overned and determined the selection of the
American officials sent not only to Cuba, but to Puerto Rico and the
Philippines, and they were instructed to apply it so far as practicable
in the employment of the natives as minor postmasters and clerks. The
postal system in Cuba, though remaining under the general guidance of
the Postmaster-General, was made essentially independent. It was felt
that it should not be a burden upon the postal service of the United
States, and provision was made that any deficit in the postal revenue
should be a charge upon the general revenues of the island.

Though Puerto Rico and the Philippines hold a different relation
to the United States, yet, for convenience of administration, the
same principle of an autonomous system has been extended to them. The
development of the service in all of the islands has been rapid and
successful. It has moved forward on American lines, with free delivery,
money order, and registry systems, and has given the people mail
facilities far greater and more reliable than any they have ever before
enjoyed. It is thus not only a vital agency of industrial, social, and
business progress, but an important influence in diffusing a just
understanding of the true spirit and character of American
administration.

The domestic postal service continues to grow with extraordinary
rapidity. The expenditures and the revenues will each exceed
$100,000,000 during the current year. Fortunately, since the revival
of prosperous times the revenues have grown much faster than the
expenditures, and there is every indication that a short period will
witness the obliteration of the annual deficit. In this connection the
report of the Postmaster-General embodies a statement of some evils
which have grown up outside of the contemplation of law in the treatment
of some classes of mail matter which wrongly exercise the privilege
of the pound rate, and shows that if this matter had been properly
classified and had paid the rate which it should have paid, instead
of a postal deficit for the last fiscal year of $6,610,000, there
would have been on one basis a surplus of $17,637,570, and on another
of $5,733,836. The reform thus suggested, in the opinion of the
Postmaster-General, would not only put the postal service at once on a
self-sustaining basis, but would permit great and valuable improvements,
and I commend the subject to the consideration of the Congress.

The Navy has maintain