Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1854-11-03
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.

the current danger of stoppage of the great
Southern mails with which the telegraph has
been occupied for two or three days past, we
have to say, (after an effort to get at the gist
of the matter, that the South Carolina Rail.
road Company refuse to take the offer of the
Post Office Department of $3.50 per mile per
annum, for twice daily service over their
road. Before the construction of railroads
over the route Of the great Southern mail, it
was transported once day, in stage coaches,
at an average cost of SIS per mile per annum.
The portion of the route-per steamboat and
stsge-between Washington and Richmond.
Va, cost the Department $4,000 per annum.
Now, the price paid for the transportation of
the mail over it (by steamboat and railroad)
is $4,000 per annum! The average price
paid between Washington city and Whining
ton, N. c., per mile per annum, at this time,
for twice daily service, is $500. From thence
to Augusta, Ga, 1921 80 per mile per annum,
for single daily service; and from thence to
Mobile, for taoice daily service, the same
price. That is, 1921 SO per mile per annum
The managers of the railroad from Whining.
ton, N. c., to Manchester, S. c., are said to
be willing to accept the Departments offer of
$3.50 per mile per annum, for the twice dailv
service proposed over their road. But the
South Carolina roads direction refuse il for
their portion of the route.
Our readers will perceive, with no little as
constituent, the greatly increased cost Of
transporting the mails by railroad, over their
cost On the same routes when carried in stage
coaches, as fully exemplifed in the figures we
present above. The weight of the mails have
increased; more especially of the newspaper
mails. But by no means so greatly as to Jus.
tlfy the great difference which the Govern
ment is compelled to pay. We presume the
department is willing to make fair allow.
ance for the increase of speed, though it strikes
US that that is, in a considerable measure,
counterbalanced by the greater Irregularities
OF the arrival of the mails over long routes of
railroads. When coaches were used over this
great route, it would happen, once in long
period Of time, that there were three North
ern mails due at New Orleans. Last winter
it was no uncommon thing for the Northern
mail to be due in New Orleans for seven
days. That is, to be seven DAYS behind
the schedule time A few words will AK.
plain how this difference occurs. IF a.
stage broke down, a contractor had onlv
to get wagon at the nearest farm. and
push his horses for an hour or so to make nm
tie short time thus lost, or to replace a. failing
horse by another obtained in the same vav.
tie could keep his coach waiting an hour if
the mail failed to arrive at schedule time.
The cars, however, must start at their ap-
pointed moment, whether the mail is aaboard''
Or not. If locomotive breaks down. or cars
runs of the track, or any other railroad con.
dngency occurs, the delay is one of hours, not
as in the case Of the coach-always
ending in failure to connect in time to save
the mails. Now, on line of railroad of i'm
mense length, moro especially in the winter
time, the chances are nearly equal for an I'm.
expected halt or breakdown somewhere once
in twenty-four hOurs-each one of which must
delay the mail from twelve to twenty four
hours. This is the reason why the great Nor
them mail was at times seven days behind the
schedule at New Orleans last winter; and it
strikes us that it is a fair Offset for the in
creased speed, when few or no such casual
ties occur. Railroads have decreased the cost
of travelling amazingly, and increased the cost
OF the transportation of the mails quite as
much, as general thing. The transportation
Of ordinary freight, however, is done on all
railroads at far less prices than were charged
by other conveyances, between the same ter.
mini, before their construction. We see no
good reason why they should force the Gov
alone to pay double for their trans
portation what it cost before the era of such
The mails must be sent, those
them conclude, by the speediest
means, and having an absolute monopoly of
that means over'the route, they essay to use it
to the extent of demanding double pay from
the Government. This appears to us to be the
key to all the trouble which the Post Office
Department has had with railroad companies.
If they were to essay the same game upon
travellers or individual freighters, other means
of conveyance would be sought Hence their
in favor of all but the Govern
ment.
Costa Rica's Designs on the Nicaraguan
lsthmus.-A Washington correspondent of
the New York Tribune, in Mondays issue of
that journal, again tells of the twenty times
declared intention of the Costa Rican Govern.
ment to take possession of the right bank of
the San Juan river, from its mouth up, per-
haps, to Lake Nicaragua. In view of the i'm
portance of any such threatened act to the
United States, this story is worth notice
We have, therefore, to say that, among we'll
informed persons here, the declaration of this
purpose is :egarded as a simple repetition of
the thres, made by the Costa Rican Govern.
ment perhaps annually, since the Americans
have been using the Nicaraguan isthmus as
highway to and from California Costa RIGA
has long preferred claim to jurisdiction over