CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (REDUCTION OF POSTAGE.) 



187 



other nations and governments of the world in 

 the use of the mails as a means of communica- 

 tion. The number of post-offices are in the 

 following relative proportion, and I will insert 

 the table in full in my remarks in order that 

 the details may be examined. 



"I quote from the report of the Superin- 

 tendent of Foreign Mails for the year ending 

 July 30, 1882: 



" It appears by these statistics that the relative rank 

 of the principal union countries, in respect to the fol- 

 lowing particulars, was as follows : 



" 1. in number of post-offices the United States ranks 

 first, with 42,989 offices ; then Great Britain, with 

 14,549 ; Germany, with 9,460 ; France, 5,942 ; Japan, 

 4,665; Russia, 4,458; British India, 4,409; Austria, 

 4,025 ; Italy, 3,328 ; Switzerland, 2,852 ; Spain, 2,642 ; 

 Hungary, 2,301 ; Sweden, 1,785 ; the Netherlands, 

 1,316; Norway, 924; Mexico, 897 ; Belgium, 792 ; 

 Portugal, 755 ; Denmark, 560. 



"2. In respect to the relative proportion between the 

 number of post-offices and that of population the 

 principal countries of the union rank as follow: 

 Switzerland has an average of 993 inhabitants to each 

 post-office ; the United States, 1,167 to each office ; 

 Norway. 2,078 ; Great Britain, 2,372 ; Sweden, 2,565 ; 

 the Netherlands, 3,085 ; Luxemburg, 3,175 ; Den- 

 mark, 3,537 ; Germany, 4,778 ; Austria, 5,498 ; 

 France. 6,211 ; Portugal, 6,285 ; Spain, 6,333 ; the 

 Argentine Republic, 6,400 ; Belgium, 6,991 ; Hun- 

 gary, 7,258 ; Japan, 7,701 ; Italy, 8,545. 



"'3. In number of letter-boxes for reception of cor- 

 respondence the principal countries rank as follow: 

 France, 57,960 letter-boxes ; Germany, 57,782 ; Great 

 Britain, 27,782; the United States, 18,460; Italy, 

 11,550; Spain, 9,406; Austria, 8,013 ; Russia, 7,957; 

 Japan, 6,935; British India, 6,392; Belgium, 5,456: 

 Switzerland, 5,270 ; Denmark, 3,382 ; Hungary, 3,263* 

 the Netherlands, 3,047; Sweden, 2,700; Portugal, 

 1,303. 



"4. In number of letters conveyed in the mails the 

 principal countries rank as follow: Great Britain, 

 1,176,423,600 letters ; the United States, 847,830,029 ; 

 Germany, 522,689,800 ; France, 488,462.763 ; Austria, 

 174,999,000; Italy, 151,471,018; British India, 118,- 



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36,898,795; Sweden, 27,130,454 ; Denmark, 22,011,999; 

 Portugal, 14,124,919. 



" 5. In number of postal-cards conveyed in the mails 

 the.principal countries rank as follow : The United 

 States, 275,324,224 postal - cards ; Germany, 135,- 

 135,100 ; Great Britain, 122,884,000 ; Austria, 36,026,- 

 000 ; France, 27,540,065 ; Japan, 19,884,451 ; Italy, 

 19,714,710; Belgium, 14,720,342; the Netherlands, 

 13,775,947; Hungry, 12,965,458: British India, 

 7,471,984 ; Switzerland, 6,649,297 ; Russia, 4,682,544 ; 

 Sweden, 1,250,081 ; Roumania, 685,802 ; Portugal, 

 252,751 ; Norway, 209,014 ; Denmark, 173,128 ; Spam, 

 161,986 ; Luxemburg, 155,883. 



