Chapter V: Miscellaneous Matters

General and Financial Summary

_Revenue_:
Entire receipts, 1916 $312,057,688.83
Ordinary postal revenues 303,232,143.36
From money order business 8,130,545.47
Postal savings 695,000.00

_Expenditures_:
On account of current year, 1916 $297,637,128.87
On account of previous years 8,566,904.27
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Total expenditure $306,204,033.14
Excess of revenue over expenditure, 1916 5,853,655.69

_Rural free delivery_, 1916:
Cost per patron, 1915 $2,060
Cost per patron, 1916 1,966
Annual cost, 1916 51,715,616.00

_City delivery_, 1916, 34,000 _carriers_:
City delivery, cost of, 1916 $43,000,000
Cost per capita (estimated) 1.75

_Star route_, 1916:
Annual cost $7,726,975.00

_Postal savings_:
Number of depositors, 1916 602,937
Balance to credit of depositors, 1916 $86,019,885.00

_Money orders_:
Orders issued, 1916 121,636,818
Amount $719,364,950.46

_Stamp books_:
Number issued, 1916 28,005,930

_Postal cards_:
Number issued, 1916 1,047,894,800
Value $10,784,307.00

_Dead letters_:
Letter and parcels received, 1916 10,839,890
Money value found in undelivered letters $2,303,119.56
Net revenue from sale of undeliverable articles $53,665.69

_Mail bags_, 1916:
Number pouches available 600,000
Number sacks available 4,000,000
Cost of pouches $0.70
Cost of catcher pouches .80

_Mail locks_, 1916:
Number general mail locks in use 1,000,000
Cost, each 8½ cents; to repair, 3 cents

_Division of supplies_:
Appropriation, blanks, stationery, etc., 1916 $2,500,000.00

_Special delivery_:
Amount expended for service, 1916 $633,713.21
Number of pieces delivered yearly 32,000,000

_Railway mail service_, 1916:
Number of clerks 19,000
Number of mail routes 3,500
Salaries paid $26,000,000.00
Correct handling of mail 99.984 per cent
Cost of transportation $57,900,000

_Star routes_:
Number, 1916 11,187
Length of miles 147,167
Average cost per mile, length $54.16
Average cost per mile of travel $0.1026
Annual cost $7,726,975.00
Routes on which there is found rate service 195
Number pounds carried, 1917 23,411,604
Cost $280,738.08
Cost per hundred pounds $1.20
Number of Star routes discontinued on account
of rural delivery service from Jan., 1904, to
June, 1917 7,450
Cost $2,577,728
Length in miles 72,340

1900 1917
Number of routes 22,834 11,208
Cost mile of length $19.02 $54.56
Cost mile of travel 3.83 cents 10.24 cents
Cost per route $224.81 $723.00

_Registration and insurance_:
Total registration, paid and free 39,236,569
Amount collected fees $3,427,053.10
Insured parcel post, total pieces 24,936,082
Total fees $1,067,192.29
C. O. D. pieces 6,300,546
Fees $630,054.60

Items of General Interest

Statistics show that although 70 per cent of parcel post matter comes from the fifty largest cities of the country, these cities only receive 17 per cent of parcels for delivery. The smaller post offices which receive 65 per cent of the parcels, dispatch only 9½ per cent.

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The annual readjustment of the salaries of presidential postmasters, will, according to the provisions in the postal appropriation bill for 1917, be based on the gross receipts for the four quarters ending December 31, instead of March 31, as heretofore.

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Eligibles for fourth-class postmaster places are selected in the order of their civil service rating unless good and sufficient reasons to the contrary are submitted to the Department. Of 32,000 of such eligibles, 89.5 of those whose names appeared first on the list were appointed. In 8 per cent the second highest were selected, and in 2.5 per cent, the third.

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The number of postmasters in the United States are, according to classes, 567 in the first, 2,211 in the second, 6,414 in the third, and 46,742 in the fourth class. Total, 55,934.

