The method by
which postage should be paid upon public matter is set forth fully in
the report of the Postmaster-General.
The report of the Secretary of the Interior shows that the quantity of
public lands disposed of during the year ending the 30th of June, 1869,
was 7,666,152 acres, exceeding that of the preceding year by 1,010,409
acres. Of this amount 2,899,544 acres were sold for cash and 2,737,365
acres entered under the homestead laws. The remainder was granted to aid
in the construction of works of internal improvement, approved to the
States as swamp land, and located with warrants and scrip. The cash
receipts from all sources were $4,472,886, exceeding those of the
preceding year $2,840,140.
During the last fiscal year 23,196 names were added to the pension rolls
and 4,876 dropped therefrom, leaving at its close 187,963. The amount
paid to pensioners, including the compensation of disbursing agents, was
$28,422,884, an increase of $4,411,902 on that of the previous year.
The munificence of Congress has been conspicuously manifested in its
legislation for the soldiers and sailors who suffered in the recent
struggle to maintain "that unity of government which makes us one
people." The additions to the pension rolls of each successive year
since the conclusion of hostilities result in a great degree from the
repeated amendments of the act of the 14th of July, 1862, which extended
its provisions to cases not falling within its original scope.
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