Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1835-04-02

| received for the company, ana mat iney
were nut 10 expense and trouble IN dong
so. All these things might surely have been
told IN lie presence Of tho other partners
who were Jointly interested in the money
and the expenditures but it might, new
/ ertheless, have been questionable whether
the other mariners would have been salts.
fed 10 allow them II 500 dollars for these
services and expenses. or whether they
/ would have rested satisfied with the gene.
| raj allegation, that they had 10 live free
and he generous"
The testimony Of Jesse Tomlinson, Ia
ken before your committee last spring,
throws some light on this subject. lie
says " Slaymaker told me that he was TO
let MIR. Brown have or TO give Dir. Brown
| 600 dollars Of IT," And John Graham,
another partner, as already stated, testified
that Reside and Slaynaker told him
that there was some route between Bal
! timore and Philadelphia on which they
had been charged with extra allowance.
| but which they never had received. and
some other charges Of extra allowance
which they had not received. They did
not state what had been done with those
extra allowances. but that the 10000 dol
lars was 10 part TO cover those allowances
which they had not received, and which
had been charged TO them, aud for which
they had done services, but had not re-
ceived the pay"
Your committee having received de
| tail Of these circumstances, called before
them Samuel 4. Slaymaker, who refused
| 10 testify. (See Doc. 81 few weeks
after, when your committee was engaged
in another important Investigation. note
| was received from him, addressed TO the
chairman, in which he stated that he was
| 10 attendance, and ready to be examined,
| Your committee could not at that time
conveniently examine him; and as he had
voluntarily returned and submitted him
self TO their authority they did not deem II
incumbent on them to report his former
contumacy specially TO the Senate.
The concluding part OF the testimony OF
| MIR. M'Kee has siong relation TO the rea
son and propriety Of this extra allowance.
| This individual is member of The com
pany, and seems TO have very exact
knowledge Of the value Of the improve
ment obtained by Reside and Slaymaker
in this contract, namely the increase OF
compensation from 81 900 TO S25, 900 i
ners by losing this sum, (the extra Of $40
900 year, were very much identified by
the increased allowance" Ii that were
the case, on what ground Of justice and
reason could Reside and Slayniaker emit
tie themselves TO il from the department?
Ii they incurred expense which rendered it
just that they should have il. the same
were borne IN common with them by their
partners, and if they rendered service on
this route to the department or TO the pub
lie, their partners contributed their due
share in that service. But especially if
this enormous sum were paid for services
rendered, why was il concealed for years
by Reside and Slaymaker from their part
ners ? And when at last exposed to the
world why did they make a secret of the
facts which they claimed should justify
them in retaining the money.
On the whole, your committee are salts
fled, from the evidence before them, that
none Of the reasons urged for granting This
extra allowance are sustained. II does
not appear TO have been the original un
Outstanding that The newspapers should be
carried through from Philadelphia 10 Pitts
burg ia the slow line, nor does ii appear
that the contractors began so to call them
al the commencement OF their contract or
the first Gay Of January, 1884, as alleged
by the Postmaster General in his address.
On the contrary, the proof is satisfactory
that the mail was carried from the lst Of
January TO the first OF April. as it was car
ried after the last named date, without al
'eration or change and if any complaints
arose in consequence Of delay in the trans
mn ut n an "a
because of an accidental or occasional neg
lect OF duty in the contractors, and not be.
cause OF any right or pretence Of right
claimed by them TO place that part OF the
mail IN their tafdy line.
The excess of $4,000 year allowed on
The improved bid above the proportion
which the services rendered under it bore
to the services required by the advertise
msnt, together with this extra allowance
OF $4,000 year, which appears 10 have
been made for no service whatever, make
IN the aggregate $4,000 year improper
ly paid by the department TO the couiTac-
tors on that line.
There is one important particular in
which the public has been deceived as 10
the services rendered by the contractors on
this route. In the letter of the +. NJ Gen
appended TO the former report of your
committee, which PROCESSES TO give the
number OF miles which the mail is trans
ported yearly in all the United States. il is
stated AS running twice daily from Phia
delphia TO Plusburg. The truth is, that
the mail is dIvided-part put in one coach
and part in another, Both set out from
Philadelphia, and make their way west.
ward aud the mail, though it goes in dir
ferent parcels, goes hut once a day over
the road. 80 far as the public interest is
concerned, II were just as well TO put it 10
different mail bags m the same coach, and
let the department credit itself with each
mail bag as separate mail passing over
the road, as putting 1t IN separate coaches
| and lrirn crnlIii fnr nnnh cn.-nh n..1 Il :.