The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1854-05-10
The Post.OnIee Department and the
West.

The people of the West should notice the
following instructions issued by the Postmas-
ter General in his advertisements for contracts
in the Western States during the succeeding
two years, relative to special Post Offices
Postmasters and bidders will particularly notice
that the service to special Offices differs entirely from
that the regularly numbered routes, in this re-.
spect-,ha. the contractors pay must lie derived ex-
cusvely from the proceeds Of the Office supplied
within a certain sum to be named by him; that the
excess Of net proceeds, if any. beyond such sum- must
be held by the postmaster, subject to the draft Of this
Department. and that If the net proceeds fall short
OF the amount OF the bid agreement, the deficiency
cannot in any case be supplied by this Department.
If no bids he made under this advertisement, or no
one named as contractor by the Postmaster at spec
'ai Office before the LIST July, 1854, such an Office
shall he reported for dscontinuance.
1t is singular that the head of this impor-
tant department of the government, should al
ways, by some fatality or other, fail to appre-
ciate the wants and rights of the greatest and
most rapidly increasing section of the country.
In Minnesota where we have business to sup
port regular daily mail, we are obliged to be
content with semi or tri-weekly, as chance,
or the convenience of the boat may warrant
Enduring already the wrong of a scarcity of
mail facilities, this order of the Postmaster
General, will have tendency, instead of i'm
proving them, to take away to great extent
such as we already have. A majority of the
Post Offices in Minnesota, are of the precise
character designated as special in the in
structions above quoted Offices located at set
Elements just commenced, and which, though
not paying much in the way of revenue at
present, will in a few years add materially to
the post-olice fund of the treasury. 1t is poor
encouragement to the pioneers of the west,
when they find the general government thus
withdrawing from them the facilities of inter-
course with one another, and with those whom
they have left behind. They penetrate the
wilderness belonging to the government, i'm
prove it, build up settlements, and add to the
value of the government property all around
them, but are continually told by the acts of
government that they need not look to it for
any corresponding benefits
We lay no special blame on the present
Postmaster General. lie was Philadelphia
real estate lawyer, and ten-to-one, never in his
life west ofthe Alleghanics. lie is but follow
ing in the footsteps of his un-illustrious prcdc-
cessors, in seeking to make that department
defray its own expenses from its proceeds, while
the general treasury is continually growing pie
thoric from surfeit Of gold. The department
has hitherto been conducted on this narrow.
misery principle, and he very likely cannot ap-
preciate the necessity for adopting more libe-
raj rule. 1t should be the continual, fervent
prayer of the righteous, hitherward, that the
Almighty would put it into the heads of our
rulers to acquaint themselves with our rights
and necessities, and into their hearts to mctc
us justice.