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Custer County, Montana, has one of the longest mail routes in the United States. This line runs from Miles City to Stacey, Olive, Broaddus, Boyer, Graham, and Biddle. It is said to be 126 miles long and some contend that it is longer.

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The longest star route in the United States is from Helper to Vernal, Utah, 116 miles, and the price the Government pays is $38,678.70 per annum. The longest route in Alaska, is overland, Barrow to Kotzbue, 650 miles. The shortest route is in Pennsylvania, from Keiser to Natalie, 65/100. There is one route in New York, Delhi to Bloomville, 8 miles and back, twelve times a week, for which the contractor receives but 1 cent per annum, no doubt considering the advantage of carrying the mail as a sufficient compensation for taking the job at such a rate.

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There are 3,010 counties in the United States, 984 have rural service and steps are being taken to see what can be done with the remainder, though any considerable progress in such direction must be slow as a great deal of preliminary work must be done before any real action can be taken.

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That fractions count in a great business organization such as the Post Office Department, will be seen when it is stated that postmasters during the year, 1916, accounted for a total of $131,625.90, arising from gains in fractions of a cent where stamped envelopes and wrappers were sold in odd quantities.

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The annual per capita of expenditure for postage in the United States has increased since 1912 from $2.58 to $3.04, and the gross postal revenue from $246,744,015 to $312,057,688. In the fiscal year of 1857, the first full year in which prepayment of postage by means of stamps was compulsory under the Act of March 3, 1855, the per capita use of stamps was but 19 cents. The increase of population in this period has been 257 per cent. Of postage stamp consumption 4,968 per cent.

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The sales of postage stamps and other stamped paper for the fiscal year 1916 aggregated $277,728,025.20, an increase of $21,521,481.49, the greatest sales and the largest increase ever recorded, exceeding the entire sales of the fiscal year 1873, which amounted to $20,324,817.50.

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The Post Office Department was removed to Washington, D. C., first Monday in December, 1800, the seat of Government being changed to the District of Columbia at that time.

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Over 100 years ago the question of patronage was already a disturbing feature in the management of public affairs. Gideon Granger, of Connecticut, Postmaster General in 1814, who had been an active and efficient official in the administration of President Madison, lost his place on account of some disagreement with the President, regarding the appointment of postmasters. It is not clear whether he resigned or was displaced, but the differences of opinion with President Madison led to his retirement from the service.

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Joseph Habersham, of Georgia, Postmaster General in the administration of General Washington, 1795, was the first one of the long line of Postmasters General to sit in the Capital of the Nation, he coming to Washington when the seat of Government was established there in the year 1800.

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Post route and rural delivery maps made by the Government are on a scale of 1 inch to the mile. These maps show all public roads, rural routes, school houses, churches, streams, etc., and negative prints can be purchased at 35 cents each by application to the Third Assistant Postmaster General.

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The number of claims filed with the Solicitor for the Post Office Department in 1916, for the value of postage stamps lost by burglary of post offices, was 690, amounting to $144,440.54, as compared with 720 claims, amounting to $197,011.88, filed in 1915. It will be seen that while the number of claims is approximately the same, the amount is $52,571.34 less.

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It was the custom in 1857 and prior thereto, to publish the names of the postmasters in connection with the post offices as is indicated by an old Postal Guide published by D. D. T. Leech at that time. This was then easily enough done, for the offices then numbered but 13,600 and changes were not as frequent as at present. The First Assistant Postmaster General had in his Bureau 18 clerks, the Second Assistant, 26, the Third Assistant, 25, and the Chief Clerk of the Department, who had charge of the Inspection Service, had 18. There were then but 11 distributing offices in all of New England including Pennsylvania, 8 in Virginia, and the Carolinas, 3 in Georgia, 4 in Ohio, 2 in Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Iowa, and 1 each in Maryland, Michigan, Indiana, Texas, and California. Aaron V. Brown, of Tennessee, was the Postmaster General. The abbreviation for Massachusetts was then “M.S.” as is seen by an old dating stamp of that period.

