The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-02-03

The course recently pursued BY merchants sod editors
In Nov RI and oscwherc irrcs'stbiy recalls EsoPs
fable Of sthe Belly and The Members" They ssoni
10 think that ali The world Of mails are carried 10
their cities upon their great railroads, P1fiect 'sno
rant that letters which Gil those great ma are
drswa isSsa thousands vi little roads mh'eh penetrate
10 every pook ssd Of ,his vast espaoic. One
New York editor who Is said 10 be protesting mem
Der Of Christian church of the straightes sect, not
long since openly chucklcd over the isSi lhai pas
sepgs 10 some steamboat railroad cheated The Go
vernnent OF thirteen dollars In one day ny s"~gyf'
leues 10 that amount IN his trunk ~ DISTANCE oi law
Another with shauae ess dssegsrd Of AL decency
stgaats the present able ylgiiant, and most faith
full lost Master General fool" because he was
not sithIess to his duty, and not I" fool" enough 10
stard by and permit that editor and his compeers to
cary ON their work OF destruction against the DE
pakment which he had sworn 10 administer without
an effort to defend il.
have said that the publishers Of newspapers have
a deep personal interest in the preservation oil The
mil establishment. proceed to demonstrate That
proposition. II has been the policy Of the Corsrn
inert not the Post Office Department only, to spread
thoramikcatons Of the system, over the whole coun
try and penetrate into the most remote settlements
INDEED il has been impossible TO keep pace with the
incessant and never ending demands for new post
routes At this moment the tables oil Congress groan
with petitions for more. These demands cannot DC
satisfied without setting aside adequate revenue
10 defray the expenses. These remote settlements
r time grow to be large and populous but while SO
gowing the postage accruing there, is vastly made
gate to the expense Of supplying Their wants. but
INST those wants therefore be disrcgarded' II would
b. miserable policy truly, to cut them oil from all
Glance of corresponding with their friends and with
merchants in the Atlantic cities. Every such settle
lnn,, from the beginning, furnish subscribers Tor
newspapers printed in the East; abolish the post
Offices there, and you deprive those newspapers oi
hfhdreds of their best patrons. What compensation
would il be 10 the Niio,al hteAigsncsr or the Globe
Or the Madsonian, after aboshng every mail route
that could not defray its expenses, and thus ex-
punging from their subsc tlon lists at least Two
thirds OF their pat 10 carry the due Jf or at
J cent pos aye. 1t would be very much like AN ex-
pecs,ion Of seeing the Potomac kept full OF water Of
ter drying up the Shenandoah South Branch, and us
other tributary streams But editorial article in
the New York Evening Post Of the ~ January
which Just COMES 10 me- argues that lhese ma Tou es
can be kept up and better managed ny pTirdte enter
prise than by the Post Office Department becausc-
ain some part Of tie Territory Of Wisconsin appll-
cation was made TO the ID, partnen, not long since,
for pos, ad and post Offices. II was obi cled that
il was too so give post route to 30 hny settled
a rtgion--thst il would cost ,he Government too
much I'd that rule cith the Administrations 81
the Post Office TO keep lis trpenses uhia ITS income
GIVE us the po- ,sg.s IN the tels and papers
the reply Of those whc made the application, and We
will detray the Expense Of Transporting them. The
terms were cepted, and the matter bang thus left to
prva enterprise, mail is now running three times
week through that region
Another case is cited where the mail is carried
once week to and ii, m the county seat to some
other settlement in the SAINT way. What ply II Is
that those who 50 often essay to ni2hten the public
mind should themselves be so utterly ignorant of the
mater which they write AS is the author OF the
above extract. In the first place, there is no such
",.e cih the administration Of the Posi- Office" as that
spoken Of is the prsylDcr ot Congress to establish
post roads, anu the Post Office Department has no
more authority the than The editor OF the Esen-
ing Post Therefore, If su h private route exists
any where, it simply by the silent acqule 'cence OF
the Department, and furthermore, 1t is MOI supported
10y the postage accrung ON the route from the county
ssa, the settle ent The private undertakes take
all the postage collected at theI s,tlrm,n as Com
penration for their trouble and expense he postage
does upon the correspondence between
those Two points, out upon all letters received there
from any and every part Of The United States +,
exanplea letter from n. York TO This said county seal
i, charged with twenty five Cents postage, from the
couny seat 10 the set ement the postage would be
ak cents, bot the private mail rer takes the hrea
~ FIVE cens and not sir Six Of such lct rs, at each
tIp ~ oud pay the carrier we'll for his tIoabie, while
The Department would be loser TO the whole amoun,
carrying the mail were tn undertake The same
serve. the postage iron New York TO the se. tie
menl" being no more Than II would he y being stop
ped at the County seat" So that il the ted by
the Evening Post prove anything IL proves The
sity OF still further extending the mail accommodations
by public au horiy
think have thus demon siratcd that the Post OF
fee canno, I've rried If any considerable reduction
Of iis be de that the charge of carrying
the system Cannot, with any propfieiy, he thrown
upon the general Trea,uyi that the hopping oil
what called unproducuve routes. would de-
range all the business relations of the large
commercial emp0Tiums With the interior that il would
pr.ve Obstructive 10 the press by ell cluay presenI-
nag the circulation II n.wsplpers; and Iasly, have,
! mink, satisfactorily shown that the reduction Of
postage on ietiers, proposed BY MI Menick, t 10
speak of that on newspapers hich las no such coin
half cents in circulation any where and cent
circulated IN The We,t,rn Staes) perhaps is quite
IA Objectionable w0ud produce all those evils. will
now present Of another branch of the subject,
nearly, if not quiic a. important as any her.
| msittain, that should Mr.. Merrick's bill pass in
IL present shape, thousands OF post offers ~
discontinued for ct smastef at least OF such
postmss'ers az are bilsiscoIthy
There are in all about Ia 900 postmast rs the major
NY OF whom do not receive compensation Of more
than one huodrej dol ars per annoini very few de
rive more than Eve hundred dollars, and great
Der are pad less than fifty dollars and many of these
last do not receive average Of more Than isn dollars
year.
IhIs last class are generally, almost universally,
induced To undertake the charge Of the posi- Offices
solely fsr he Advantage which the laws now extend
TO then of receiving thr'r letters and newspapers free
Take away this inducement and ihouss nds Of such
pos, Offices will be Immediately vacated No man OF
ohaa<fer could be persuaded 10 the trouble and
Inconvenience of Receiving, oper and dispatcbing
the public mails for the palr considsra,n OF ten
even Ghv dollars year, 10 say hing Of the heavy
responsibility which The office brings with il to the
cumbents. We know that IN many pnr.s Of the coun
Try, posi- uflices TO common phrase go b, <
gng" not simply account Of the 'nadequscy ofthe
con pensston tut because eytry valuable letter that is
los, he mail subjecs evcy postmaster the whole
hoe e. the most Injurious PIGEONS Take away, then
this poor boon of The Jraking privilege and most
pos, offices, posmasters could not be obtained for
love nor money" And tins is nnoher evil which
would fall h. eyily the press. very large number
Of the country subscribers ofthe city wspaers being
pastma-ets who become Subscribers because their pa.
pcrs TO them exeup t from postage. But Is not