Average weight of Public Documents, 1-⅓ oz.
Of the 42,375 free letters, 20,362 were congressional, and 22,032, or 52 per cent. were from the Departments.
In the month of October, 1843, an account was kept at all the offices in the United States, of the number of letters franked and received in that month by members of Congress. The number was 18,558, which would give 81,370 for 19 weeks of vacation. To these add 223,992 mailed in 33 weeks of session, and four-fifths as many, 179,193, for letters received, and it gives a total of 484,555 letters received and sent free of postage by members of Congress in a year, besides the Public Documents. The postage on the letters, at the old rates, would have been $100,000.
From the same return of October, 1843, it appears that the number [pg 033] of letters franked and received by national and state officers, was 1,024,068; and by postmasters, 1,568,928; total, 2,592,998, the postage on which, at 14-½ cents, would amount to $376,073.
These calculations would give the loss on free letters, at that time, $476,073. This is besides the postage on the public documents, 359,578 pounds, the postage on which, at 2-½ cents per ounce, would come to $147,581.
Total postage lost by franking, $623,654.
Document No. 118, printed by the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, 1848, gives $312,500 as the amount of postage on franked letters, and $200,000 for franked documents, making a total of $512,500.
The report of the Post-office Committee of the House of Representatives, May 15, 1844, contains a return of the number of free letters mailed and received at the Washington post-office, during the week ending February 20, 1844, with the corresponding annual number, and the amount of postage, at the old rates—allowing the average length of a session of Congress to be six months. From this I have constructed the following table.
| Departments | Letters | Letters | Total No. | Postage. |
| received | sent | Annually. | ||
| House of Representatives | 1,882 | 1,505 | ||
| Senate | 7,510 | 10,271 | ||
| —— | —— | |||
| Total of Congress | 9,392 | 11,776 | 550,368 | $114,697 |
| President U. S. | 304 | 174 | 24,856 | 4,895 |
| Post Office | 6,041 | 3,615 | 502,112 | 102,474 |
| State Department | 1,989 | 2,253 | 220,584 | 41,600 |
| Treasury Department | 6,800 | 2,405 | 478,660 | 100,949 |
| War Department | 2,592 | 2,626 | 271,336 | 61,475 |
| Navy Department | 1,709 | 2,082 | 197,132 | 39,809 |
| Attorney-General | 52 | 816 | 45,136 | 10,678 |
| —— | —— | —— | —— | |
| Total | 2,290,184 | $476,577 |
Whole number of letters franked at Washington: 2,290,184
Add, franked by members at home: 111,348
Franked by postmasters: 1,568,928
Total of free letters: 3,970,450
Add, franked documents: 4,314,948
General total number: 8,285,398
The postage on all which, at the old rates, would be at least: $1,000,000