The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-18 00:00:00

I'UL).I7T OF ELEC7ION.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)
It is the custom of New Englanders religiously to
observe the 22d December, which they term "Fore-
fathers' Day," in commemoration of the landing of
the Puritan Fathers at the New England Plymouth
from the Old England Plymouth, carried across the
ocean in the Mayflower. This anniversary is the
patron day of the New Englander just as St. An-
drew's Day is of the Scotchman, and St. Patrick's
of the Irishman, and wherever they congregate in
sufficient numbers they have asocial gathering in ho-
nour of the event. It was at Delmonico's on that day
last December that Attorney-General HOAR, in ad-
dressing those assembled around " the festive board,"
gave these words as the expression of PRESI-
DENT GRANT a few days previously I hope to
see the time when every man in this country may
have the power to express his own opinion, to fol-
low whom he pleases, to vote as he likes, and to
have his vote counted without molestation, or hin-
drance, or insult. If we can only unite in main-
taining public faith and credit, our political differ-
ences will not be of much account." The first
thought of an Englishman on reading these words
is, can the Chief Magistrate thus allude to his own
countrymen who everywhere proclaim themselves
as the freest of all people, the very expression, too,
used in his late Message to Congress ? The PRESI-
DENT hopes to see the time when these freest of all
citizens may each be enabled to express his own
opinions, to follow whom he pleases, and to
vote as he likes. Every religion is beautiful
in precept ; every Constitution is perfect in theory ;
every citizen of a republic or subject of a constitu-
tional monarchy, is equal and free, as far as the
law goes. But what is it in practice ? Religion
degenerates into the basest and most senseless ido-
latry ; the beautiful (paper) constitution is a flimsy
rag in the way of man's pa,siona ; and the law is
no protection against combinations skilfully orga-
nised to act in certain directions. The ballot is no
more a guard to the purity of elections than is the
open voting system of England ; indeed in a great
town it is less a guard ; and no system has yet
been devised in America, although some cunning
ones have been proposed, to counteract "repeaters"
and other fraudulent forms of voting, which find their
greatest development among a dense population. If
the New York Detnocrats have so beautif ullyarranged
matters that, in any election in the State, they can
record as many votes as is necessary to defeat their
opponents, it matters not which way the citizen
votes, whether his vote is counted, or if he can select
a leader, or what his opinions are, and as to beating
him for appearing at the polls it is only adding
needless insult to injury. As this is the case in
other States besides New York, however free the
PRESIDENT may consider America, he is fully justi-
fied in using the words attributed to him by the
Attorney-General. But if he hopes to see the time
when all this will be changed, does he not perceive
that such organizations as that by which the Da-
mocrats rule in New York must be broken up; that
party caucuses must lose power, that there may be
greater individual and less united and dictatorial
action ? What General GRANT desires is to see
every man, while acting in obedience to the law,
acting also as a law unto himself, and not as the
creature of a caucus, which tells him what he must
think, do, and say. So long as it is political ruin
for any politician to fall out of the line of his party,
few who seek to live by politics dare stray away or
refuse to obey, whatever be its commands. Therefore
they are in the gripe of a tyranny which must be
removed before the action of the followers can become
free. Such an organisation, however, is not framed
and sustained without some strong material objects ;
there must be loaves and fishes to keep it going,
which, when taken away, will cause its collapse. It is
not possible to secure and command this blind obe-
dience of followers without having something sub-
stantial to give them. Take that away, and these

