Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1835-02-12
POST OFFICE REPORT.
Report from he Committee ofHe Senate on The
Post Office Department..
! Correspondence Of the Bnltimore Patriot

! w WASHlNGToN, Jan. 2ih, 1850.
The Report the Committee appointed by
the Senate, to investigate the situation of the
! Post Office Department, was continued and
| finished this morning. 1t occupied hours
| IN the reading, and was read at the Clerks
table by Aiessrs. Ewing and Southard, of the
! Committee. 1t is a most startling document
and should, if it docs not, and as / fear it will
not, startle the People of this country to
sense of the disgracetul position into which
their affairs have been brought by corrupt
demagogues, who have obtained power at
! their hands, to be used only to their disad-
! vantage.
| The details Of this document show that the
! most faithful attention has been given to the
! discharge Of the duty assigned them, by the
! Committee. The most minute research, the
! most devoted care to leave nothing uncx-
| planned, and to prove the great corruption
! they were commissioned to investigate to the
bottom, arc obvious III every page of the Re-
! port. The evidence adduccd in support of,
every allegation against the Department, and
! these are not few or unmportant, is of the
! most plenary, satisfactory, and ndlsputablc
! character. Conviction follows every charge,
and the result is most disgraceiu to the Ad-
minstration, which is lauded in some quar-
tiers, as having enveoped itself with blaze
of glory!
! TO 90 into detail of the contents of a
! document so volumnous, would be oIt of
I place in the columns of newspaper But
still, the particulars disclosed in it are so
; strange, so passing every thing that has ever
: been known yet in the history OF Govern
I, mental peculatlon and fraud upon the people,
that it is reasonable to suppose a great deal
of interest will be felt every where upon the
subject, exciting no little curiosity to learn
more particularly, than by mere rumor, the
heighth and depth Of the whole matter.
The first class of fraud it discoses, is what
, may be dcnominatcd false dduertiS'ng. The
! Report convicts the Department of advertis-
I ing for contracts until certain day, the pre-
, ference to be given to the lowest bidder, and
within that time of making contracts withou,
reference to the lowest bids offered by 9th
ers than favoritc contractors, with whom tn,
Department has an understanding Ofthes
e favoritc contractors Reeslde, Slaymakcr, 81 &C
u are made to figure most conspicuously.
! The next class of frauds disclosed by tin
Is Report, is that of crtra alio,raices. The Law
>. allows no extra allowances, excepting oi
contracts. already entered into and does no
sanction them when made for the extension
/. Of old routes, or tls making of new ones. Ii
:. v orGcr to get over this difficulty, the Depart
"' an ment, aided by the fertile and inventive &C
;,,o MUS of Mr. Reeside, have pretended to con
h.. slider certain new routes as old ones, an
,t certain old routes as far too impracticable t
od be travcrsed by the contractors, without in
NJ crease of compensation. Accordingly, thcr
is evidence of a wonderful zeal, on the pal
,,. ofthe Department, to facilitate the transpoi
YER tation Of the mail, through every hamlet, vi
il lage, and ncighborhood, of the whole coun
try. No greater patriots, than Mr.. Reesld
and his companions are shown to be, by the
own letters on file at the Department, ev,
existed in this Republic. To dsseminat
= public information i'll every nook and cornt
of tins vast extent of country, appears to hay
IN, been the darling object of their lives.
1T The Committee relate instances Of exit
allowances, where no service whatever, h0
been performed. One in particular, whcl
C; the favorite contractors had procured col
tract dated absolutely before the time whe
the service was even pretended to be dl
for charged by them: and where the dlfierenC
between the compensation to the former col
Die tractor and the new ones was so great, tn
the sum paid the latter, for twenty-scve
days, while the term of the former was gor
- on, and Of course while nothing was done
the latter, was more than whole years p,
, in to the tormer! And one years pay to Il
Rv- new contractor would have suf1iccd to car
the raail on that route, for five years, und
the superseded arrangement And all tn
ma too, while no allegation of unfaithiuness W
'r a made against the former contractor!
The Committee, after instanclng 9th
equally enormous cases, aver that they ha
Investigated the extra allowance mail, clt
l'E- ont adequate cause, to fifteen contractors,
mounting to the sum of one HUNDRED A
FORTY ODD THOUSAND DOLLARS! Extra
lowances are made whenever these wort
ON Gentlemen say the word. Does 1lr. Recsl
or any of his compccrs wish to pocket an {
ira allowance? The ircdr and tear gt st0
IAN on roads where the mail is, in reality, CARR
or, on horseback, three times a wock,-ni.
,,v irarcHing, when the mail lies all night snr
,vcn, " locked up in the Post Ollicc,-He erpe'
: all Of fgudrds,-when no guards nave ever oe
me, heard of for the whole time of the contract
is a loss 81 pdSSengTs,-on account ol carry
heavy malls,--at seasons of the year, W!
=. the stage books and the evidence of the
ycrs and agents shcw that few or no pass'
- gers apply for passage at albany and e.
ry excuse, in fact, whether ridiculous in its
or plausible, serves to procure can extra
m lowancc."
IA The "Purson Brown" figures largely
jll, these snug little arrangements. ne :
the dencc dscloscs an occasional SiVuN, 10
here "Parson Brown" and that worthy Is showI
ncnt have kept a very convenient account ol C
OF sures and alterations to suit occasions,
when Reeside comes to account with
c re- partners, for their share OF the bounty,
pnr- tells them he has made no account OF his
nem- penscs, and therefore has not made an,
the extra allowances procured from the
and par,mentl lie tells them that nc has ha'
s. be good deal at Washington, and W