The number of letters received by mail and delivered by carriers amounted, last quarter, to 1,134,111. They collected and delivered, in the same period, 389,233 local or drop letters, making a total delivery of 1,523,344.[44]
The number of papers received by mail and delivered during this period was 117,010; the number of local or drop papers was 35,257, giving a total delivered, 152,267. The number of letters returned from misdirection, removal, refusal to pay postage, and similar reasons, was 8742. The number of letters for the mail collected from lamp-posts and other located boxes of deposit was 744,723; and the number of newspapers similarly obtained, 59,292,—a total of 804,015.
THE LETTER-CARRYING SYSTEM.
But few persons have any adequate idea of the vast number of letters which day after day pass through the post-office into the hands of the carrier, to be delivered at their final destination. The following list gives the number of letters delivered and collected in the four largest cities during the month of June, 1865:—
| Mail Letters Delivered. | Drop Letters Delivered. | Letters Delivered. | |
| New York | 799,389 | 253,434 | 785,990 |
| Philadelphia | 492,004 | 168,330 | 361,068 |
| Chicago | 118,200 | 9,200 | 100,591 |
| Cincinnati | 84,370 | 7,714 | 47,201 |
| ———— | ———— | ———— | |
| Total | 1,493,963 | 438,678 | 1,294,850 |
During the same period there were collected from pillar or lamp-post boxes 1,294,850 letters.
The annexed statement gives the number of letters delivered in three principal cities:—
| Boston | 284,440 |
| Baltimore | 152,230 |
| Chicago | 130,819 |
| ——— | |
| Total | 567,489 |
| Philadelphia | 516,836 |
So, according to this, the amount of business transacted through the Philadelphia post-office is almost equal to that of Boston, Baltimore, and Chicago combined. Statistics further show that it is nearly equal to the combined business of Brooklyn, St. Louis, Washington, Cincinnati, and Cleveland.