VII. POST-OFFICE ESTABLISHMENT.

1. Table of Mail Service for the Year preceding the 1st of July, 1843, as stated by the First Assistant Postmaster General.

Additional expenses of mail agencies incident to the railroad and steamboat mails, and payable under the head of transportation, $28,965.(c)

A change has been adopted in the preparation of this table, to make it conform to the mode of keeping the accounts in the Auditor's office, and occasional reports furnished from time to time. The entire service and pay of the route is set down to the State under which it is numbered, though extending into other States, instead of being divided among the States in which each portion of it lies. This change is necessary to prevent the seeming discrepancies that must appear in every instance, and are liable to be taken as evidence of gross error in the statement.

(a) The steamboat route on Lake Champlain is under a New York number. (b) The Baltimore, Wilmington & Philadelphia railroad is under a Maryland number. (c) The other expenditures incident to transportation, such as amounts paid for ship, steamboat, and way letters, locks, &c., are not included in this table, because they are the subjects of separate appropriation and account.

From a report transmitted to the Senate by the Postmaster General, of the number of paid and unpaid letters, free letters, drop letters for delivery; regular newspapers subject to postage; do. free of postage; do. occasional or irregular; pamphlets and magazines, periodical; do. not periodical, which passed through the post offices in the United States during the month of October, 1843, and an estimate for the year based thereon, with other information in the possession of the Department, we have compiled the following abstract:

2. Post-Office Statistics for the year ending June 30, 1843.

3. Number of Post Offices, Extent of Post Roads, and Revenue and Expenditures of the Post-Office Department ; with the amount paid to Postmasters and for transportation of the Mail.*

*The Revenue of the Post-Office Department is derived chiefly from postage; a trifling amount is received from penalties for violations of the post-office laws. The Expenditures of the Department consist of the items for compensation of postmasters, transportation of the mail, and certain other miscellaneous expenses.

4. RATES OF POSTAGE.

On a Single Letter, composed of one piece of paper.

For any distance, not exceeding

30 miles,

6 cents.

A Letter composed of two pieces of paper, is charged with double these rates; of three pieces, with triple; and of four pieces, with quadruple. "One or more pieces of paper, mailed as a letter, and weighing one ounce, shall be charged with quadruple postage; and at the same rate, should the weight be greater." "Letter postage is to be charged on all hand-bills, printed or written; prices current, sealed or unsealed; prospectuses, proposals for new publications, circulars, lottery-bills and advertisements, blank forms, sheets of music, deeds, law processes, policies of insurance, and manuscript copy for publication. You will also charge letter postage on all packets that are closely enveloped and sealed, so that what they contain cannot be known." Instructions of the Postmaster General.

Newspaper Postage.

For each Newspaper, not carried out of the State in which it is published, or, if carried out of the State, not carried over 100 miles, 1 cent. Over 100 miles, and out of the State in which it is published, 11⁄2 cents.

do.

Magazines and Pamphlets.

66

100 (6

22

66

4

100

distance over
dist. not exceeding 100
distance over

If published periodically, dist. not exceeding 100 miles, 11⁄2 cts. p. sheet. Do. do. If not pub. periodically, Do. "Every Printed Pamphlet or Magazine which contains more than twentyfour pages, on a royal sheet, or any sheet of less dimensions, shall be charged by the sheet; and small pamphlets, printed on a half or quarter sheet, of royal or less size, shall be charged with half the amount of postage charged on a full sheet." "A pamphlet is a small unbound printed book. A magazine is a pamphlet published periodically in numbers, containing articles on science, literature, politics, news, &c. You will charge periodical pamphlet postage on magazines, almanacs, college catalogues, and annual reports or minutes of societies." Instructions of the Postmaster General.

The postage on Ship Letters, if delivered at the office where the vessel arrives, is six cents; if conveyed by post, two cents in addition to the ordinary postage.

5. PRIVILEGE OF FRANKING.

Letters and packets to and from the following officers of the government are by law received and conveyed by post, free of postage;

The President and Vice President of the United States; Secretaries of State, Treasury, War, and Navy; Attorney General, Postmaster General, and Assistant Postmaster General; Comptrollers, Auditors, Register, and Solicitor of the Treasury; Treasurer; Commissioner of the General Land Office; Commissioners of the Navy Board, Commissary General; Inspectors General; Quartermaster General; Paymaster General; Superintendent of the Patent Office; Speaker and Clerk of the House of Representatives; President and Secretary of the Senate; and any individual who shall have been, or may hereafter be, President of the United States; and each may receive newspapers by post, free of postage.

Each member of the Senate, and each member and delegate of the House of Representatives, may send and receive, free of postage, newspapers, letters, and packets, weighing not more than two ounces, (in case of excess of weight, the excess alone to be paid for,) and all documents printed by order of either House, from the period of sixty days before he takes his seat in Congress, till the next meeting of the next Congress.

Postmasters may send and receive, free of postage, letters and packets, not exceeding half an ounce in weight; and they may receive one daily newspaper each, or what is equivalent thereto.

Printers of newspapers may send one paper to each and every other printer of newspapers within the United States, free of postage, under such regulations as the Postmaster General may provide.