Letter from the Post-Master General, Transmitting a List of Unproductive Post Roads for the Year 1817

A listing of 24 post-roads across various states that were deemed unproductive as of February 20th, 1817. The criteria were that the road had been established for more than two years and that it had not, within the preceding year, produced postal revenue of at least a third of the cost of transporting the mail upon it. Congress was given the power to establish specific post roads in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution. Here the Postmaster General reports that some of the roads so established are a waste of taxpayer money. Return J. Meigs, Jr. was appointed Postmaster General in 1814 by President James Madison--a post he would hold until 1823. The present report was submitted to then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Henry Clay. Near fine. Removed from a bound volume with some wrinkles, evidence of stitching, and old glue along spine.