greater difficulties than last year, for the reason that all empty equipment has been withdrawn from the mails throughout the entire country wherever practicable, and is now transported by freight, a movement which is very much slower than by mail. During such seasons as those mentioned it is with the greatest difficulty that the department is able to meet the demands of large post-offices where great volumes of business are transacted. Our facilities for storing equipment at large post-offices are very limited and those at the mail-bag repair shop will not accommodate more than 20,000 pouches and sacks at one time. In order to properly store the equipment during the time not in use, and to provide for supplying large offices quickly when extraordinary need arise, provision should be made for storing at least 100,000 pouches and sacks at the mail-bag repair shop, and I renew the recommendation for an appropriation of $2,500 for this purpose. LEAVE OF ABSENCE FOR EMPLOYEES IN THE EQUIPMENT SHOPS. Attention is again called to the desirability of allowing employees in the mail-lock and mail-bag repair shops not exceeding 30 days leave of absence in any one fiscal year. The act of October 1, 1890, chapter 1260 (26 Stat. L., p. 648), authorizes the granting of leave of absence to clerks and employees in first and second class post-offices, and to employees of the Post Office Department equipment shops "for not exceeding 15 days in any one fiscal year." This leave of absence includes Sundays and holidays. There are 170 persons employed in these shops, and I recommend that authority be secured for allowing them 30 days' leave of absence in any one fiscal year. RECOMMENDATIONS. SUMMARY. First. That authority of law be secured for the rental of quarters in Washington, D. C., for tabulators employed in connection with the weighings of the mails on railroads. Second. That authority of law be secured enabling the readjustment of compensation for transportation of mails on railroad routes during the term, when diversions materially affect the daily average weights. Third. That the act of March 3, 1891, entitled "An act to provide for ocean-mail service between the United States and foreign ports and to promote commerce," be amended so as to permit the payment for services in vessels of the second class as defined by said act on routes to South America, the Philippines, Japan, China, and to Australasia, 4,000 miles or more in length, outward voyage, at a rate per mile not exceeding the rate applicable to vessels of the first class, as provided in said act. Fourth. That the salaries of the supervisory officers and employees of the Railway Mail Service be suitably increased. Fifth. That authority of law be secured for granting further leave, during period of disability, not exceeding twelve additional months, with pay at 50 per cent of his regular salary, to a railway postal clerk who is so seriously injured as not to be able to resume duty at the expiration of twelve months. Sixth. That authority of law be secured for granting thirty days annual leave of absence to railway postal clerks who run six days or more a week, fifty-two weeks in the year. Seventh. That authority of law be secured for granting railway postal clerks, who are not otherwise entitled to leave, thirty days annual and sixty days sick leave with pay, without expense to the department. Eighth. That Congress be requested to give consideration to the question of providing for the retirement of railway postal clerks incapacitated for further duty by reason of advanced age or physical disability. Ninth. That a new division of the Railway Mail Service be authorized. Tenth. That authority of law be secured for rental of storage room in Washington, D. C., for the storing of mail pouches and sacks. Eleventh. That authority of law be secured for granting, not exceeding thirty days, leave of absence with pay to employees of the mail-lock and mail-bag repair shops. Very respectfully, JOSEPH STEWART, Second Assistant Postmaster-General. Hon. FRANK H. HITCHCOCK, Postmaster-General. REPORT OF THE THIRD ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THIRD ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL, Washington, D. C., December 1, 1910. SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of the bureau of the Third Assistant Postmaster General during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910, and in connection therewith to offer certain recommendations and suggestions believed to be in the interest of the service. The subjects of postal administration within the jurisdiction of this bureau are the following: First. The financial system, including the payment, by warrant, of accounts settled by the auditor; the designation of depositories for postal funds; instructions to postmasters relative to the disposition of the postal revenues; and the disposition of all moneys coming directly to the department. Second. The supervision of the manufacture and issuance of postage stamps, stamp books, stamped