making them, the Postmaster-General shall select the speediest, safest, and most economical route and they shall be subject to be revoked and annulled whenever any new road or canal shall be opened affording a speedier, more economical, and equally as safe means of communication between the point of departure and the point of destination of the mail to be transported, and that in such case a fair indemnity shall be awarded to the parties concerned. Before making such arrangements, notice shall be given during sixty days, by advertisement in the usual manner for inviting proposals for mail contracts. March 3, 1851. No. 32. An Act providing for an additional term of the United States Circuit and ⚫ District Courts at Chicago, in the District of Illinois. For the terms of the Circuit and District Courts in Illinois see ante, pages 129 and 133. The clerk of the Circuit and District Courts shall keep a clerk's office for the courts at Chicago, and all the records and papers pertaining to business in said courts at Chicago shall be kept therein; and he shall appoint a deputy clerk of said courts, to reside in the city of Chicago. March 3, 1851. IX. PUBLIC RESOLUTIONS. No. 1. A Resolution for the appointment of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. The vacancies in the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, of the class "other than members of Congress," are filled by the reappointment of Richard Rush, of Pa. and Joseph G. Totten, of Washington. December 24, 1850. No. 2. A Resolution directing the distribution of the works of Alexander Hamilton, and for other purposes. After several specific orders, 12 copies are reserved for international exchanges and 120 copies are to be distributed to such Colleges and Literary Institutions as the present committee on the Library shall designate. The undistributed copies may be sold and the proceeds applied towards the expenses of publication. The works of the late John Adams are to be distributed in the same manner. February 27, 1851. No. 3. A Resolution for the relief of Louis Kossuth and his associates, exiles from Hungary. Whereas the people of the United States sincerely sympathize with the Hungarian exiles, Kossuth and his associates, and fully appreciate the magnanimous conduct of the Turkish Government in receiving and treating those noble exiles with kindness and hospitality; and whereas, if it be the wish of these exiles to emigrate to the United States, and the will of the Sultan to permit them to leave his dominions-Therefore, The President of the United States is requested to authorize the employment of some one of the public vessels which may be now cruising in the Mediterranean, to receive and convey to the United States the said Louis Kossuth and his associates in captivity. March 3, 1851. No. 4. A Resolution changing the mode of appointing the clerks of the Treasurers of the Mints of the United States. The several Treasurers of the United States Mint are authorized to appoint their own clerks, subject, however, to the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury. March 3, 1851. No. 5. A Joint Resolution explaining the acts of seventh July, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, March third, eighteen hundred and forty-three, and June seventeenth, eighteen hundred and forty four. The benefits of these several acts shall not be withheld from any widow whose husband died since the passage of either of said acts, if she shall be other. wise entitled to the same: but no pension shall be granted to said widow for the same time her husband received one. March 3, 1851. No. 6. A Resolution providing for auditing and settling the accounts of the public printer during the recess of Congress. The Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House, and the clerk of the Committee on Printing, jointly, may examine, audit, and pass upon all accounts for printing and binding, make a pro rata reduction in the compensation allowed, or refuse the work altogether, should it be inferior to the standard, and in all things possess the same power over the public printing and binding as is conferred upon the Joint Committee on Printing by the joint resolution approved August 3, 1846. But the authority hereby conferred shall only be exercised during the next recess of Congress, and shall cease at the commencement of the next session of Congress. March 3, 1851. X. POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 1. Post-Office Statistics for the Year ending June 30, 1850. Number of mail routes, July 1, 1850, The mail service in California and Oregon having been irregular in its performance, and imperfectly reported to the department, is not included in the above. Length of routes connecting this with foreign countries, covered by regular United States mail conveyance, 15,079 Annual cost of same, chargeable to the Post-Office Department, $264,506* Increase in aggregate length of routes, since July 1, 1849, 10,969 Increase of inland mail transportation since July 1, 1849, in miles, 3,997,354 Increased cost of transportation, 342,440 Increase of mail service over preceding year, per cent, 9.4 Increase in total cost over preceding year, per cent, Gross revenue for the year, (For details, see post, page 160.) Expenditures for the year, Excess of gross revenue for the year, During the year, 1,979 new post offices were established, and 309 were discontinued. 2,600 postmasters were appointed in consequence of resignations; 233 in consequence of deaths; 262 for changes of sites of the offices; 1,979 to new offices; 1,444 by removals; in all, 6,518. 