mn.ny, are the numerous posts in the Civil Service
of the nation which, if permanently filled up by a
class trained to the discharge of the duties, would
sweep away all the motives, and leave each voter to
act untrammelled according to his judgment. Pre-
serve- the motive, and no regulations, no laws that can
be framed will alter the existing state of things. As
well might a dog be whipped for running after a
bone, as an office-seeker for obeying the behests of
the caucus through which alone he can get the
pest he seeks. Reform the Civil Ser, ice, and
his only mode then of securing the coveted office
will be through fitting himself for it, and we take the
liberty of asking the PRESIDENT if that is not the
more rational and proper means. honest voting
will return honest men, and the growing corruption
will then receive its most effective check. But this great
maxim should be kept in view—Place as little temp-
tation as possible in the way for dishonesty. Several
plans are proposed for taking votes, one of which is
to allow each vo..cr to write the names he prefers in
the order of preference, the person elected to have
a fixed quota of votes, and all beyond that number
to tie counted for other candidates in the order of
the ballot endorsement. Another proposition dis-
regards quota, but recognizes plurality of choice,
giving to each member votes in the Legislature in
proportion to the votes he has received at the polls.
A third recommends each elector to be given as
many votes as there are members to be chosen, but
he may cast them all for one, or split them upon
two, or divide them on three of the candidates.
Another would portion the State into districts, each
having two members, but no elector voting for more
than one. However ingenious such devices may
be they would all fail in acti-n, and we are per-
suaded that there is but one grand remedy for the evils
developed through a mighty community working
by a system calculated only for a simple Republic,
and that is--change the Civil Service of the United
States altogether, making incumbents permanent,
and turn thus into honest servants of the nati.,n the
present pestilential host of office-set-kers, or let them
seek their bread in some more profitable way.

TRA.YSATEANTIC MAI G sgRVICE.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)

It appears that Postmaster-General CRESWELL
modified the terms offered the steam lines for car-
rying the mails from New York to Europe. From
the former letter-rate of 12 cents per half ounce,
Bc. went to the steamers, the other 4 being equally
divided between the countries interchanging the.
letters. Now the postage to Great Britain is re-
duced to 6c. per half ounce, and the proposal was
that the United states shculd have 2c., Great Bri-
tain 2c., and the steamer 2c. ; thus cutting down
the last to one-fourth the old allowance, whereby
on it fell the whole burden of the change. The
owners of the steam lines, the Cunard, Inman,
North German Lloyd, and Hamburgh-American
declined the proposal, and an outcry was raised against
the foreign monopolies by the press, which, as usual
when all on one side, discussed the question very un-
fairly. It was alleged that during the past ten years
the owners had received 20c. per ounce, or $7,168
per ton ; that Mr. CRESWELL had now decided to re-
duce the rate to 6c., or $2,150 per ton. These
figures we know to be wrong ; still the burden of
the argument remained, that the mail bags caused
little or no trouble of handling, and were paid for at
an enormous advance on first-class freight, which,
being taken at $lO per ton, is less than half a cent
per lb. 'The facts were set forth that mail bags cost
little trouble, are easily stowed, and being conveyed
by the skipper into the steamer, and therefore ought
not to be paid for so extravagantly, while the oner-
ous conditions were altogether omitted. The first
of these is speed, every extra knot an hour entailing
an enormous extra expenditure. To secure the
necessary speed the companies have paid heavily,
and to keep it up they must continue to pay. To
be able to press a steamer at sea requires not
only a substantial and costly construction, but
a lavish outlay in wear and tear as well as in fuel ;
yet this, on the most stormy passage in the world,
has hitherto been an imperative condition of letter
freight. The others, though minor, are still burden-
some. The steamers had to depart at a fixed mo-
ment under almost any circumstances ; two of the
companies had to call at a port they would other-
wise have passed ; and they worked under heavy
penalties, and liable to the interference of Govern-
ment officers. It is manifestly unjust for the Go-
vernments to negotiate a postal treaty for the benefit
of their citizens and to throw the whole loss on private
companies which they acknowledge have performed
the service, more especially during the past year, in a
most praiseworthy manner. We can certify to the re-
gularity with which the Hamburg-American steamers
reach Plymouth with the Tuesday mail from New
York, the Cunarders reach Queenstown with the
Wednesday mail, the North German Lloyd reach
Southampton with the Thursday mail, and the In-
man, Queenstown, with the Saturday mail, and the
work was going on satisfactorily to the public, as
well as to the companies till this bomb-shell ex-
ploded amongst them. We all want cheap post-
age, but not at the expense of steam-line owners,
whose enterprise has placed fleets between New
York and Great Britain, forty of which, one of the
greatest of U.S. Admirals has declared, would have
been worth to him more than the whole navy of the
United States could he have commanded them on the
outbreak of the civil war. No onesupposes that these
steamers are constructed and maintained except at a
heavy outlay, and at least for a part of the return
they looked to a mail subsidy, which the letter rate
really is. Anticipating it for many years, the Cu-
nard and Inman Companies have been adding the
finest specimens of naval architecture to their fleets,
which they had countermanded, when it appeared
probable that Parliament would withdraw the Eng-
lish contract. The same may be said of the two
German Companies, whose boats are now unsur-
passed. Consequently these monopolists, as the
American press call them, have gone to great
expense to qualify the fleetsthewyitohldvrawl
on for
apfetrer-
forming a service which is thus
they had proved to be in a high state of effi-
ciency for the work. This we consider to be the
first element of injustice, and the other is self-evi-
dent. Is it not unfair for A and Cto make a treaty
involving a heavy reduction and benefit to the firms,
and to throw the whole loss accruing upon B, who
mainly does the work, and is it just to denounce
him as a monopolist because he declines their ar-
rangement. here are the six cents, two of which
go to the United States, two to Great Britain, and
two to the steamer. But the two nations get ex-
actly what they got before, while the steamer is only
to get one fourth of what it got before. how will
such an arrangement work? There will be a con-
siderable increase in the number of letters from
the sum in which the steamer is mulcted, and
that increase will benefit the two Governments,
which surrender nothing; therefore, by the re-
duction they enforce on the companies, they
will actually put money in their pockets while claim-
ing credit from the public for their enlightened and
liberal policy. In the United States the meaning
of monopoly ought to be too well known to apply
the word to these corpordtions. Instead of a mono-
poly, nothing goes forth on her voyage more self-
dependent than one of these steamers. The chal-
lenge is to the world, to put better boats on the
line. From Liverpool the catnpetition is close, pene-
trating into every department. The Inman run, in
time, against the Cunard, and the Guion are getting
afloat a fleet which will enable them to compete.
The North German Lloyd, and the Hamburg-
American drive a neck and neck race to New
York, to Havannah, and to New Orleans, and
against them all run the French steamers, heavily
subsidised by their Government. For years, too,
America has threatened to enter the lists, and a
bill has passed through Congress enabling the Post-
master-General to subsidise an American Associa-
tion. To call companies subjected to such compe-
tition monopolists is wholly to misapply the word.
They are no more monopolies than are the daily
papers of London, the field being open to any
corner, but to get the corner strong enough to enter
is the difficulty, so powerful have good service and
abundant capital made those who hold the lists,

