Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1834-06-14

ist The same objection occurs in numerous
cases improvements are said to be made by
expediting on one route, changing the schedule
on another, and ordering additional trips on
third; SO that single contract is in this manner
rendered so complex as to require the labor OF
several days to reduce it tits elements and as
certain its true condition.
E.. Porter and Co. are contractors for carry
ing the mail from Staunton, in Virginia, to Cat
lettsburgh, Kentucky, three times week in
four horse post coaches, from the 1st OF Janua-
ry, 1881, to the 3lst December, 1884, at an an
nual compensation of 1886
On this contract legal and regular in it's in
ception, is engrafted extra allowance, compen-
satiOn for extension, and private contracts, to
the enormous yearly sum of $I6, 166
The two largest of the items which compose
this extra sum, namely, $4,000 for extending
steamboat mail between Guyandotte, Virginia,
and Cincinnati, Ohio; and $1,000 year Tor
extending the steamboat mail to Louisville, is,
in the opinion of your committee, not only an
unnecessary and eXtravagant expenditure OF
the public funds but is an act wholly unauthOr-
lied by law
Every one acquainted with the situation Of
the country and the course of business between
those points, will be at once satisfied that it is
unnecessary. 1t is wholly immaterial whether
the mail be carried between those points in
two horse coach, or in a steamboat provided it
be carried safely; and the line on which it was
carried before the establishment of this route
was ample for that purpose. No one travels in
stages from Guyandotte to Cincinnati, or from
Cincinnati to Louisville; and the aid of the de-
partment is not necessary to keepup a constant
and regular line Of communication by steam
boats between them. The establishment ofthis
line was therefore unnecessary either for the
transportation of the mail or the accommoda-
ton of passengers.
1t is also against law. The general act ofthe
third day of March, 1926 reducing into one the
several acts regulating the Post Office Depart
ment, in its first section enacts: That the Post
master General shall provide for the carriage
Of the mail on all post routes that are or may be
established by law" This clause contains his
whole general authority for contracting for the
transportation Of the mall and this does not au-
thoriZe the setting up of this line of steamboats,,
inasmuch as the Ohio river, between these points,
is not a mail route established by law. But the
authority here exercised may be supposed to be
conferred in the fifth section Of the act, which
provides, a." hat the Postmaster General be au-
thoriZed to have the mail carried in any steam
boat or other vessel which shall be used as
packet in any of the waters of the United States,
on such terms and conditions as shall be conSi-
dered eXpeden Provided, That he does not
pay more than three cents for each letter. and
not more than one half cent for each news.
paper conveyed in such mail" But it is per-
leCtly CltdI W your lldl llllS pIOVl-
sion of law was never intended to authorize,
and does not authorize, the establishment of q
steamboat line by contract for the purpose Of car
rying the mail: the whole frame and language
of the section torbids it. " The Postmaster Ge-
neral is authorized to have the mail carried in
any steamboat which shall be used as packet"
He may avail himself of such means of trans
pOrtation when he finds it already existing but
he is not authorized to incur the expense of pro-
vi a hat he cha nnf11
more than three cents for each letter, nor more
than half cent for each newspaper transport
ed on such rOute-a restriction wholly nCOn
Sstent with the suppositon that he had power to
get up steamboat lines by contract for the trans
portation of the mail
And the reason that this is not permitted is
obvious: the expense Of getting up steamboat
line by contract, for the transportation of the
mail, is enormously disproportoned to the OBJ
ject; while, at the same time, the department may
avail itself most advantageOusy of an existing
line Of packets for the cheap and expeditions
transportation Of the mail. The fifth section of
the act above referred to is a transcript Of the
third section of the act of the 9th of February,
1915. And while the last named act was IN
force, it was thought eXpedient by the depart
ment to contract for carrying the mail from New
Orleans to Louisville by steamboats,. But as
the power was not supposed to be conferred by
that law, a special act was passed on the Cd
March, 1919, authorizing such contract with the
express proviSo, that the whole expense of send
ing the mail in steamboats, should not exceed
that of transporting the same by land In the
steamboat contracts made by the present Post
master General not the slightest attention is paid
to the restrictions in either Of the above named
statutes; and the sum paid for the transporta-
ton Of the mail from Cincinnati to Louisville
consumes greatly more than half the nett reve-
nue. received by the department in both those
cities.
There is another transaction with the same in
dividual, which is liable to the same and still
stronger objections.
1t seems that person by the name of Rhodes
undertook to carry the mail from New Orleans
to Mobile, but failed, and gave up the contract.
Afterwards Messrs. Stockton e. Stokes, James
Reside and Avery e. Porter, undertook to car
ry the mail on the same route, three times
week in steamboats,, for twenty-five thousand
dollars year They also failed to comply, and
their contract was also given up. Edwin Por.
ter then undertook, by private agreement with
the department. to carry the mail daily on that
rnu in ctoap re forf oI,