rtation credited to the Pacific railroads, were $92,186,195.11,
which may be considered as the cost of receiving, carrying, and
delivering the above mail matter. It thus appears that though the
second-class matter constituted more than two-thirds of the total that
was carried, the revenue derived from it was less than one-thirtieth of
the total expense.

The average revenue was--

From each pound of first-class matter cents 93.0
From each pound of second class[38] mills 8.5
From each pound of third class cents 13.1
From each pound of fourth class do 15.6

The growth in weight of second-class matter has been from 299,000,000
pounds in 1894 to 312,000,000 in 1895 and to almost 349,000,000 in 1896,
and it is quite evident this increasing drawback is far outstripping any
possible growth of postal revenues.

Our mail service should of course be such as to meet the wants and even
the conveniences of our people at a direct charge upon them so light
as perhaps to exclude the idea of our Post-Office Department being
a money-making concern; but in the face of a constantly recurring
deficiency in its revenues and in view of the fact that we supply the
best mail service in the world it seems to me it is quite time to
correct the abuses that swell enormously our annual deficit. If we
concede the public policy of carrying weekly newspapers free in the
county of publication, and even the policy of carrying at less than
one-tenth of their cost other _bona fide_ newspapers and periodicals,
there can be no excuse for subjecting the service to the further immense
and increasing loss involved in carrying at the nominal rate of 1 cent a
pound the serial libraries, sometimes including trashy and even harmful
literature, and other matter which under the loose interpretation of
a loose statute have been gradually given second-class rates, thus
absorbing all profitable returns derived from first-class matter, which
pays three or four times more than its cost, and producing a large
annual loss to be paid by general taxation. If such second-class matter
paid merely the cost of its handling, our deficit would disappear and
a surplus result which might be used to give the people still better
mail facilities or cheaper rates of letter postage. I recommend that
legislation be at once enacted to correct these abuses and introduce
better busines