• N....,
tyrannies will end, leaving the voter to his own Mr. CRESWELL proceeded to New York, when the
opinion, to follow whom he pleases, to vote as he question assumed a serious aspect, and he succeeded
likes, and to have his vote counted without moles- by raising the offer to <ix cents per ounce for letters,
Cation. These baits and bribes, used to enslave so and six cents per lb. for books, r.ewspapen!=, and
pamphlets, in getting the North German Lloyd to
make a preliminary agreement, subject to ratifi-
cation at Bremen, to carry the Saturday mail, and
the Guion Company the Wednesday mail. In com-
pliance with this arrangement, the Rhein left on
Saturday, the Ist inst., instead of Thursday, the
30th ult., and arrived off Cowes early on Tuesday
morning, her letters being delivered in London so
as to be available for business men during that day.
We congratulate Captain MEYER Ou having so
efficiently performed the service, and something
near this time we only hope may be maintained,
though two days extra might be allowed, so that
the delivery can be made in London on Thursday.
We may here mention that Mr. CRESWELL, among
the proposals for carrying the mail, received one
from the Canadian Postmaster-General to convey
the bags from Portland, Maine, to the English ports
for the two cents first offered, asserting, too, that
the transport through such an al rangetwut would
be shortened one day. lie was, however, too late ;
but we think the time must come when Halifax
will be Wt.; port of departure for the mails.

IiAILWAI MA NAG EMEIN 7'.

