navy-yards and stations
and from ocean steam mail service and other special objects assigned to
the supervision of this Department.

The report of the Postmaster-General, herewith communicated, presents
an interesting view of the progress, operations, and condition of his
Department.

At the close of the last fiscal year the length of mail routes within
the United States was 196,290 miles, the annual transportation thereon
53,272,252 miles, and the annual cost of such transportation $3,421,754.

The length of the foreign mail routes is estimated at 18,349 miles
and the annual transportation thereon at 615,206 miles. The annual
cost of this service is $1,472,187, of which $448,937 are paid by
the Post-Office Department and $1,023,250 are paid through the Navy
Department.

The annual transportation within the United States, excluding the
service in California and Oregon, which is now for the first time
reported and embraced in the tabular statements of the Department,
exceeds that of the preceding year 6,162,855 miles, at an increased
cost of $547,110.

The whole number of post-offices in the United States on the 30th day of
June last was 19,796. There were 1,698 post-offices established and 256
discontinued during the year.

The gross revenues of the Department for the fiscal year, including the
appropriations for the franked matter of Congress, of the Departments,
and officers of Government, and excluding the foreign postages collected
for and payable to the British post-office, amounted to $6,727,866.78.

The expenditures for the same period, excluding $20,599.49, paid under
an award of the Auditor, in pursuance of a resolution of the last
Congress, for mail service on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in 1832
and 1833, and the amount paid to the British post-office for foreign
postages collected for and payable to that office, amounted to
$6,024,566.79, leaving a balance of revenue over the proper expenditures
of the year of $703,299.99.

The receipts for postages during the year, excluding the foreign
postages collected for and payable to the British post-office, amounted
to $6,345,747.21, being an increase of $997,610.79, or 18.65 per cent,
over the like receipts for the preceding year.

The reduction of postage under the act of March last did not take effect
until the commencement of the present fiscal year. The accounts for
the first quarter under the operation of the reduced rates will not be
settled be