Table A. Showing the character of the mail service, length of mail-routes, number of miles of transportation, and the cost thereof, at the close of the contract year.... Table B. Exhibiting, by States, the railroad service in operation June 30, 1878, with the Table C. Exhibiting the steamboat service in operation June 30, 1878 Table D. Showing the increase and decrease in the amount and cost of mail transporta- tion in the several States and Territories during the year ended June 30, 1878.... Table E. Showing the weight of the mails, the speed with which they are carried, the accommodations for mails and agents, the trips per week, and the rates of pay per mile per annum on railroad routes in States in which the contract term expired June 30, 1878, and also in other States and Territories; the returns having been obtained with a view to the readjustment of pay, in accordance with the act of March 3, 1873, and used also in accordance with the acts of July 12, 1876, and of June 17, 1878, in the case of readjustments taking effect on and after July 1, 1876. This table is accompanied with an alphabetical index of the titles of the companies carrying the mails Table F. Showing the readjustment of the rates of pay per mile on railroad routes in States and Territories in which the contract term expired June 30, 1878, and also in other States and on certain new routes, the adjustment of the rates based on returns of the weight of the mails, the speed with which they are conveyed, the accommodations for mails and agents, and the number of trips per week, in accordance with the act of March 3, 1873, and with the acts of July 12, 1876, and of June 17, 1878, in the case of readjustments taking effect on and after July 1, 1876. This table also is accompanied with an alphabet- ical index of the titles of the companies carrying the mails Table G. Stating purchases of mail bags, locks, keys, catchers, &c Table H. Statement of contracts for mail bags, catchers, &c...... Table I. List of railway post-office lines in the United States June 30, 1878, showing the increase and decrease in the service since June 30, 1877 Table K. Description of the railway post office lines contained in Table I, giving the contract designations of the routes, the corporate titles of the railway companies, the railway mail service designations of the railway post-offices, the distances between termini and num- ber of miles of annual service, the number of round trips per week, the number and dimensions of the railway post-office cars in use on each railroad, and the amount of the service performed by day and by night Table L. Description of the route-agent and mail-route messenger service in the United States on the 30th of June, 1878, giving the contract designations of the routes, the cor- porate titles of the railway companies, the railway mail service designations of the routes, the distances between termini and number of miles of annual service, the num- ber of round trips per week, the number and dimensions of cars or of apartments in cars in use on each railroad, and the number of mails carried by express trains.. Statement of appropriations for 1878 and expenditures by items.. Statement of receipts and disbursements at Treasury depositories for 1878 Statement of receipts and disbursements at depository post-offices for 1878. REPORT OF THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL. FINANCES. WASHINGTON, D. C., November 9, 1878. SIR: The total expenditures of this department during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1878, were.. $34, 165, 084 49 4,887, 567 54 Excess of expenditures over receipts.. Included in the above statement of expenditures is the sum of $290,436.90, paid on liabilities incurred in previous fiscal years, and not properly chargeable to the expenditures of the last fiscal year. Deducting this sum from the aggregate amount leaves $33,874,647.59 as the actual expenditures on account of service for the year. The amount appropriated for service of the fiscal year 1877-'78, including Treasury grants and appropriations out of the Treasury for special purposes, was .... $34, 622, 577 54 Amount expended for 1877-78.... Less amounts expended in excess of appropriations: $33,874, 647 59 This balance will be largely reduced when the unadjusted liabilities for the year have been reported and paid. Table No. 2 (page 269), accompanying the report of the Third Assistant Postmaster-General, shows the condition of the several accounts on the 30th of September, 1878. The expenditures and receipts of the department, therefore, on account of and appertaining to the business of the last fiscal year (excluding expenditures and receipts on account of previous years) are as follows, viz: Expenditures Receipts, ordinary, from money-order business and from official stamps... $33, 874, 647 59 29,277,516 95 4,597, 130 64 Leaving an excess of expenditures over receipts chargeable against the appropriations from the Treasury, hereinafter enumerated, of.. The expenditures during the fiscal year were $678,762.05 more than those of the preceding year. The total receipts for the year were $1,745,931.69 (or 5.9+ per cent.) more than those of the preceding year, and $1,367,648.05 (or 4.4+ per cent.) less than the estimates therefor. The decrease of receipts from the estimates is owing partly to the fact that the latter included $750,000 to be appropriated out of the general Treasury for official postage-stamps for the use of the Post-Office Department; but Congress having failed