Washington sentinel., 1853-12-16


New York 10 New Orleans twice month and
back, touching at Charleston, lif practicable }
Savannah, and Havana, aud from Havana 10
Chagres and back, twice month.
On the last remaining question, @whether
the ships furnished under said contract are
built according 70 its terms" applied 20 the
Secretary of the Navy, under the direction Of
which department the vessels were constructed,
for the desired information, and he has referred
me to executive document Of the House Of Rep
resentatives, No 81, FIRST session thirty second
Congress, as containing all the information on
the subject in possession Of that department,
including "the contract, the entire correspond.
ence, and the report Of the respective boards
appointed TO examine the Illinois, Georgia, and
Ohio, the only vessels (he says) accepted under
the law Of March 3, ls47." To this document,
therefore, take occasion also respectfully 90
refer for authentic information on this subject.
The manner in which the mail service has
been performed for the year ending June 80,
1853, will appear in the report embracing a
statement of failures and irregularities in the
transportation, and fines and deductions FROM
the pay Of contractors. These fines and de
ductions will be found to amount in the aggre.
gate, to 1920 81.
All our mail contracts provide for fines and
deductions for defective and omitted service.
The system is absolutely necessary for securing
regularity and precision in carrying and de.
livering the mails. There is always in the
department disposition to encourage con-
tractors, and to avoid capricious or unreasona-
BILE penalties, and in no case is a deduction
made without careful investigation of its mer-
its; but in every case of failure, valid and sat
isfactory reasons must be shown therefor
A failure to exact fines and penalties, or
disposition to release them when exacted,
leads to the grossest Irregularities in the
service.
The substitution Of railroad for coach SER
vice has increased the demand for mail bags
fully ten-fold. During the last fiscal year,
more than $4,000 new mail bags, of all sizes
and kinds, were procured, more than one-third
of which were canvas bags or sacks, used al
mostexclusively for the transportation ofprinted
matter
Measures recently adopted, and now in pro-
gress, to effectuate the provisions contained in
the first section of the act of 3lst August, 1852
will doubtless tend to check waste and abuse
in this branch of the service; but such is the
continued extension of mail accommodations
it can hardly be estimated that less number
will be required hereafter.
The extension of the building occupied by
this Department has been strongly recon-
mended by my predecessors, and the reasons
urged by them are every year acquiring addi-
ional force. The increasing business of the
Department the limited Accommodations for
the clerks in the different Bureaus and the Au-
ditors Office, and the want of room for impor-
tant papers which have now to be placed in the
halls and cellars, subject to be destroyed by
fire or mildew, require the original design to
be completed.
Much difficulty is experienced in finding suit
able rooms, especially for distributing post Of
fees in our larger cities. The amount for rent
which can be taken out of the commissions, in
many cases is not sufficient to enable post
masters to secure buildings at all fitted for The
proper discharge of the business of their offices
| In order the better to serve the public, pos
Offices must be located in the business parts o
the different cities where high rents are to be
paid, and these the Department is very fre
quently unable to allow. If Congress would
deemit wise or expedient to appropriate moneys
to enable the Department to buy or erect suit.
able places for post offices in the larger cities
of the Union, much would be saved to the De-
partment and suitable places could be perma-
nently secured, and the public thereby much
better accommodated.
Ny assistants and chief, and other clerks, de.
serve my especial thanks for their prompt and
faithful attention to their duties.
JAMES CAMPBELL.
10th PRESIDENT.