This, of
course, will require the expenditure in a short time of some of the
appropriations which were calculated to extend through the fiscal year,
but Congress will, I doubt not, understand and appreciate the emergency,
and will provide adequately not only for the present preparation, but
for the future maintenance of our naval force. The Secretary of the Navy
has during the past year been quietly putting some of our most effective
monitors in condition for service, and thus the exigency finds us in a
much better condition for work than we could possibly have been without
his action.
POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT.
A complete exhibit is presented in the accompanying report of the
Postmaster-General of the operations of the Post-Office Department
during the year. The ordinary postal revenues for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1873, amounted to $22,996,741.57, and the expenditures of
all kinds to $29,084,945.67. The increase of revenues over 1872 was
$1,081,315.20, and the increase of expenditures $2,426,753.36.
Independent of the payments made from special appropriations for mail
steamship lines, the amount drawn from the General Treasury to meet
deficiencies was $5,265,475. The constant and rapid extension of our
postal service, particularly upon railways, and the improved facilities
for the collection, transmission, distribution, and delivery of the
mails which are constantly being provided account for the increased
expenditures of this popular branch of the public service.
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