,235.40, and an award by the Auditor for services for transportation in 1832 and 1833, it gives for the ordinary expenditures of the year,

Balance of ordinary revenue over ordinary expenditure,

7. Compensation of Postmasters.

The commissions allowed postmasters are as follows, viz.:— 1. On the amount of letter postage, not exceeding $100 in any one quarter,

$6,551,977.89

6.024 566 79

$527,411.10

40 per cent.