The report from the Postmaster-General exhibits the condition of that
Department as highly satisfactory for the present and still more
promising for the future. Its receipts for the year ending the 1st of
July last amounted to $1,473,551, and exceeded its expenditures by
upward of $100,000. It can not be an oversanguine estimate to predict
that in less than ten years, of which one-half have elapsed, the
receipts will have been more than doubled. In the meantime a reduced
expenditure upon established routes has kept pace with increased
facilities of public accommodation and additional services have been
obtained at reduced rates of compensation. Within the last year the
transportation of the mail in stages has been greatly augmented. The
number of post-offices has been increased to 7,000, and it may be
anticipated that while the facilities of intercourse between
fellow-citizens in person or by correspondence will soon be carried to
the door of every villager in the Union, a yearly surplus of revenue
will accrue which may be applied as the wisdom of Congress under the
exercise of their constitutional powers may devise for the further
establishment and improvement of the public roads, or by adding still
further to the facilities in the transportation of the mails.
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