A leading cotemporary has during the past week
favoured its readers with an article upon the pre-
sent position and future nrosps:cts of the railways
in the United Kingdom ; setting aside the com-
placency with which the writer takes the sole credit
of having advised railway companies to close their
capital accounts, as if that expedient had not sug-
gested itself to other minds besides his own, the
article in question has the merit of calling attention
to a subject of much interest to many thousands of
shareholders, and to those of the public who, al-
though they may not be shareholders, have an in-
terest as passengers in the well-being of railway
companies. The past history of railway enterprise
in Great Britain is pretty familiar to the public ; the
stupid opposition offered at the outset by land-
owners and coaching towns, involving immense pre-
liminary law expenses ; the costly character of the
proceedings in Parliament ; the expensive vagaries
and crotchets of engineers ; the luxurious carriages
and waiting-rooms; the architectural beauty of the
stations, corm incidents of ignorance, recklessness,
and mismanagement of which that patient being,
the ‘‘ original shareholder," and that equally patient
homogeneous quantity, the "public," have each had
experience in the form of low or of no dividends,
and of high fares. When we contrast the manner of
construction of the permanent or roadway of rail-
ways in this country with that of railways iu the
United States, one cannot but feel astonished at
the lavish waste which has taken place on this side
of the Atlantic in construction, as comp-ared with
the apparent ex} enditure on the other ; and we
might be lost in conjecture upon its cause, if we
did not know how much " commission" upon con-
tracts and upon materials supplied, to those hav-
ing influence and opportunities for favouring the
most fraudulent bidder, offered an explanation.
With the past, however, it is perhaps, after all, but
waste of time to deal further, and we propose there-
fore to speak a few words upon the present state of
things. Of the present aspect of the railway in-
terest much might be said ; a desire to set the houSe
in order is, whether feigned or otherwise, being
now effected by the different railway boards ; the
principal objects sought to be, achieved are the
abandonment of projected branches, closing capital
accounts, and reduction of working expenses ; the
two first processes are so simple that we feel it un-
necessary to offer any remarks upon them, except
in approval of their being carried out wherever
and as soon as practicable. The reduction of
working expenses, however, offers a large field both
for reform and for remark • at present it is
stated that a reduction of from 50 to 47i per
cent. has been made on the average since the move-
ment set in ; little enough, in all conscience, and
reflecting but small credit upon the managers of
railways.
Three important items of the working expenses
of the railway are the cost of management, train
mileage, and compensation for injuries ; the less
these three cost the more will reach the pockets of
shareholders and the lower fares will be. These
three items or incidents of working expenses are so
mixed up with and influenced one by the other,
that they must each affect the other for good or
evil ; under management, we include the general
manager and head officials, as well as the whole
working staff, down to signalmen and porters.
To deal, firstly, with the general manager of a
railway, it is clear that if he has not intellectual
capacity he cannot manage a line in such a manner
as to develope its money-producing character at a
minimum of expenditure ; and to deal, secondly,
say with a signalman, it is equally clear that he
cannot avoid an occasional and expensive disaster
if he is physically prostrated by overwork. Intel-
lectual capacity in superior railway officials, and
healthy vigour in inferior ones, must ever be two
important elements in the proper management of
railways. Many companies pay their general
managers from £3,000 to £5,000 a year, and their
signalmen £5O. A salary equivalent to that of a
Secretary of State should command a man of similar
administrative ability, with the further guarantee
of antecedents of a similar respectability ; whilst
the wages of a road labourer should not be those
of a signalman, whose intelligence is on a perpetual
strain, and whose hours of duty are excessive. When
shareholders insist upon the enforcement of close
principles in the administration of their property,
they may look for a reduction in the working expenses
)f railways, and not before. If railway enterprise
.sto assume the remunerative character which it might
seasonably be expected to do, greater intelligence
nust be exercised upon its management, and as but
a few weeks will elapse when shareholders will be
invited to attend the meetings of their companies,
we strongly urge upon them to present themselves
there, and ascertain on the spot how far the conditions
of management, most conducive to a remunerative
return on their money, are being followed out ;
shareholders have a right to know why large salaries
are paid to their bead officials, and why the perfor-
mance of duties which might be fairly paid for in
hundreds are paid for in thousands, and also why the
expensive accidents, for the results of which they have
to pay, should somehow generally be traceable to the
stupid not to say cruel practice of keeping signalmen
at their posts for eleven continuous hours. With the
employment of intelligent and educated gentlemen
as the superior staff, the equitable distribution of
the salaries and wages of all, the reduction of the
hours of duty, and the discontinuance of unneces-
sary trains, railway management would assume a
healthy phase • we should no longer have carriages
containing only two or three passengers, or car-
riages with out a vacant seat. Time-tables would
cease to be unintelligible, the trains of one railway
would run in correspondence with those of another;
claims for compensation on account of accidents ;
and low dividends and high fares would become
things of the past.—Anglo-American Times.

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