envelopes, newspaper wrappers, and postal cards; the keeping of the necessary accounts thereof, and the redemption of stamped paper. Third. The money-order system, involving the supervision of the money-order service, both domestic and international, and the preparation of conventions for the exchange of international money orders. Fourth. The registry system, involving the supervision of the registered-mail service; the establishment and control of registered pouch exchanges, and the instruction of postal officials relative thereto, and the consideration of claims for indemnity for lost reg.. istered matter. Fifth. The classification of domestic mail matter, including the determination of the admissibility of publications to the second-class mail rates; the hearing of cases involving the withdrawal of such rates from publications for noncompliance with law; the use of penalty envelopes; the franking privilege, and the determination of questions involving the limit of weight of mail matter. DIVISION OF FINANCE. The following financial statement shows the postal revenue, by sources, and the total actual expenditures for the fiscal year 1910: POSTAL REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES. Ordinary postal revenue, consisting of Receipts from box rents... Third and fourth class postage paid in money. Letter postage paid in money (made up principally of balances due from foreign administrations).. Fines and penalties.. Miscellaneous receipts... Receipts from unclaimed dead letters. $202, 064, 887.96 8, 174, 281. 41 368, 345. 27 62, 419. 14 a 53, 814. 12 b 108.97 11, 605. 44 Claims, fiscal year 1906 and 5,848, 566. 88 Excess of expenditures over receipts....... a Owing to a change by the Auditor for the Post-Office Department in the manner of stating the yearly deficiency in the postal revenues by basing same upon the expenditures actually made during the year instead of including payments on settlement warrants on account of the fiscal year on which report is being made for three months after its close, the expenditures on account of the service of the fiscal year 1909 Includes the sum of $6,186,192.99, and those for the fiscal year 1908 the sum of $7,086.98, which were included in the reported deficit for the fiscal year 1909. On the other hand, expenditures made in the first three months of the fiscal year 1911 on account of the fiscal year 1910 and prior years are not included in the reported deficit for the fiscal year 1910. The amounts are approximately equal. One of the most troublesome factors in postal accounting has thus been eliminated and the postal deficit is now correctly stated. Excess of refunds over audited expenditures during the fiscal year 1910. COMPARISON WITH PREVIOUS FISCAL YEAR. The following comparisons of receipts, expenditures, and deficiencies with those of the previous year are presented: Receipts: Postal receipts for 1910, including amount derived from moneyorder business........ Postal receipts for 1909, including amount derived from moneyorder business... Increase in postal receipts, including amount derived from money-order business, for 1910, as compared with 1909.... Per cent of increase.... Postal receipts for 1910, excluding amount derived from moneyorder business.. Postal receipts for 1909, excluding amount derived from moneyorder business... Increase in postal receipts, excluding amount derived from money-order business, for 1910, as compared with 1909.... Per cent of increase.. Expenditures: Total expenditures during 1910, including amount expended on account of previous years.. $224, 128, 657.62 203, 562, 383. 07 20,566, 274. 55 10. 10 219, 338, 536. 62 199, 784, 598. 22 19,553, 938. 40 9.78 229,977, 224.50 Total expenditures during 1909, including amount expended on account of previous years.... 221, 004, 102. 89 8, 973, 121. 61 4.06 Deficiencies: Excess of expenditures over receipts, 1910.. Excess of expenditures over receipts, 1909.. Decrease in excess of expenditures over receipts, 1910 over 5,848, 566. 88 17,441, 719. 82 11, 593, 152.94 The outstanding liabilities at the close of the year are not included in the foregoing statement. LOSSES BY BURGLARY, FIRE, BAD DEBTS, AND COMPROMISES. During the year the department's losses by burglary and fire, where compromises with debtors were found to be expedient, and by failure to collect debts, amounted altogether to $32,915.07, as compared with $38,050.65 in the fiscal year 1909, a decrease of $5,135.58. THE DEFICIT. To the excess of expenditures over receipts of $5,848,566.88 there should be added the sum of $32,915.07, lost by burglary, fire, bad debts, etc., making the total deficit $5,881,481.95, a decrease of $11,598,288.52 as compared with the deficit of the fiscal year 1909. POSTAL APPROPRIATIONS AND EXPENDITURES THEREUNDER. Statement of the appropriations, expenditures, and balances unexpended on account of the postal service for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910. Audited expenditures in excess of appropriations, but authorized by law. |