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In 1868 money orders were issued at the rate of 10 cents for all orders not exceeding $20. By act approved June 8, 1872, the rate was reduced to 5 cents for all orders not exceeding $10. By this change the Government lost, in the two succeeding years on account of this reduction, 2.84/100 on every order issued on the 5-cent basis, showing that such rate at that time was too low.

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There were 2,405 rural carriers separated from the service during the year 1915, of which number 1,228 resigned, 232 died, and 618 were removed. In 1916, there were 2,602 changes, 1,844 carriers resigned, 208 died and 550 were removed.

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Almost the entire expense incident to the operation of the rural mail service is in the compensation paid to carriers. On account of their unusual duties, which include the sale of stamps and stamped paper, registration of mail, transaction of money-order business, etc., duties not required of city delivery carriers, it is stated that carriers maintaining a motor vehicle of the capacity required by the Department, who work eight hours a day and carry perhaps as much as 50,000 pieces of mail a month, should receive not less than $2,000 per annum.

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The total number of miles of railroad in the United States in 1830 was 23, and 634 miles in 1834, on which mail covering 78 miles, was carried. In 1844 the mileage had increased to 4,377 and mail carried on 3,714 miles. In 1854 the mileage was 16,720, in 1864, 35,085, in 1874, 70,278, and in 1882, 104,813, with corresponding increase of mail carriage. There are now 3,479 railroad mail routes with a length in miles of 234,175.13 and an annual travel of 502,937,359.43 miles.

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The decision of President Wilson to place all postmasters of the country under the civil service law will take away $16,587,300 of public patronage from the customary method of disposal. At the first of the year there were 567 first-class offices in the country paying salaries ranging from $3,000 to $8,000, or a total of $2,014,300. Included in this list were the post offices in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Detroit, Cleveland, Toledo Columbus, Atlanta, and other large cities. There were 2,213 second-class offices, salaries ranging from $2,000 to $2,900, or a total of $5,235,500. Third-class, 7,437 paying from $1,000 to $1,900 yearly, or a total of $9,337,500. Fourth-class postmasters are already under the civil service law.

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From 1816 to 1845, a letter carried not over 30 miles paid 6¼ cents, over 80 and under 150 miles, paid 12½ cents, and if the letter weighed an ounce, four times these rates were charged. In 1851 the 3-cent rate was reached for distances less than 3,000 miles, and in 1853 distance limit was abolished and the rate made uniform. This system led to a deficiency in 1860 amounting to over $10,000,000. The restriction of service during the Civil War, it being then confined to the densely populated States of the north, allowed a surplus to appear amounting in 1863 to $2,800,000. After the war, deficiencies became the rule for many years, diminishing, however, from year to year as the country became more thickly settled.

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By official order it is stated that the Department commends and will give record credit marks to rural carriers whose efforts result in greater quantities of farm products being transported through the mails.

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Notwithstanding the growth of the service together with the added work of the postal savings system and the parcel post, the Department service in Washington has been reduced by 200, with a resultant saving of over $166,000 per annum because of the adoption of methods of operation which develop efficiency, and permit the changes so necessary to progressive improvement.

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It is estimated that the cost of extending rural free delivery service throughout the entire country will be $100,000,000, additional. This seems like a vast sum for one form of public service, but country-wide extension is also a vast proposition and its benefits would be so immeasurably great if it could be accomplished, that the nation might consider the money well spent for such a purpose.

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It may not be generally known that fully 80 per cent of all civil service employees of the Government are in one way and another connected with the postal service. This shows how vast and widely extended this service must be and how intimately connected with the public welfare.

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The objectionable use to which window-delivery service in the cities of the country may be subjected, has led to an active and vigorous campaign by the Department to check the possibility of making this public accommodation a channel for unworthy purposes, and this active effort has, it is believed, been productive of great good in such direction.

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The danger to life and limb by service in postal cars, to which attention is called elsewhere, has led to increased effort to provide cars of all-steel construction for better protection in this naturally hazardous service. One thousand of this pattern have within a recent period been added to those already in use and a liability law enacted for the relief of employes. The risks which must be taken in this service demand that the best possible protection that can be given should be afforded that the dangers of the rail may be lessened to the least degree.

