in handling mails has also been reached, as appears by the
decrease of errors in the railway mail service and the reduction of mail
matter returned to the Dead-Letter Office.

The deficit for the last year, although much less than that of the last
and preceding years, emphasizes the necessity for legislation to correct
the growing abuse of second-class rates, to which the deficiency is
mainly attributable. The transmission at the rate of 1 cent a pound of
serial libraries, advertising sheets, "house organs" (periodicals
advertising some particular "house" or institution), sample copies, and
the like ought certainly to be discontinued. A glance at the revenues
received for the work done last year will show more plainly than any
other statement the gross abuse of the postal service and the growing
waste of its earnings.

The free matter carried in the mails for the Departments, offices, etc.,
of the Government and for Congress, in pounds, amounted to 94,480,189.

If this is offset against buildings for post-offices and stations, the
rental of which would more than compensate for such free postal service,
we have this exhibit:

_Weight of mail matter (other than above) transmitted through the
mails for the year ending June 30, 1896_.

---------------------------------------+--------------+---------------+
Class. | Weight. | Revenue. |
---------------------------------------+--------------+---------------+
|_Pounds._| |
1. Domestic and foreign letters and | | |
postal cards, etc. | 65,337,343 | $60,624,464 |
2. Newspapers and periodicals, | | |
1 cent per pound. | 348,988,648 | 2,996,403 |
3. Books, seeds, etc., 8 cents a pound.| 78,701,148 | 10,324,069 |
4. Parcels, etc., 16 cents a pound. | 19,950,187 | 3,129,321 |
+--------------+---------------+
Total | 512,977,326 | 77,044,257 |
---------------------------------------+--------------+---------------+

The remainder of our postal revenue, amounting to something more than
$5,000,000, was derived from box rents, registry fees, money-order
business, and other similar items.

The entire expenditures of the Department, including pay for
transpo