CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (PBESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



163 



some change is made in the existing laws, the profits 

 of the postal service will, in a very few years, swell 

 the revenues of the Government many millions of 

 dollars. The time seems auspicious, therefore, for 

 some reduction in the rates of postage. In what 

 shall that reduction consist ? 



A review of the legislation which has been had 

 upon this subject during the last thirty years, dis- 

 closes that, domestic letters constitute the only class 

 of mail matter which has never been favored by a 

 substantial reduction of rates. I am convinced that 

 the burden of maintaining the service falls most un- 

 equally upon that class, and' that more than any 

 other it is entitled to present relief. 



That such relief may be extended without detriment 

 to other public interests, will be discovered upon re- 

 viewing the results of former reductions. 



Immediately prior to the act of 1845, the postage 

 upon a letter composed of a single sheet was as fol- 

 lows: 

 If conveyed Cents. 



30 miles or less 6 



Between 30 and 80 miles 10 



Between SO and 150 miles 12^ 



Between 150 and 400 miles 18| 



Over 400 miles 25 



By the act of 1845, the postage upon a single letter 

 conveyed for any distance under 300 miles was fixed 

 at 5 cents, and for any greater distance at 10 cents. 



By the act of 1851, it was provided that a single 

 letter, if prepaid, should be carried any distance not 

 exceeding 3,000 miles for 3 cents, and any greater dis- 

 tance for 6 cents. 



It will be noticed that both of these reductions 

 were of a radical character, and relatively quite as 

 important as that which is now proposed. 



In each case there ensued a temporary loss of reve- 

 nue, but a sudden and large influx of business, which 

 substantially repaired that loss within three years. 



Unless the experience of past legislation in this 

 country and elsewhere goes for naught, it may be 

 safely predicted that the stimulus of 331 per cent, 

 reduction in the tax for carriage, would at once in- 

 crease the number of letters consigned to the mails. 



The advantages of secrecy would lead to a very 

 eral substitution of sealed packets for postal cards 

 1 open circulars, and in divers other ways the vol- 

 of first-class matter would be enormously aug- 

 nted. Such increase amounted in England, in the 

 t year after the adoption of penny postage, to more 

 in 125 per cent. 



As a result of careful estimates, the details of which 



n not be here set out, I have become convinced that 



.e deficiency for the first year after the proposed re- 

 duction would not exceed 7 per cent, of the expendi- 

 tures, or $3,000,000, while the deficiency after the 

 reduction of 1845 was more than 14 per cent., and 

 after that of 1851 was 27 per .icnt. 



Another interesting comparison is afforded by sta- 

 tistics furnished me by the Post-Office Department. 



The act of 1845 was passed in face of the tact that 

 there existed a deficiency of more than $30,000. That 

 of 1851 was encouraged by the slight surplus of $132j- 

 000. The excess of revenue in the next fiscal year is 

 likely to be $3,500,000. 



If Congress should approve these suggestions, it 

 may be deemed desirable to supply to some extent 

 the deficiency which must for a time result, by in- 

 creasing the charge for carrying merchandise, which 

 is now only sixteen cents per pound. But even with- 

 out such an increase, I am confident that the receipts 

 under the diminished rates would equal the expendi- 

 tures after the lapse of three or four years. 



The report of the Department o'f Justice brings 

 anew to your notice the necessity of enlarging the 

 present system of Federal jurisprudence, so as effectu- 

 ally to answer the requirements of the ever-increasing 

 litigation with which it is called upon to deal. 



The Attorney-General renews the suggestions of 

 his predecessor, that in the interests of justice better 



provision than the existing laws afford should be made 

 in certain judicial districts for fixing the fees of wit- 

 nesses and jurors. 



In my message of December last I referred to pend- 

 ing criminal proceedings growing out of alleged frauds 

 in what is known as the star-route service of the Post- 

 Office Department, and advised you that I had en- 

 joined upon the Attorney-General and associate coun- 

 sel, to whom the interests of the Government were 

 intrusted, the duty of prosecuting with the utmost 

 vigor of the law all persons who might be found 

 chargeable with those offenses. A trial of one of 

 these cases has since occurred. It occupied for many 

 weeks the attention of the Supreme Court of this Dis- 

 trict, and was conducted with great zeal and ability. 

 It resulted in a disagreement of the jury, but the cause 

 has been again placed upon the calendar, and will 

 shortly be retried. If any guilty persons shall finally 

 escape punishment for their offenses, it will not be 

 for lack of diligent and earnest efforts on the part of 

 the prosecution. 



1 trust that some agreement may be reached which 

 will speedily enable Congress, with the concurrence 

 of the Executive, to afford the commercial community 

 the benefits of a national bankrupt law. 



The report of the Secretary of the Interior, with its 

 accompanying documents, presents a full statement 

 of the varied operations of that Department. In re- 

 spect to Indian affairs, nothing has occurred which 

 has changed or seriously modified the views to which 

 I devoted much space "in a former communication to 

 Congress. I renew the recommendations therein con- 

 tained as to extending to the Indian the protection of 

 the law, allotting land in severally to such as desire 

 it, and making suitable provision for the education of 

 youth. Such provision, as the Secretary forcibly 

 maintains, will prove unavailing unless it is broad 

 enough to include all those who are able and willing 

 to make use of it. and should not solely relate to in- 

 tellectual training, but also to instruction in such 

 manual labor and simple industrial arts as can be 

 made practically available. 



Among other important subjects which are included 

 within the Secretary's report, and which will doubt- 

 less furnish occasion for congressional action, may be 

 mentioned the neglect of the railroad companies to 

 which large grants of land were made by the acts of 

 1862 and 1864 to take title thereto, and their conse- 

 quent inequitable exemption from local taxation. 



No survey of our material condition can fail to sug- 

 gest inquiries as to the moral and intellectual progress 

 of the people. 



The census returns disclose an alarming state of il- 

 literacy in certain portions of the country where the 

 provision for schools is grossly inadequate. It is a 

 momentous question for the decision of Congress 

 whether immediate and substantial aid should not be 

 extended by the General Government for supplement- 

 ing the efforts of private beneficence and of State and 

 Territorial legislation in behalf of education. 



The regulation of interstate commerce has already 

 been the subject of your deliberations. One of the 

 incidents of the marvelous extension of the railway 

 system of the country has been the adoption of such 

 measures by the corporations which own or control 

 the roads as has tended to impair the advantages of 

 healthful competition and to make hurtful discrimina- 

 tions in the adjustment of freightage. 



These inequalities have been _ corrected in several' 

 of the States by appropriate legislation, the effect of 

 which is necessarily restricted to the limits of their 

 own territory. 



So far as such mischiefs affect commerce between 

 the States, or between any one of the States and a 

 foreign country, they are subjects of national concern, 

 and Congress alone can afford relief. 



The results which have thus far attended the en- 

 forcement of the recent statute for the suppression of 

 polygamy in the Territories are reported by the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior. It is not probable that any addi- 



