Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/775

 POST 755 however, the business yields a considerable surplus over the expenditures therein. In 1874 there was an excess of receipts in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- necticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsyl- vania, aggregating $4,308,007. The revenue from all sources for three years was as follows : SOURCES. 1872. 1873. 1874. Letter postage $345,869 $348,849 $326,295 Newspapers and pamphlets 985,940 1,072,998 1,392.374 Emoluments 1,086,895 1,150,042 1,226,926 Fines 18,617 3,917 10,711 .Stamps, stamped en velopes, and pos tal cards 19,009,921 Dead letters 7,299 20,324,818 6,208 28,388,722 8,721 Miscellaneous 17,451 Revenue from money 21,325 18,124 orders 443,397 68,584 105,198 Total $21,915389 $22 996 741 $26 477 071 The most important items of expense were : ITEMS. 1872. 1873. 1874. Compensation to postmasters Transportation of the , $5,121,665 $5,725,468 $5,818,472 mails Clerks for post offices Letter carriers 15,547,820 2,785,258 1,885,965 16,833,682 2,978,614 1,422,990 18,881.319 8,297,961 1,802,418 Postage stamps, stamped envelopes, and postal cards. . . 535,828 653,921 845,196 The international postal convention which assembled at Bern, Switzerland, in September, 1874, concluded on Oct. 9 a treaty for the for- mation of a general postal union in which uni- form rates of postage shall prevail. The coun- tries composing the union are Austro-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Nor- way, the Netherlands, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Servia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States. The treaty was ratified, went into force on July 1, 1875, and is to continue for three years. France, how- ever, does not join the union until Jan. 1, 1876. The rates of postage between the United States and all of these countries except Spain, the rate to which will be 12 cts. until Jan. 1, 1876, on account of French transit, are uniform and as follows : for prepaid letters, 5 cts. per 15 grammes (about % oz.); unpaid, 10 cts. per 15 grammes; postal cards, 2 cts. each; newspa- pers not exceeding 4 oz., 2 cts. each ; other printed matter, samples of merchandise, &c., 2 cts. for each 2 oz. or fraction thereof. The registration fee on all correspondence is 10 cts. No fee will be charged for a return receipt in cases where a receipt from the address is requested. No additional tax will be collected in the United States on the correspondence forwarded within the union by sea on routes of more than 300 nautical miles in length. The countries forming the union constitute a single postal territory for the exchange of cor- respondence between their territories. The abolition of accounts for international corre- spondence, besides saving the expenses inci- dent to keeping such accounts, will add largely to the postal revenues of the United States by securing the large excess of foreign postage which is annually collected in this country, and which has hitherto been accounted for and paid quarterly to the respective foreign offices. The provisions of this international arrangement are not to affect the domestic postal system of any country, or the postal arrangements between a country within and any government outside of the union. The rates adopted by the union are lower than those previously charged for the transmission of an ordinary letter between the United States and the principal countries of Europe. Thus the former postage on an ordinary let- ter was 6 cts. to Great Britain, 6 or 7 cts. to Germany, according to the route, 9 cts. to France, 6 or 8 cts. to Belgium, 7 cts. to Den- mark, 6 or 10 cts. to Holland, 9 cts. to Swe- den, 8 or 10 cts. to Switzerland, 10 cts. to Italy, 11 or 12 cts. to Spain, Portugal, or Tur- key, 10 or 11 cts. to Russia, 14 or 15 cts. to Greece, and 15 or 20 cts. to Egypt. Postal con- ventions regulating the exchange of correspon- dence have also been concluded between the United States and Canada, Newfoundland, Mex- ico, Guatemala, San Salvador, Ecuador, Vene- zuela, Brazil, the Hawaiian islands, New Zea- land, New South Wales, Japan, Hong Kong, the British East Indies, and the Straits Settle- ments. European mails are sent regularly from New York on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays of every week ; from Boston on Tuesdays ; from Philadelphia on Thursdays ; and from Baltimore on Satur- days. There is also a weekly mail from New York for Havana, tri-monthly to Central Amer- ica and the South Pacific coast, and monthly to the West Indies and Brazil ; and one tri- weekly from Boston for Prince Edward island and Nova Scotia. A monthly mail goes from San Francisco to Japan, China, and the East Indies, and one to the Hawaiian islands and Australia. The postage on an ordinary let- ter is 5 cts. to Australia ma San Francisco, except to New South Wales, which is 12 cts. ; 15 cts. to Brazil; 3 cts. to Canada; 10 cts. to Mexico, Hong Kong (China), and the East In- dies via San Francisco, or from 20 to 28 cts. by other routes. Tbe rate of United States postage on letters to or from other countries, with which different rates have not been es- tablished by convention, when sent by vessels regularly employed in carrying the mails, has been fixed at 5 cts. (instead of 10) per j oz. or fraction thereof. Prepayment of the post- age on foreign letters, whether sent to a country within or without the union, is re- quired in the case of some countries, and op- tional as to others. The total number of let- ters exchanged in 1874 with foreign countries was 28,579,045, of which 14,885,989 were sent