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The mails of the United States were first carried on steamboats from one post town to another in 1813, the Government paying not over 3 cents for each letter and 1 cent for newspapers.

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Railroads were declared post routes by act of Congress in July, 1838, and the mails carried thereon.

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This administration is certainly doing all it can to save money in various directions. An opportunity was presented in the motors returned to the Department for repair. These motors have been neglected in many instances through indifference or lack of mechanical knowledge on the part of postal employes. Each returned motor is now given careful examination by an expert electrician and from the knowledge thus gained, additional instructions as to proper handling of this class of equipment will be sent out. The same is true of old cancelling machines which have lain idle for a number of years but by the adoption of newly designed mechanical attachments have been converted into serviceable equipment at a nominal cost.

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The increase in expenditure for rural delivery by periods was as follows: 1897, first year, $14,840. Third year, 1900, increased to $420,433. In 1905, to $20,864,885. In 1910, to $36,914,769, and in 1916 to $51,715,616.

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Revision of the rural delivery service to eliminate duplication, unnecessary retracing and unjustifiable special facilities was conducted in 329 counties in twenty-nine States during the fiscal year of 1916, at a reduction in cost of $1,359,162. This saving with that made in readjustments in the fiscal year of 1915, made it possible to grant all applications for new service and extensions where the requirements have been met. It is estimated that the whole territory now covered by rural service, with such necessary revision, could be operated at a reduction in cost of $3,500,000.

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The commercial shortage in the paper industry is being to some extent remedied, at least so far as the Post Office Department can aid and assist, by urging the cooperation of every employe in the conservation of the waste paper in all of the larger post offices of the country. Paper-baling machines are now supplied to the postmasters for this purpose, which not only contributes to economy in use and adds to the visible supply, but is a matter of revenue as well, for what was formerly regarded as waste, and destroyed, is now made a matter of profit.

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The numberless curiosities gathered from unmailable and unreclaimed articles which found their way into the Dead Letter Office from time to time, together with the many articles of postal interest to those who delight in antiquities--the old mail coaches used in the west, the dog sledges used in the Alaskan service, the carriers in uniform of all nations and the many features of interest too tedious to enumerate here and which formed a veritable collection of postal wonders and delighted thousands of people when gathered for display purposes on the first floor of the Post Office Department are now, in part at least, in the National Museum at Washington and are well worthy a visit when people come to the Capital City on a sight-seeing tour.

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The period of greatest activity in extension and general progress of Rural Delivery was from 1900 to 1905, the appropriations running from $450,000 in 1900 to $21,116,000 in 1905. On February 1, 1902, the rural letter carriers were placed under the civil service by executive order.

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Salary increases in the Rural Delivery service have been as follows: August 1, 1897, $300; July 1, 1898, $400; July 1, 1900, $500; March 1, 1902, $600; July 1, 1904, $720; July 1, 1907, $900; July 1, 1911, $1,000; September 30, 1912, $1,100; July 1, 1914, $1,200.

Some Old Laws and Regulations

NOTE.--In some old postal publications dating back to 1843 and 1857, a number of curious laws and regulations appear which may be of interest to people who delight in antiquarian research. Where no date or Act of Congress is mentioned in the paragraphs following, they refer to laws or regulations prior to 1843 or between that date and 1857. These items are published simply as indicating the peculiar views and opinions of the time, and are not to be taken as an official guide for the present day, for changes may have been made in some cases, amendments in others, some superseded by later enactment and all more or less affected by later conditions and needs. No attention can therefore be given them except as phases of other days, unless indeed existing laws and regulations make them, or some of them still operative and in force, which may be determined by consulting the laws and regulations of today.

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To Senators and Members of Congress, the franking privilege was originally limited to 2 ounces in weight, excess to be paid for. Act of March 3, 1825.

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The sum of 4 cents was allowed for advertising each letter remaining unclaimed in a post office if published in more than one newspaper.