During the year, 877 new post-offices were established, and 459 were discontinued. 2,905 postmasters were appointed in consequence of resignations or deaths; 301 for changes of sites of the offices; 877 to new offices; 871 by removals; 4 where commissions expired, and were not renewed; in all, 4,958. The mails have been expedited one business day between New York city and New Orleans; 24 hours from Washington to St. Louis and Nashville by the way of Louisville, and 55 hours to St. Louis, by Springfield and Dayton. The Magnetic Telegraph between Baltimore and Washington, including salaries of officers, cost, between the 1st of April, 1845, and the 1st of October, 1846, $9,906.66; and the receipts have been $2,312.38. Between the 1st of December, 1846, and the 4th of March, 1847, the line was kept for its profits, and without aid from the treasury. 2. Table of Mail Service for the year ending June 30, 1846. The entire service and pay of the route are set down to the State under which it is numbered, though extending into other States. *Add Texas, 3,186 miles; in all, 152,865 miles. Also, expenses of mail agencies, $42,406; service in Texas, from Feb. 16, 1846, $9,189 ; making in all $2,716,673. 3. Number of Post-Offices, Extent of Post-Roads, and Revenue and Expenditures of the Post-Office Department; with the Amount paid to Postmasters and for Transportation of the Mail. * The returns for 1846 are for the first year under the new law, passed March 3, 1845. 4. Revenue under the New Law. Revenue of the Post-Office from 1st July, 1836, to 30th June, 1846. The above statistics apply wholly to the revenue under the old law. The following table shows the income for the first year under the new law : From the above tables it will be seen that the annual average income for nine years, ending 30th June, 1845, was $4,364,625. For the year ending 30th June, 1846, the first under the new law, the income was $3,487,199; making a loss, as compared with the average of the nine preceding years, of $877,426; and with the year preceding of $802,642. This loss is chiefly on letter postages, in which, as compared with the average of the nine preceding years, the loss is $926,296, and with the year preceding, $778,534; being the entire loss of the department, under the first year of the new law, within $24,108, as compared with the year preceding; and $123,654 more than the entire loss, as compared with the average of the nine preceding years. The Postmaster-General supposes that this arises in part from packages of letters, addressed to different individuals, being directed to some third person for distribution. In this way, 100 letters, weighing eight ounces, would be charged (the law allowing one-half ounce to each letter) under 300 miles, 80 cents, and over 300, $1.60; the department being entitled to receive, under the law, $5 or $10 according to the distance. One provision of the law of March 3, 1847, is intended to remedy this evil, and to make the increased number of letters increase the revenues of the department. It will also be seen, that, while the income from newspapers and pamphlets, during the last year, is less than during the year preceding by $46,622, it is larger than that of the average of the nine preceding years by $33,164. 5. Gross amount of Letter Postage, and Newspapers and Pamphlets, for the three Quarters preceding the 1st of April, 1846, compared with the three Quarters preceding 1st of April, 1847. [Furnished from the Post-office Department, July 23, 1847.] 6. Expenditures of the Post-Office from 1st July, 1836, to 30th June, 1846. The expenditures under the first year of the new law were $4,084,297; being less than the average of the nine preceding years by $415,297, and less than that of the year preceding by $236,433. This saving has been effected by reducing the rates in reletting the contracts in New England and New York. Since the close of the last fiscal year, the new contracts have gone into operation in the North-western and South-western States and Territories, and the cost under them is $323,901; or 33 per cent. less than under those which expired 30th June, 1846. There have been no curtailments of the service; but the frequency and despatch of the mails have been increased. 7. Business of the Post-Office and Compensation of Postmasters. There are no returns to show correctly the increased business of the department. Some idea may be formed by comparing the weight of all the mails sent from three offices for one week in June, 1838, with the weight of the mails on the railroad and steamboat routes only, from the same offices, for one week in May, 1846. In consequence of the increased labor in the offices, and the diminished compensation and privileges of postmasters, under the act of 3d March, 1845, nearly one-third of the offices in the United States have been voluntarily vacated since the passage of the act. The extra commissions allowed by the order of 9th July, 1845, arrested these resignations. By the law of March 1st, 1847, higher rates of commission are allowed postmasters. These rates are as follows, viz.: 1. On the amount of letter postage, not exceeding $100 in any one year, 2. On any sum between $100 and $400 in any year, 3. On any sum between $400 and $2,400 in a year, 4. On any sum over $2,400 in a year, 5. On the amount of letters and packets received for distribution at offices designated by the Postmaster-General for that purpose, 6. On all sums arising from the postage on newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets, 7. Box rents not exceeding $2,000 per annum. 50 • The postmasters at New Orleans and Washington have special allow. ances for extra labor. The term letter postage includes all postages received, except those which arise from newspapers, sent from the offices of publication to subscribers, and from pamphlets and magazines. 8. Rates of Postage. For a letter, not exceeding half an ounce in weight (avoirdupois), sent not exceeding 300 miles, Sent over 300 miles, For every half ounce, and any excess over every half ounce, the For any pamphlet, magazine, periodical, or other matter of every kind, that is transmittable by mail, and has no written communication on it, of one ounce or less, or for a newspaper exceeding 1,900 square inches of surface, sent from the office of publication, For each additional ounce, or an excess greater than a half ounce, For newspapers of 1,900 square inches or less, sent from the office of publication, not more than 100 miles, or any distance within the same State, Sent over such distance, |