2. Revenue and Expenditure of the Post-Office from 1st July, 1836, to 30th June, 1850. The above statistics apply wholly to the revenue under the old law. *The balance of the cost of this service is provided for by navy contracts and appropria tions. † Including fines and miscellaneous receipts. The following table shows the income for the first five years under the law of 1845. The foregoing tables show the total, annual, and annual average income from the several items, and also the total and annual and average annual expenditures under the law of 1835, and also under that of 1845. The diminution of the revenue from letters, newspapers, and pamphlets, for the year ending June 30th, 1846, as compared with the preceding year, was 19.32 per cent., and as compared with the average of the nine years preceding, it was 20.59 per cent. In 1847 there was an increase over 1846 of 11.27 per cent.; in 1848 over 1847, of 7.43 per cent.; in 1849 over 1848, of 14.20 per cent.; and in 1850 over 1849, of 12.105 per cent. Thus it will be seen that the income from these sources for 1850 was 25.785 per cent. greater than that for 1845; and 24.515 per cent. greater than that of the average for the nine years ending June 30th, 1845. The average rate per cent. of increase in the postage on letters, newspapers, pamphlets, &c., for the years 1847, 1848, 1849), and 1850, was 11.251. The reduction in the expenditures in the years 1846, 1847, and 1848 was made in the lettings in the different sections, where the service was taken at reduced prices, under that provision of the act of 1845 which directs the acceptance of the lowest bid, without regard to the former contractor, or the stock which he may have had on the road, and irrespective of the mode of conveyance. The actual cost per mile for transportation of the mail for the year ending June 30, 1845, was 8.01 cents; for the year ending June 30, 1849, it was 5.06 cents, and for the year ending June 30, 1850, it was 5.085 cents. In the reletting of the contracts in the Northern Section, which embraces New England and New York, in the spring of 1849, the cost of service, so far as it was open to competition, was still further reduced, averaging nearly three cents per mile for each mile of transportation of the mail in carriages or on horseback. But in the railroad and steamboat service, where the monopoly excludes competition, the cost was increased, and the transportation amounts to nine cents for each mile the mail is carried. The whole increase in these lettings was more than 18 per cent. upon the previous cost of that section. The new contracts made under the lettings in the spring of 1850, for the Western Section, show an increase of about 25 per cent. upon the annual cost of that section under the * Including fines and miscellaneous receipts, except for 1848, the amount for which year does not include fines. Including the $ 200,000 appropriated by Act of 3d March, 1847, § 12, for carrying franked matter. old contracts. Of this increase, 10.8 per cent. belongs to the increased service, and 14.2 per cent. to the increased rate of compensation under the new contracts. The conveyance of mail matter between this and foreign countries, and between the Atlantic and Pacific portions of the United States, is a large and important branch of the mail service. For this duty sixteen steamships were in actual service on the 1st of December, 1850; to which four more are to be added under the existing contracts. Connected with this is the land service across the Isthmus of Panama, performed by New Granada under a treaty, for a compensation varying with the weight of the mails. The following table exhibits this service. Foreign Mail Service of the United States in Operation October 1, 1850. The gross amount received from the mail service to Bremen, via Southampton, from June 1, 1847, to Oct. 4, 1848, was $20,082.51; for the year ending Oct. 4, 1849, it was $61,114.20; and from Oct. 5, 1849, to Sept. 30, 1850, $56,865.60. The postages on the Charleston and Havana line, from Oct. 18, 1848, to Sept. 30, 1850, were $22,406.37; those on the New York and Chagres line, from December 1, 1848, to Sept. 30, 1850, were $ 402,590.63. The postage on letters, &c., under the postal treaty of December, 1848, with Great Britain, from its date to June 30, 1850, were $885,000.95. Of this there was collected in the United States, $424,391.08. Due British Government in adjustment of accounts, during same period, $ 182,675.04 ; leaving in favor of the United States $241,716.04. * Semimonthly service is done on this line in connection with route No. 3; the additional compensation to be adjusted. The following is the detail of the receipts and expenditures of the De partment for the contract year: — Letter postage and stamps sold, $4,575,663.86 Transportation of mails, $2,965,786.36 1,748,40 Office furniture, 6,859.70 72,633.50 31,160.82 vice by the government, Total receipts, Deduct amount due British Government for postage for the year under the postal treaty of Dec., 1848, Gross revenue for the year, Total Expenditures, 200 000 00 Mail-bags, $5,212,953.43 Repayment of money in dead letters, 216.52 Excess of gross revenue for the year, 340,018.05 Uudrawn appropriations in treas. ury, including the $200,000 above charged, Unexpended revenue of Department, including former appropriations, 665,555.55 $1,005,573.60 Total expenditures, 3. Compensation of Postmasters. The commissions allowed postmasters are as follows, viz.:1. On the amount of letter postage, not exceeding $100 in any one quarter, 2. On any sum between $100 and $400 in any one year, 5. On the amount of letters and packets received for distribution at offices designated by the Postmaster-General for that purpose, 6. On all sums arising from the postage on newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets, 7. Box rents not exceeding $2,000 per annum. The postmasters at New Orleans and Washington have special allowances for extra labor. To the postmasters at offices where the mail is regularly to arrive between the hours of 9 o'clock at night and 5 in the morning, the commission on the first $ 100 collected in one quarter may be increased by the Postmaster-General to a sum not exceeding 50 per cent. To postmasters whose pay does not exceed $2,000 per annum, two cents are paid for the delivery of each free letter or document. The term letter postage includes all postages received, except those which arise from newspapers sent from the offices of publication to subscribers, and from pamphlets and magazines. To any postmaster whose commissions by the act of March 3, 1851, may be reduced below the amount allowed at his office for the year ending June 30, 1851, and whose labors may be increased, the Postmaster-General, at his |