The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1853-08-04

clerks, and which, if they depended upol
voluntary patronage, would have been i'm
mediately put down as an imposition. Blu
by this ingenious arrangement, the suffering
public, which had already paid too much
is compelled to fleece itself still further
and pay handsome additional sum Gotten
times as much as their whole Post Office
service is worthy in the shape of box-rents
to secure an opportunity Of getting theil
mail matter without vexatious and costly
delay.
Thus our government, in the whole Post.
Office affair, acts like dishonest merchant
who secures the monopoly Of any necessa-
sary article of traffic, such as flour, charges
three times as much for it as it is worth;
but manages SO badly as to be always be-
hind, and in debt, and diffuses his own
grasping spirit among his retainers, SO that
every clerk or messenger who delivers his
flour, demands an extra fee before he will
deliver the article that is paid for, in any
satisfactory manner.
Would it not be better to abolish all
such monopolies, and leave the conveying of
letters, like the carrying of articles of mer-
chandize, such as barrels of salt, pork, and
packages Of goods, to private enterprise!
Private individuals could not practice any
insolence or tyranny upon the public; nei-
ther could they refuse, like the Il had al
most said, dishonesty United States gov
ernment, to be responsible for the loss oil
money which they might carry, and rob the
mails with impunity, without any redress to
those who are made to suffer by the rob-
berry!
There need be no fear that we
shall get into difficulty by abolishing the
Post Office monopoly. Private enterprise
stands ready and waiting for the removal OF
that old engine of fraud and oppressive tax
alton. Doubtless some will say the mails
cannot be carried by private enterprise
that there are some routes that would not
pay an individual for carrying letters and
delivering them. Is not private enterprise
as we'll calculated for that business as the
huge and ponderous government of the
United States! If the Yankees, who are
up to all kinds of inventions and contrvan-
ces, can erect wires, and send the light.
nings to the remotest parts of the earth, SO
that they can say to Us, "Here are we," and
give US such intelligence as we desire, they
can convey letters in as safe and expedi-
tious manner as the government, and have
it pay just as well, and great deal better
If they can afford to pay the United States
government 100000 per annum for the
privilege of giving US our mail matter sat
taco cents letter." our newspapers and other
periodicals at one-ha,f the rates now charged,
they can find seme way of getting them to
us by steamboats,, railways, or coaches.
1t is outrageous that "we, the people,
should be taxed and defrauded as we are
and have been, for these many years, in our
Post Office matters-paying in some cases
five and ten times as much as the service is
worth, and not half served at that.
Last winter much Of our eastern matter
was sent off the route to the Galena Dis
trbutng Post Office, and thereby delayed
some three or four weeks later than usual!
And why was this!-let the Postmasters
answer. And when, after great clamor and
exertion, we obtain reform in Post Office
matters, what does it amount to! Why,
we have law so tedious, absurd, and clum-
sy, that nobody can tell what it means!
The Postmaster General has to publish a
whole column of commentaries to explain
what the law really does mean; and after
all, in the best of Post Offices, you will get
contradictory answers in reference to post
age on printed matter. There are so many
absurd rules, restrictions, and exceptions
that it would take a Philadelphia lawyer to
comprehend them. An eastern journal
saws, "there are more than one hundred
and seventy different rules and specifications
of postage"
[The great length Of this communication
obliges us to omit here an interesting letter
in respect to the cheap postage system OF
England.-ED.
Mr.. Burritt has done much in England in
connection with Mr.. Hill to bring about and
effect cheap system of postage. The
mails are here in a much better condition
now than they were few years ago. But
still insist that the system is altogether
wrong and can be carried on in a cheaper
and better way than it is now. see no
way at the present, but to agitate the sub
iect through the press and get up petitions
to have the Postoffice Department abolished
and Mr.. Bates really cheap postage intro
duced and our matters placed in the hands
of private enterprise which will become re-
sponsible for any losses, and dispatch intel
ligence with greater speed.
Let the press speak outlet the people
be awake to their own interest,-refect up
on the subject and then not cease to act.
EpEssE.
BUDDING may be vigorously practised
FROM tb;s t;na unpu rose and other plants