to make the appropriation, the amount of such stamps used by the department, consequently, did not become available as revenue. Excluding official postage-stamps and money-order receipts from both fiscal years, there is an increase of ordinary receipts over past fiscal year of $1,774,500.22, or about 6.1 per cent. The expenditures and receipts by fiscal quarters, and the increase or decrease therein, as compared with the corresponding quarters of 1875–76 and 1876-77, are shown by table No. 3 (page 270), which accompanies the report of the Third Assistant Postmaster-General. AMOUNT DRAWN FROM TREASURY ON APPROPRIATIONS. The following amounts were drawn from the Treasury during the fiscal year on appropriations: To supply deficiencies in the revenues for the year ended June 30, 1878, act of March 3, 1877... For same, act of June 14, 1878 For same, act of June 20, 1878. $2,939,725 00 550, 000 00 250,000 00 To meet deficiency in compensation to postmasters for the year ended 284, 283 36 To meet deficiency in compensation to postmasters for the year ended 400, 000 00 For same, act of June 20, 1878. 75, 000 00 For payment of railway post-office clerks, route-agents, &c., being a deficiency for 1878, act of December 15, 1877. For same, act of April 30, 1878.. 10, 000 00 7,000 00 For inland mail transportation, being a deficiency for 1878, act of December 15, 1877... To meet deficiencies in the revenues for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1877, act of July 12, 1876 .. For expenses of delegates to International Postal Congress, act of December 15, 1877. 500, 000 00 250,000 00 4,000 00 To pay New Brunswick and Canada Railroad Company, act of April 30, 1878.... To pay T. W. Collier, postmaster at Coshocton, Ohio, act of April 29, 1878 To pay E. B. Head, postmaster at Harrodsburgh, Ky., act of June 19, 1878 To pay Texas and New Orleans Railroad Company, act of June 14, 1878. To pay G. H. Giddings, of Texas, for mail service, act of June 20, 1878.. To pay T. A. Kendig for carrying mails in Louisiana, from November 1, $11, 935 73 938 72 127 00 577 16 101 00 2,967 43 16,897 98 4, 099 44 ESTIMATES FOR 1880. 5,307, 652 82 The estimated expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, are.$36, 571, 900 00 Estimated revenue from money-order business $30, 150, 000 00 210, 000 00 Total estimated revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880.. 30, 664,023 90 Estimated excess of expenditures to be appropriated out of the general Treasury as a deficiency 5,907,876 10 Congress having for the last two consecutive years failed to make appropriation out of the Treasury for official stamps for the use of this department, it has not been thought advisable to submit further estimates on account of this item. The estimated revenues from official postages has, accordingly, been confined to the amount of official postagestamps required for the use of the other executive departments. Table No. 1 (page 257), accompanying report of the Third Assistant Postmaster-General, furnishes the estimates in detail. DEFICIENCY APPROPRIATIONS. The following statement will show the condition of the appropriations from the general Treasury to supply deficiencies in the postal revenues, viz: 1. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1876, the amount unexpended was $1,852,705, which by operation of law was carried into the surplus fund of the Treasury on the 30th June, 1878, leaving no means available for the payment of unsettled liabilities incurred prior to July 1, 1876. 2. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1877, the amount unexpended was $417,498, of which $250,000 has been drawn from the Treasury and placed to the credit of the Post-Office Department, leaving a balance of $167,498 still remaining in the Treasury and available for the payment of indebtedness on account of said fiscal year. 3. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1878, the amount appropriated from the Treasury to supply deficiencies in the revenues was $3,739,725, of which $176,238.82 remains unexpended and available for unadjusted liabilities for said fiscal year. LIABILITIES. The unpaid indebtedness of the department for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1878, is estimated at $350,000; for the payment of which there is available, as above stated, the sum of $176,238.82, leaving a balance of $173,761.18 still to be supplied out of the general Treasury. POSTAGE-STAMPS, STAMPED ENVELOPES, AND POSTAL CARDS ISSUED. The number of ordinary postage-stamps issued during the past fiscal year was.. Newspaper and periodical stamps.. Stamped envelopes, plain Stamped envelopes, request Newspaper wrappers Postal cards Official postage-stamps.. Official stamped envelopes.. Aggregating 742, 461, 940, valued at.. $19,468, 618 00 1,609, 578.. 88,514, 600 67, 845, 250.. 27, 200, 500 200, 630, 000. 15, 551, 660 1,093, 845 30 2,418, 102 91 2, 183, 025 25 304, 645 60 2,006, 300 00 618, 094 60 474,553 10 16,783, 125.. 1, 160, 596, 653 28,567, 184 76 İNCREASE IN ISSUES OF POSTAGE-STAMPS, ETC. In all the above issues there has been an increase over those of the previous year, as is shown by the following table: In the transmission of these supplies, 10 packages only were lost. POSTAGE ON NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS. Under the act of Congress of June 23, 1874, requiring prepayment of postage on second-class matter mailed by publishers or news-agents, the total amount of postage collected on such matter during the fiscal year |