The number of
letters exchanged in the mails with foreign countries was 24,362,500, an
increase of 4,066,502, or 20 per cent, Over the number in 1871; and the
postage thereon amounted to $1,871,257.25. The total weight of the mails
exchanged with European countries exceeded 820 tons. The cost of the
United States transatlantic mail steamship service was $220,301.70.
The total cost of the United States ocean steamship service, including
the amounts paid to the subsidized lines of mail steamers, was
$1,027,020.97.
The following are the only steamship lines now receiving subsidies for
mail service under special acts of Congress: The Pacific Mail Steamship
Company receive $500,000 per annum for conveying a monthly mail between
San Francisco, Japan, and China, which will be increased to $1,000,000
per annum for a semimonthly mail on and after October 1, 1873; the
United States and Brazil Mail Steamship Company receive $150,000 per
annum for conveying a monthly mail between New York and Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil; and the California, Oregon and Mexican Steamship Company receive
$75,000 per annum for conveying a monthly mail between San Francisco and
Honolulu (Hawaiian Islands), making the total amount of mail steamship
subsidies at present $725,000 per annum.
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