" 6. In respect to the number of letters and postal- 

 cards per eacn inhabitant the principal countries rank 

 as follow : Great Britain, 37 '6 to eacn inhabitant : the 

 United States, 22'S; Switzerland, 22-4; the Nether- 

 lands, 17'1 ; Belgium, 16-2 ; Germany, 15'6 ; France, 

 14'9 ; Denmark, 12'6 ; Luxemburg, 11*7 ; Austria, 

 11-1 ; Sweden, 6'9 ; Italy, 6-6 ; Norway, 5*7 ; Spain, 

 4-1; Portugal, 3'3 ; Greece, 1'7; Japan, 1-6; Rou- 

 mania, 1-2; Russia, 1-1. 



"7. In number of newspapers conveyed in domestic 

 mails the principal countries rank as follow : The 

 United States, 730,269,063 newspapers ; Germany, 

 420,944,000; France, 285,691,654; Great Britain, 

 133,790,100; Russia, 83,233,945; Italy, 81,060,778; 

 Austria, 75,282,900; Belgium, 64,680,000; Switzer- 

 land, 49,967,736 ; the Netherlands, 33,682,452 ; Hun- 

 gary, 27,722,577 ; Denmark, 25,007,457 ; Sweden, 



21,087,036 ; Japan, 17,596,758 ; British India, 11,251,- 

 021 ; Norway, 10,402,002 ; Argentine Republic, 7,500,- 

 000; Greece, 1,688,841. 



" Several of the bills that have received the at- 

 tention of the post-office committee indicate one 

 ounce as the basis or minimum weight for the 

 tirst rate of postage. It is not considered that 

 the change from one half ounce to one ounce 

 as the basis would afford relief to the great 

 body of correspondents. "While the large busi- 

 ness houses and firms would enjoy the reduc- 

 tion, the average letter would not be carried for 

 a less rate. Nor is it deemed advisable at this 

 time to embrace the two propositions of an in- 

 crease in weight and a reduction in rate in 

 the legislation recommended. The half ounce 

 weight is the basis in the Universal Postal 

 Union, now embracing all the civilized coun- 

 tries and colonies of the world except Bolivia 

 and the British Australasian colonies. The 

 half-ounce is also the basis for the domestic 

 rate of postage in the principal countries of the 

 world. 



" The official reports of the Post-Office De- 

 partment for the year ended June 30, 1882, 

 show a marked surplus over expenditures. A 

 small surplus, $132,202.65, however, occurred 

 in the year 1851, and again in the year 1865, 

 when it amounted to $861,430, doubtless occa- 

 sioned by the suspension of mail service in the 

 Southern States. During the year ended June 

 30, 1851, the receipts amounted to $6,410,- 

 604.33, and the expenditures to $6,278,401.68. 

 In the year 1852 the receipts were $5,184,- 

 526.84, and the expenditures $7,108,459.04, 

 leaving a deficiency of $1,923,932.20, or 27 per 

 per cent., to be supplied from the general 

 Treasury. This deficiency steadily grew, prin- 

 cipally by reason of largely increased expendi- 

 tures, until 1860, nearly one half of the expen- 

 ditures for which year were paid out of the 

 Treasury. 



' k During the four years of the war, from 1861 

 to 1865, the receipts fell only 4'7 per cent, short 

 of the expenditures. In 1865 alone, as before 

 indicated, there was a small surplus of receipts. 

 The restoration of service in the Southern States 

 again increased the burden on the Treasury, so 

 that in 1868 28'3 per cent, of the expenditures 

 were supplied from that source. From this 

 point the tendency was generally toward lower 

 deficiencies, but still in 1875 the Treasury con- 

 tributed 20-2 per cent, of the expenditures. In 

 1879 the deficiency was 10-1 per cent., and for 

 1881 the receipts fell 7 per cent, short of the ex- 

 penditures. This deficiency was not only wiped 

 out during the last year, but a surplus of 3-6 

 per cent, of the receipts will remain after ex- 

 tinguishing all the liabilities for the year. 



"I believe the introduction of the postal-card 

 for 1 cent contributed largely to the increase 

 of the revenues of the Post-Office Department. 

 But I go further and will say that I believe 

 that when we reduce the postage on letters to 

 2 cents, many who have recognized the econ- 

 omy of saving 2 cents as between the letter 



