Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-04-14
wAsHuaToN NEWS AND GOSSIP.

wAsHMaroN NEWS AND GOSSIP.
| The Post Office Department. bill re-.
tported from the House Post Office Committee
yesterday, by Mr.. Odds, for a general increase
of the existing rates of hostages, of course
contemplates making the Post Office Depar t.
ment self-sustaining machine. 1t was pre-
dicsed by the Congressional advocates of the
present postage law, that its enactment would
80 increase the number of letters sent in the
mails as by this time to make it yield sufii-
cient revenue for its own support. In this re-
spect it has woefully failed, as might have
been expected-the calculations on which that
estimate was based being drawn from the sue
eessful operation of the penny postage system
| in England, where population is very dense
and the distances over which the mails are
transported very small, Nevertheless it strikes
us that the existing law has yielded quite as
much revenue as prudent and experienced men
thought possible. But for three potent causes,
it would have more than sustained ITSELF
These are, the saddling Of the Department i'm
properly and unnecessarily with the annual
cost Of the existing ocean mail steamers con-
tracts, with that of transporting the enormous
quantity Of free mail matter going in the
mails; and last, by the extortions to which the
Department is compelled to submit, on the
part of the various railroad companies carry
ing mails. Under existing laws the Depart
ment is at the mercy of these companies. A
bill is now before the House. which {while its
enactment will enable the Postmaster General
to pay really fair rates for their services) will
save some $500, 900 per annum in the aggregate
according to the judgment of the Post Office
Committee. The existing ocean mail steamer
system was established against the advice and
consent Of Cave ohnson, then Postmaster Cen
eral, and the heavy compensation allowed the
companies was so allowed, under the mistaken
impression that the Government was thus OBJ
tanning cheap steam navy, sin all respects
fit for war purposes No one pretended when
these contracts were made, to justify them on
the ground that they were absolutely required
for mail purposes, or that they contemplated
the payment of only fair compensation for the
mail services to be rendered. From that day to
this, every Postmaster General has Iabored to
induce Congress to relieve his Experimentation
the sanpmtation of taking ftom the treasury
the sums usually paid to the companies, for
post Office purposes. So far in vain, however.
As for retrenching the expense of the franking
privilege to the Department, that will hardly
be done, it strikes US, if Postmaster Generals
continue to cry aloud, as of late years, on this
head, until doom's-day. Nevertheless, reliev-
ing the Department from these three charges
upon it, would enable it probably to pay its
own way, at the present low postage charges
There appears to be struggle in Congress
between the representatives of town and coun-
Try, of thickly and sparsely settled regions, and
between those who hold that the Department
should be self sustaining establishment, and
those who hold that its deficits are legitimate
ly chargeable on the national treasury
Representatives from cities seek to keep down
the postage charged on newspapers sent long
distance, and those from rural districts are
against this view of the fitness of things,
because, as they believe, it represses the cir
culation of neighborhood journals for the
benefit of the metropolitan press Represen-
tatives from thickly settled sections, hold thai
it is wrong to think of making their constitu-
ents whose mail routes pay. make upi,s postage
paid for the deficit in revenue from Offices in
non-paying sections Of the Union At present
the bill of Mr.. Olds has not been sufficiently
discussed to enable US to inform the public a.
to the probabilities of a general or even q
partial change in the rates of hostages now
required by law.
The Printing Of the Patent Office Report
We hear that Beverly Tucker, ESQ.,. the
printer to the Senate, has applied to The United
States circuit court for this district for a man
damus to compel the Superintendent of the
Public Printing to deliver to him the copy
of the agricultural re. ort Of the Commissioner
of Patents. that he may print the copies there
of ordered by the House of Representatives
We understand that Mr. Tucker claims The
legal right to execute this particular job, unler
the plea that the law devolves the duty OF
printing all the orders for any particular doe
umsnt made by both Houses, ON the printer of
that house (of Congress) which shall first order
it to be printed; and further, that the Senat,
first ordered the mechanical portion of the
Patent Office report to be printed His posi-
ton is, that the two branches make one report
1t is understood that the Printing Cominittee
rule differently, and also the superintendent
who hold that they are seperate reports being
upon wholly different subjects, sent in at diff
ferent times, and, as in this case, to differe nj
Houses.
The subject has been matter of converse
ton for some weeks /" around town" among the
hundred persons who are directly or indirect
ly interested in the public printing, which fur
pishes employment for go many people in
Washington.
The court would not grant the mandamus
without argument, it is said, and have ap-
pointed Saturday next, on which day to hea'
it. The question is between the Union and
Sentinel Offices, and as each have lots OF
friends in Washington, it is exciting great in
terest.
The Rights Of Neutrals.-A day or two
since, we incidentally mentioned that many
members were expecting, by the arrival Of the
next Liverpool steamer, a treaty between Mr.
Buchanan and the English Foreign Affairs