University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER X.

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT.

The following tables, Nos. LV., LVI., and LVII., will
show the amounts actually credited for the transportation of
the mails in the several States, and the amount of postages collected
in the same, for the fiscal years ending June 30, 1850,
and June 30, 1855.

Few tables can be more suggestive, or more amply repay a
careful investigation, than these.

At the present day, the energy and business character of a
people, their roads, railroads, steamboats, and other means of
transportation, are all given, in a word, in their Post-Office
reports.

TABLE LV.
Showing the Amounts actually credited for the Transportation of Mails, and
the Amounts of Postage collected in the Slave and Free States in 1850.

                                   

SLAVE STATES.	Total Postage Collected.	Transportation.	FREE STATES	Total Postage Collected.	Transportation.
Alabama	$75,937 75	$143,798 70	California	$227,152 82	$111,515 87
Arkansas	17,215 53	61,244 90	Connecticut	119,971 81	62,176 13
Delaware	12,521 38	6,489 87	Illinois	115,184 53	156,685 71
Florida	13,793 24	31,701 55	Indiana	83,638 03	76,225 82
Georgia	101,749 42	146,772 94	Iowa	26,568 86	24,850 05
Kentucky	86,472 49	87,121 70	Maine	89,761 92	46,690 25
Louisiana	116,936 06	68,464 61	Massachusetts	358,120 72	132,164 84
Maryland	121,864 61	143,150 97	Michigan	62,387 69	39,634 58
Mississippi	55,536 01	84,256 58	N. Hampshire.	59,902 20	27,662 00
Missouri	83,787 95	101,313 23	New Jersey	66,156 20	42,813 37
N. Carolina	46,647 07	154,977 40	New York	933,977 13	324,970 14
S. Carolina	76,108 62	108,488 80	Ohio	286,311 24	138,836 32
Tennessee	64,185 86	74,142 59	Pennsylvania.	396,699 91	146,105 64
Texas	28,474 12	114,744 83	Rhode Island.	39,328 34	12,088,20
Virginia	141,579 13	169,687 83	Vermont	58,965 44	50,643 93
			Wisconsin	60,725 35	34,759 77
Total	$1,042,809 24	$1,496,356 50	Total	$2,975,852 19	$1,427,822 63

TABLE LVI.
Showing the Amounts actually credited for the Transportation of the
Mails, and the Amount of Postage collected in the Slave States in 1855.

                                 

SLAVE STATES.	Letter Postage.	Newspaper Postage.	Stamps Sold.	Total Postage Collected.	Transportation.
Alabama	$46,416	$13,583	$44,514	$104,514	$226,816
Arkansas	16,894	4,828	8,941	30,664	117,659
Delaware	9,967	2,377	7,298	19,644	9,243
Florida	8,167	2,343	8,764	19,275	77,553
Georgia	59,117	16,066	73,880	149,063	216,003
Kentucky	59,307	15,065	55,694	130,067	144,161
Louisiana	69,140	13,833	50,778	133,753	133,810
Maryland	82,029	31,712	77,743	191,485	192,743
Mississippi	36,092	11,464	31,182	78,739	170,785
Missouri	71,372	14,537	53,742	139,652	185,096
North Carolina	26,831	11,692	34,235	72,759	148,249
South Carolina	36,156	8,075	47,368	91,600	192,216
Tennessee	42,070	13,238	48,377	103,686	116,091
Texas	37,373	8,532	24,530	70,436	209,936
Virginia	92,562	28,499	96,799	217,861	245,592
Total	$693,493	$195,844	$66,845	$1,553,198	$2,385,953

TABLE LVII.
Showing the Amounts actually credited for the Transportation of the Mails,
and the Amount of Postage collected in the Free States in 1855.

                                   

FREE STATES.	Letter Postage.	Newspaper Postage	Stamps Sold.	Total Postage Collected.	Transportation.
California	$141,833	$11,319	$81,437	$234,591	$135,386
Connecticut	75,691	24,254	79,284	179,230	81,462
Illinois	142,177	32,457	105,252	279,887	280,038
Indiana	95,248	24,578	60,578	180,405	190,480
Iowa	44,540	9,680	28,198	82,420	84,428
Maine	75,779	15,413	60,165	151,358	82,218
Massachusetts	239,894	33,226	259,062	532,184	153,091
Michigan	77,223	15,201	49,763	142,188	148,204
New Hampshire	46,225	10,995	38,387	95,609	46,631
New Jersey	66,645	11,556	31,495	109,697	80,084
New York	734,453	106,206	542,498	1,383,157	481,410
Ohio	237,457	47,227	167,958	452,643	421,870
Pennsylvania	301,646	64,073	217,293	583,013	251,833
Rhode Island	23,812	4,520	30,291	58,624	13,891
Vermont	44,465	12,036	36,314	92,816	64,437
Wisconsin	65,406	13,959	33,538	112,903	92,842
Total	$2,412,494	$436,700	$1,719,513	$4,670,725	$2,608,295

A few of the facts which stand forth prominent in these Tables,
are the following:

In 1850, only two slave States, Delaware and Louisiana,
paid for the transportation of their mails by the amount of
postages collected.

Of the free states, Illinois alone did not.

In the slave States, the postages for that year less than paid
for the transportation, by nearly half a million of dollars. In
the free States, the postages more than paid for the transportation,
by over a million and a half of dollars.

In 1855, this difference is very greatly increased.

The postages of the slave States less than paid the cost of
transportation by over $800,000, while the free State postages
more than paid the transportation, by over $2,000,000.

In the slave territory, the only State which paid for transportation
of its mails, by its postages, was Delaware. In the
free States, the only States which did not, were Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, and Michigan.

Neither North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama,
or Texas, paid half the expense of transporting their
mails, by postages received; while Florida paid less than a
fourth, and Arkansas less than a fifth.

Massachusetts paid for her own transportation, and had a
surplus remaining of more than four times the amount of postage
collected in South Carolina.

New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, each paid
for their transportation, by their postages, more than twice
over, and Rhode Island more than four fold.

The postages of New York are not an eighth less than those
of all the slave States, while the expense of transportation is
but little more than one-fifth the expense in those States.

The fifteen slave States did not pay, by postages, two-thirds
the expense of transporting their mails.

The free States paid for theirs, and had a surplus of over

$2,000,000; half a million more than all the postages collected
in the slave States.

In other words, the free States, in this matter, support themselves,
pay the deficit in the slave States and have over
$1,200,000 besides.