Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-12-17

arrangements viii be made with its managers for tie
veyance Of the mails thus securing regular and
speedy transit In the other case one daily line Of
coaches has heretofore carried the mails between Stock
| ton and Montgomery, road of one hundred and
sixty miles in length, frequently liable distractions
from high water and other second daily line
of ourhorse coaches has been ordered this road and
such other arrangements made will conduce the pub
lie benefit.
The following passages, relating to the expenses incur
red and the derived from the mail service in Ca
fornis show the disadvantages under which the Depart
ment abors in that part of the country:
Our local mail service the Pacific strongly marked
by peculiarites especially in Cafornia-very high
prices and great difficulty IN giving that people the mail
facilities which they required At the time il APP
from the that the performance Of the service
under the contracts is characterized by fidelity and
capabilities which put in great requisiton by the
flooded state OF the roads particular OF the
The present cost OF transportation in steamboats, is
about thirteen cents eight mills per mile, III coaches
about twenty cents per mile, and in modes not specified
about thiryour six mills per mile while the cost
Of similar service in the United States excluding Oregon,
New Mexico and Utah. ia in steamboats, about nine cents
per mile, in coaches about FIVE cents and FIVE mills per
mile, and in modes specified about four cents and
seven mills per mile These mail prices, however, nre
Of scale with those Of labor living, and commodi
ties generally in that region Of country.
The most striking discrepancy appears on comparing
these prices which the Government in California with
work.
rates Of postage. The is graduated TO the highest
scale prices and the other the lowest For single
letter Of half the Department receives SIX cents
when prepaid and ten cents when unpaid and for each
pound Of printed matter, which comprises very large
proportion OF the OF the mails about five cents
pound; the to the Department for transportation
the thmus alone being twenty-five cents pound
The consequence that the cost of mail
vice in California greatly exceeds the it yields
And notwths standing the Government ncurs heavy
refunded expenditure in supplying the citizen Of that
State with his letters newspapers and other mail matter
the citizen himself employs other facilities for the con
veyance Of his letters and pays therefor at rate from
twenty greater than the Government charges
for similar service.
The facilities referred the private expresses,
which the California miner sustans at extravagant
price. They put in operation because the Govern
ment has not been able keep pace in its organized mail
arrangements with the movements of the miner, whose
settlement is suddenly made and rapidly extended and
who relies upon the expresses long after potroue and
post-oce have been established in his eighborhood
Much confusion is found to exist in the arrangement
and operations of the Offices in California. Several ap
pear to be in operation that established by the
Postmaster General and general misunderstanding
prevails among postmasters to the restrictions imposed
by law upon their expenditures in respect to office rent
clerk hire &c These things, together with the unneces
sary expense incurred in returning to Washington dead
letters that valueess, induces the Postmaster Gene
raj recommend the appointment for the Pacific coast
of officer of the grade of Assistant Postmaster Gene
raj who could also be vested with the general supervision
of the mail arrangements of that portion of the country
Eighteen special agents employed, from whose OBJ
seryaton the Department is enabled determine what
service is required in the different States and how the
service is performed 1t is important part aso of
their duties that the postmaters properly perform
their duties and report want Of ability attention,
fidelity their part, that of contractors promptly
to the Department Some suggestions made for the
classification of these agents that their services may be
rendered more valuable to the Department.
The expenditures Of the Department during the last s
cal year. stated by the Auditor, amounted
million nine hundred and eighty two thousand hun
dred and hfty-six dollars and Fifty nine cents viz