UNITED STATES. 



825 



is little or no evidence to show that the lands 

 conveyed to the States under this grant have 

 ever been appropriated to the purposes for 

 which the grant was made. 



Penitentiaries and Jails. The Government has 

 under its control six penitentiaries and three 

 jails, situated as follows: Penitentiaries Sioux 

 Falls, Dak. ; Bois6 City, Idaho ; Deer Lodge, 

 Mout. ; Salt Lake City, Utah ; McNeil's Island, 

 Wash. ; and Laramie, Wyo. Jails Sitka, Alas- 

 ka; Fort Smith, Ark.; and Washington, D. C. 

 Congress recently appropriated $25,000 for 

 completion and repairs of the penitentiary at 

 Laramie, Wyo. ; $25,000 for completion of 

 the penitentiary at Deer Lodge, Mont., and 

 $50,000 for construction and completion of the 

 penitentiary at Salt Lake city, Utah. The im- 

 provements at Deer Lodge have been complet- 

 ed ; at the two other penitentiaries the con- 

 templated changes have not as yet been made. 



During the year ending June 30, 1886, there 

 were received in the different penitentiaries, 

 reformatories, etc., throughout the United 

 States 1,027 United States prisoners. There 

 were discharged during the same period 779. 

 The total number in custody on the 30th day 

 of June, 1886, was 1,261. 



Post -Offices. When the fiscal year 1886 

 closed, the post-offices of the United States 

 numbered 53,614, besides 497 branch offices or 

 stations. By advancements at the quarter- 

 yearly periods, upon the showing of their re- 

 turns, 32 offices had been, during the year, 

 added to the presidential list, bringing the 

 number in the last three months to 2,265. 

 Hut the annual review and readjustment, 

 which took effect on July 1, relegated 45 

 third-class offices to the fourth class, while at 

 the same time but 24 of the latter were ad- 

 vanced. Thus the number of presidential of- 

 fices with which the current year began was 

 2,244, a gain of 11; of these, 75 of the first 

 class, a gain of 4; 400 of the second class, a 

 gain of 17 ; and 1,769 of the third class, a loss 

 of 10 as compared with the beginning of the 

 late year. The branch offices are auxiliary to 

 the large city offices, and of these 357 are only 

 for the sale of stamps and stamped paper ; 44 

 others are also registry offices, 25 more are 

 both registry and money-order stations as 

 well, and 71 more are carrier-stations in addi- 

 tion, only 4 of which are not also money order 

 stations, all being registry offices. In the 

 fourth class, comprising 51,370 offices, there 

 was a gain of 2,351, the new establishments 

 having been 3,482, those discontinued 1,120, 

 and 11 become presidential. By the increase 

 in offices the New England States gained 50 ; 

 the five Middle States, with the District of Co- 

 lumbia, 261 ; fourtet-n Southern States and the 

 Indian Territory, 1,444; the three States and 

 three Territories on the Pacific slope, 106 ; 

 the Western States and Territories, 501. 



The appointments of postmasters during the 

 last fiscal year numbered altogether 22,747, of 

 which 9,112 were made to fill vacancies occa- 



sioned by resignations or expired commissions, 

 587 to vacancies caused by death, 3,482 on the 

 establishment of new offices, and 9,566 upon 

 removals. Of the total number of appoint- 

 ments, 1,039 were made by the President, the 

 vacancies having occurred from the following 

 causes, respectively, viz. : By expiration of 

 commission, 468 ; by resignations, 253 ; by 

 death, 24; by removals or suspensions, 247; 

 and to offices which had been assigned from 

 the fourth to the third class, 47. 



The free-delivery service by carriers was, 

 during the year, extended to three cities, Au- 

 rora, 111., Duluth, Minn., and Newport, Ky., 

 making, on the 30th of June, 1886, 181 free- 

 delivery offices in all. Of carriers, there was 

 an increase of 483, giving a total of 4,841. 



The number of pieces of mail matter, count- 

 ing collections and deliveries, handled by the 

 carriers during the year was 1,949,520,599, an 

 increase over the previous year of 11'75 per 

 cent. The average number of pieces handled 

 by each carrier was 402,710, a gain of T 6 of 1 

 per cent. The average cost per piece was 2*2 

 mills, as against 2*3 the year before. 



The amount of postage on local matter is re- 

 ported at $5,839,242.97, an increase of 10*57 

 per cent, on the previous year; while the ex- 

 cess of such postages over the cost of the serv- 

 ice was $1,526,936'.27, a gain of 17'93 per cent. 



The money-order system has been extended 

 to 311 additional post-offices, while but 10 

 were dropped from its list. 



During the year there were issued 7,940,302 

 domestic orders, amounting to nearly $114,- 

 000,000, 5,999,428 postal notes, amounting to 

 $11,718,000, and 493,423 international orders, 

 aggregating $7,178,786.21, besides the payment 

 of foreign orders, reaching a total of almost 

 $4,000,000. 



The financial condition of the postal service 

 for the past year has improved beyond expec- 

 tation. The previous year closed with a de- 

 ficiency of postal revenue to meet postal ex- 

 penditures of almost $7,000,000, exclusive of 

 the cost of transportation on the Pacific Kail- 

 roads. Both the reduction in the rate of post- 

 age on second-class matter, and the increase in 

 the unit of weight of first-class matter from a 

 half ounce to an ounce, came into effect on 

 July 1, 1885. Although the revenue falls 

 short of the expected total by $64,000, the ex- 

 penditures have been limited to less than $51,- 

 000,000, and the deficiency is diminished with- 

 in that of the year before, being below $6,900,- 

 000, exclusive of Pacific Railroad service. 



Mexico and the Cutting Case. The encouraging 

 development of beneficial and intimate relations 

 between the United States and Mexico has been 

 marked within the past few years. The Presi- 

 dent urgently renews his former representation 

 of the need of speedy legislation by Congress 

 to carry into effect the Reciprocity Commer- 

 cial Convention of Jan. 20, 1883. 



In the summer A. K. Cutting, an American citizen, 

 was imprisoned in Mexico, charged with the comims- 



