700 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



be of great value at all times, and of inestimable 

 value in case of a foreign war. Nature has provided 

 the greater part of this route, and the obstacles to 

 overcome are easily within the skill of the engineer. 

 I have riot alluded to this subject with the view of 

 having any further expenditure of public money at 

 this time than may be necessary to procure and 

 place all the necessary information before Congress 

 in an authentic form, to enable it hereafter, if deemed 

 practicable and worthy, to legislate on the subject 

 without delay. 



NAVY DEPARTMENT. 



The report of the Secretary of the Navy, herewith 

 accompanying, explains fully the condition of that 

 branch of the public service, its wants aud deficien- 

 cies, expenses incurred during the past year, and 

 appropriations for the same. It also gives a com- 

 plete history of the services of the Navy for the past 

 year, in addition to its regular service. 



It is evident, unless early steps are taken to 



S reserve our Navy, that in a very few years the 

 nited States will be the weakest nation upon the 

 ocean, of all great powers. "With an energetic, pro- 

 gressive business people like ^ours, penetrating and 

 forming business relations with every part of the 

 known world, a navy strong enough to command 

 the respect of our flag abroad is necessary for the 

 full protection of their rights. 



I recommend careful consideration by Congress 

 of the recommendations made by the Secretary of 

 the Navy. 



POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 



The accompanying report of the Postmaster-Gen- 

 eral furnishes a full and satisfactory exhibit of the 

 operations of the Post-Office Department during the 

 year. The ordinary revenues of the Department for 

 the fiscal year ending June 30, 1872, amounted to 

 $21,915,426.37, and the expenditures to $26,658,192,- 

 31. Compared with the previous fiscal year the in- 

 crease of revenue was $1,878,330.95, or 9.37 per 

 cent., and the increase of expenditures $2,268,088.23, 

 or 9.29 per cent. Adding to the ordinary revenues 

 the annual appropriation of $700,000 for free matter, 

 and the amounts paid to the subsidized mail-steam- 

 ship lines from special appropriations, the deficiency 

 paid out of the general Treasury was $3,317,765.94, 

 an excess of $389,707.28 over the deficiency for the 

 year 1871. 



Other interesting statistical information relating 

 to our rapidly-extending postal service is furnished 

 in this report. The total length of railroad mail- 

 routes on the 30th of June, 1872, was 57,911 miles, 

 8,077 additional miles of such service having been 

 put into operation during the year. Eight new lines 

 of railway post-offices have been established, with 

 an aggregate length of 2,909 miles. The number of 

 letters exchanged in the mails with foreign countries 

 was 24,362,500, an increase of 4,066,502, or 20 per 

 cent, over the number in 1871; and the postage 

 thereon amounted to $1,871,257.25. The total 

 weight of the mails exchanged with European coun- 

 tries exceeded 820 tons. The cost of the United 

 States transatlantic mail-steamship service was 

 $220,301.70. The total cost of the United States 

 ocean-steamship service, including the amounts paid 

 to the subsidized lines of mail -steamers, was $1,027,- 

 020.97. 



The following are the only steamship lines now- 

 receiving subsidies for mail service under special 

 acts of Congress : The Pacific Mail Steamship Com- 

 pany receive $500,000 per annum for conveying a 

 monthly mail between San Francisco, Japan, and 

 China, which will be increased to $1,000,000 per 

 annum for a semi-monthly mail on and after October 

 1, 1873 ; the United States & Brazil Mail Steamship 

 Company receive $150,000 per annum for conveying 

 a monthly mail between New York and Eio de 

 Janeiro, Brazil ; and the California, Oregon, and 

 Mexico Steariship Company receive $75,000 per an- 



num for conveying a monthly mail between San 

 Francisco and Honolulu (Hawaiian Islands), making 

 the total amount of mail-steamship subsidies, at 

 present, $725,000 per annum. 



Our postal communications with all parts of the 

 civilized world have been placed upon a most advan- 

 tageous footing by the improved postal conventions 

 and arrangements recently concluded with the lead- 

 ing commercial countries of Europe and America ; 

 and the gratifying statement is made that with the 

 conclusion of a satisfactory convention with France, 

 the details of which have been definitely agreed to 

 by the head of the French postal department, sub- 

 ject to the approval of the Minister of Finance, little 

 remains to be accomplished by treaty for some time 

 to come, with respect either to reduction of rates or 

 improved facilities of postal intercourse. 



Your favorable consideration is respectfully invited 

 to the recommendations made by the Postmaster- 

 General for an increase of service from monthly to 

 semi-monthly trips on the mail-steamship route to 

 Brazil ; for a subsidy in aid of the establishment of 

 an American line of mail-steamers between San 

 Francisco, New Zealand, and Australia ; for the es- 

 tablishment of post-office savings-banks ; and for the 

 increase of the salaries of the heads of bureaus. I 

 have heretofore recommended the abolition of the 

 franking privilege, and see no reason now for chang- 

 ing my views on that subject. It not having been 

 favorably regarded by Congress, however, I now 

 suggest a modification of that privilege to correct its 

 glaring and costly abuses. I would recommend also 

 the appointment of a committee or commission to 

 take into consideration the best method (equitable 

 to private corporations who have invested their time 

 and capital in the establishment of telegraph-lines) 

 of acquiring the title to all telegraph-lines now in 

 operation, and of connecting this service with the 

 postal service of the nation. It is not probable that 

 this subject could receive the proper consideration 

 during the limits of a short session of Congress ; 

 but it may be initiated, so that future action may 

 be fair to the Government and to private parties con- 

 cerned. 



There are but three lines of ocean-steamers name- 

 ly : the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, between 

 San Francisco, China, and Japan, with provision 

 made for semi-monthly service after October 1, 1873 ; 

 the United States and Brazil line, monthly ; and the 

 California, New Zealand, and Australian line, month- 

 ly plying between the United States and foreign 

 ports, and owned and operated under our flag. I 

 earnestly recommend that such liberal contracts for 

 carrying the mails be authorized with these lines as 

 will insure their continuance. 



If the expediency of extending the aid of Govern- 

 ment to lines of steamers which hitherto have not 

 received it should be deemed worthy of the consid- 

 eration of Congress, political and commercial objects 

 make it advisable to bestow such aid on a line under 

 our flag between Panama and the Western South 

 American ports. By this means much trade, now 

 diverted to other countries, might be brought to us, 

 to the mutual advantage of this country and those 

 lying in that quarter of the continent of America. 



The report of the Secretary of the Treasury will 

 show an alarming falling off in our carrying-trade 

 for the last ten or twelve years, and even for the 

 past year. I do not believe that public treasure can 

 be better expended in the interest of the whole peo- 

 ple than in trying to recover this trade. An expendi- 

 ture of $5,000,000 per annum for the next five years, 

 if it would restore to us our proportion of the car- 

 rying-trade of the world, would be profitably ex- 

 pended. 



The price of labor in Europe has so much en- 

 hanced within the last few years that the cost of 

 building and operating ocean-steamers in the United 

 States is not so much greater than in Europe, and I 

 believe the time has arrived for Congress to take 

 this subject into serious consideration. 



