At The Present Moment, February, 1862, The Only Railway
Running Into Washington, That Namely From Baltimore, Is A Single
Line Over The Greater Distance.
The whole thing is necessarily
worked at a cheaper rate than with us; not because the people are
poorer, but because the distances are greater.
As this is the case
throughout the whole railway system of the country, it cannot be
expected that such dispatch and punctuality should be achieved in
America as are achieved here in England, or in France. As
population and wealth increase it will come. In the mean time that
which has been already done over the extent of the vast North
American continent is very wonderful. I think, therefore, that
complaint should not be made against the Washington post-office,
either on account of the inconvenience of the hours or on the head
of occasional irregularity. So much has been done in reducing the
rate to three cents, and in giving a daily mail throughout the
States, that the department should be praised for energy, and not
blamed for apathy.
In the year ended June 30, 1861, the gross revenue of the post-
office of the States was, as I have stated, 1,700,000l. In the same
year its expenditure was in round figures 2,720,000l.; consequently
there was an actual loss, to be made up out of general taxation,
amounting to 1,020,000l. In the accounts of the American officers
this is lessened by 140,000l. That sum having been arbitrarily
fixed by the government as the amount earned by the post-office in
carrying free mail matter. We have a similar system in computing
the value of the service rendered by our post-office to the
government in carrying government dispatches; but with us the amount
named as the compensation depends on the actual weight carried. If
the matter so carried be carried solely on the government service,
as is, I believe, the case with us, any such claim on behalf of the
post-office is apparently unnecessary. The Crown works for the
Crown, as the right hand works for the left. The post-office pays
no rates or taxes, contributes nothing to the poor, runs its mails
on turnpike roads free of toll, and gives receipts on unstamped
paper. With us no payment is in truth made, though the post-office
in its accounts presumes itself to have received the money; but in
the States the sum named is handed over by the State Treasury to the
Post-office Treasury. Any such statement of credit does not in
effect alter the real fact that over a million sterling is required
as a subsidy by the American post-office, in order that it may be
enabled to pay its way. In estimating the expenditure of the office
the department at Washington debits itself with the sums paid for
the ocean transit of its mails, amounting to something over one
hundred and fifty thousand pounds. We also now do the same, with
the much greater sum paid by us for such service, which now amounts
to 949,228l., or nearly a million sterling. Till lately this was
not paid out of the post-office moneys, and the post-office revenue
was not debited with the amount.
Our gross post-office revenue is, as I have said, 3,358,250l. As
before explained, this is exclusive of the amount earned by the
money order department, which, though managed by the authorities of
the post-office, cannot be called a part of the post-office; and
exclusive also of the official postage, which is, in fact, never
received. The expenditure of our British post-office, inclusive of
the sum paid for the ocean mail service, is 3,064,527l.; we
therefore make a net profit of 293,723l. out of the post-office, as
compared with a loss of 1,020,000l. on the part of the United
States.
But perhaps the greatest difficulty with which the American post-
office is burdened is that "free mail matter" to which I have
alluded, for carrying which the post-office claims to earn
140,000l., and for the carriage of which it might as fairly claim to
earn 1,350,000l., or half the amount of its total expenditure, for I
was informed by a gentleman whose knowledge on the subject could not
be doubted, that the free mail matter so carried equaled in bulk and
weight all that other matter which was not carried free. To such an
extent has the privilege of franking been carried in the States!
All members of both Houses frank what they please - for in effect the
privilege is stretched to that extent. All Presidents of the Union,
past and present, can frank, as also, all Vice-Presidents, past and
present; and there is a special act, enabling the widow of President
Polk to frank. Why it is that widows of other Presidents do not
agitate on the matter, I cannot understand. And all the Secretaries
of State can frank; and ever so many other public officers. There
is no limit in number to the letters so franked, and the nuisance
has extended itself to so huge a size that members of Congress, in
giving franks, cannot write the franks themselves. It is illegal
for them to depute to others the privilege of signing their names
for this purpose, but it is known at the post-office that it is
done. But even this is not the worst of it. Members of the House
of Representatives have the power of sending through the post all
those huge books which, with them as with us, grow out of
parliamentary debates and workings of committees. This, under
certain stipulations, is the case also in England; but in England,
luckily, no one values them. In America, however, it is not so. A
voter considers himself to be noticed if he gets a book; he likes to
have the book bound, and the bigger the book may be, the more the
compliment is relished.
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