Your ShelfYour Projects

Postal Statistics

8%

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 21, 1874

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 44, No. 6.

Read the full edition

Postal Statistics.

No one who believes that the United States have a part assigned them to act in the great prophetic drama, will be at a loss what use to make of the following statistics. Perhaps no better index could be given of the rapid growth of this government while it has been “coming up,” Rev. 13:11, than the increase of its postal system, as herewith set forth:—
In 1790 the number of post-offices in the United States was 75; the length of post-roads in miles was 1,875 miles, the postal revenues amounted to $37,935 and the expenditures to $32,140. That was the day of small things in our postal system.
In 1800 the post-offices had risen to 903 in number and the length of post-roads to 20,817 miles. The revenues were $280,804 and the expenditures $231,904. This shows a remarkable increase in ten years.
In 1810 the number of post-offices was 2,300, the length of post-roads was 36,070 miles, the postal revenues were $551,684, and the expenditures were $495,969.
In 1820 the number of post-offices was 4,500, the length of post-roads was 72,492 miles, the postal revenues were $1,111,927, and the expenditures were $1,160,926.
In 1830 the number of post-offices was 8,450, the length of post-roads was 115,176 miles, the postal revenues were $1,919,300, and the expenditures were $1,959,109.
In 1840 the number of post-offices was 13,486, the length of post-roads was 155,739 miles, the postal revenues were $4,543,522.92, and the expenditures were $4,718,325.64.
In 1850 the number of post-offices was 18,417, the length of post-roads was 178,672 miles, the postal revenues were $5,499,986.86, and the expenditures were $5,212,953.43.
In 1860 the number of post-offices was 28,498, the length of post-roads was 240,594 miles the postal revenues were $9,218,067.40, and the expenditures were $14,874,772.89.
In 1870 the number of post-offices was 28,492, the length of post-roads was 231,232 miles, the postal revenues were $19,772,220.65, and the expenditures were $23,998,837.63.
In 1873 the number of post-offices was 33,244, the length of post-roads was 256,210 miles, the postal revenues were $22,996,741.57, and the expenditures were $29,084,945.67.
These figures give the progress by decades of the postal system of the United States since 1790, covering a period of eighty-three years.