Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1834-07-10

that time he had not the required sum of
money at command, but undertook 10
raise IT, and accordingly did raise il by
] means of drafts. These drafts were two
in number, for fifteen hundred dollars
each, drawn by Samuel r. Slaymaker on
| .. b. Brown, and endorsed by James
Reside, and payable at ninety days date.
/ They were negotiated at the Western
! Bank IN Philadelphia, and sent 10 the Pa
/ trloiic Bank in Washington city, for sol.
lection. They were paid at maturity by
the proceeds Of draft drawn by James
Reside. on o. b. Brown, for three thou.
| sand dollars, at ninety days. This draft
was suffered to pass day or two beyond
ITS maturity, without payment, but on the
18th Of July, it was paid out of the pro-
ceeds of draft drawn by Samuel II.
Slaymsker, on James Reside, for two
thousand dollars, and one thousand dol.
lars in cash paid by Slaymaker, and O
b. Brown at the same time, drew on
Reside for two thousand dollars. which
| drafts were sent to the Bank of MARYLAND
for collection. Ii appears that neither
Reside nor Slaymaker made any charge
| or kept any memoranda OF these transac-
lions; that they have no note or acknow-
Judgement of Brown, showing his liability
! 10 them, unless il be the drafts which
were taken up, which Slaymaker says he
| thinks he preserved, but of which he does
not profess TO be certain. He neverthe-
less denies absolutely, that it was intend
ed as a douceur or gratuity TO Brown.
Reside states that Brown paid him one
thousand dollars in part of this loan. But
IL arb III
when taken in connexion with another.
testified TO by Edwin Porter, which viii
be found in another part Of this report. In
that case, Brown was, shortly before, and
shortly after this transaction, the lender of
very large sums of money TO Porter; on in
terest.
II also appears that in the spring or sum-
mer of1SSI, Mr.. Barry applied TO Rec
side, in Philadelphia, TO assist him in ne
gotiating an acceptance for 81 900, 10
raise some money for his. mir. Barry's,)
individual use. Instead Of doing this,
Reside advanced him the $1,000; and. he
stated before the committee that MIR, Bar
ry paid it by his acceptance at a short date,
which be, (Reeside,) negotiated in the
Schuylkill Bank. On inquiry of the cash
Ter Of the Schuylkili Bank, we were inform
ed that no such acceptance was negotiated
there. Your committee having collated
the evidence touching these transactions,
leave Them without comment
In some Of the contracts above examin.
ed. and many others that passed under the
notice of your committee, very large sums
of money have been paid by the depart
ment, for the establishment of a second,
and sometimes third, daily line on the
same route,
When the contracts for regular daily
mail, have been advertised and let out pur-
suant to law your committee can look up
on these expenditures in no other light
than that of enormous waste Of the public
funds. Take, for example, the case of the
contract from Philadelphia to Pittsburg.
and from Pittsburg to Washington, bro't
up, as we have already shewn, from So,
$50 to $40, l50:while a single ma !, in each
way. daily on that line, is all the public
service, or the business of the country does
require, or ever has required. Addition.
al lines Of stages there are convenient on
ly for the transportation Of passengers, and,
whenever the business Of the country re-
quires them. they spring up of themselves
without the aid of Government. And
those opposition lines, which are got up by
individual enterprise, serve the interest of
the travelling public, as well and per-
haps better, than the additional daily lines
Of coaches, all under the control of the
same individuals. which, under the name
of additional mails, are sustained by enor-
nous bounties out of the public purse.
The monopoly set up by the establish
ment of these additional daily mails, and
erp,cSs mails, is of the most pernicous
tendency. They enable the large mail
contractors TO put down and ruin any man
who shall attempt TO compete with them
in the transportation Of passengers; and,
! thus, for want of that wholesome compe-
titon which the natural course of things
| would otherwise create. are travellers deli
vered over TO the mail contractors rs a
kind of property, TO be dealt with, and dis
posed of, for the time being, according 10
their good pleasure.
1t is not the purpose ofyour committee.
| by these remarks, 10 arralgn the conduct
| OF any class of individuals. These men,
| like all others, pursue their cwn indlvldu-
al interest, and many of them labor as
siduously for the comfort and accommo
daticn Of the public. 1t is our purpose TO
mark the general tendency Of things, and
few travellers can have failed TO OBJ
serve that the convenience Of the passen-
ger in the mail stage is promoted by the
] existence Of an efficient opposition on the
same route.
But besides the general effect of these
second and third daily mails 10 put down
opposition lines, an agreement, of which
that is one of the ayowed objects, entered
into between two large companies Of con.
tractors, each running those additional
lines, and each in the receipt of very large
extra allowances, appears to have been
made with the appreciation Of the depart
ment, and filed among its archives, to be
safely kept and officially enforced. In one
clause il binds the contracting parties, IN
= der penalty, TO transport 10 passengers
for less than a stipulated price. 1t also
binds them 10 use their efforts to put down
| an onnosition line which appears 10 be cs-