New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-11-04
New Orleans Mails.

sBii
The interests Of great city are many ana
complicated, acting and acted upon by thou
sand remote causes, of which some may be an
ticipated and provided against, while others lie
beyond all foresight, OF those common and
regular matters which can be properly regula-
ted by proper care and suitable arrangements
it il to be doubted whether any one Is more
beneficial, if duly attended to, or more univer-=
sally annoying, when overlooked, than the mail
service In years past, when citys trade
was almost entirely confined within Its own
limits, and commerce had just begun to exist !;
when rost- coaches were for railroads, and ex-
press riders, in the placesof telegraph lines,
regularity OF communication was as little
thought Of ID rapidity. But now, when trade
has extended itself in every direction, and the
business Of one place is dependent upon that Of
thousand others; when the timely news of q
moment may ensure fortune, and its depriva-
ton lose one when the ocean is ploughed by
steamships, and distant places are Joined to one
another by railways, it is in every respect inn
portant that the communication should be open
and regular.
1t was for the furtherance Of this very end,
and not with view to increased revenues, that
5 Government originally took charge Of POST
offices and post transportation. 1t entered into
d tacit contract with the public to convey to
and from different places, with regularity and
dispatch. al specified mail matters upon the
payment Of specified prices. This contract has
never yet been fully lived up to. There have
been failures in every respect and under every
Administration, to a greater or less degree.
Under no Administration, however, have the
affairs Of the Poat-ofice Department been so
wretchedly mismanaged as under the present.
There were slWays reasons and excuses for
irregularity heretofore, on account Of the length
Of the service and the impediments to be con-
tended against The length Of the post routes
has been increased, to be sure, under each sue
ceeding Administration, but the facilities for
transportation have increased IN more than q
commensurate ratio. Communication between
New York and San Francisco is now easier than
il was twenty years ago between Network
and Cincinnati, and mails can be. to-day,
carried between New York and New Orleans
with the same regularity as between Boston and
Baltimore. There is o continuous line OF rail
road from NewYork to Montgomery, and q
regular steamboat line between Mobile and this
city. Six days are amply sufficient for any
number of mail bags to go through.
The peculiar necessity of q regular mail CON-
veyance to this city need not be dwell on at
length New Orleans is the largest exporting
CITY on this continent. Its trade is peculiarly
foreign and it's interests are affected, one way or
another, by every steamship arrival at New
York. Our merchants are in constant cores
pondence with the merchants Of Liverpool,
Hayre and Newly ork. Their purchases and
sales and shipments depend upon the advices
they receive IN fact no city is more in need
Of regular and punctual mail carriage than our
own. In the face Of all this it has to be re-
corded that no city in the country is so little
cared for by the Post-ofhce Department and So
badly served. For weeks at time no mail
arrives according to the schedule, and at peri
DDS there are three, four and six back mails
due. The telegraph affords an uncertain and
less reliable equivalent. Its advantages are
more confined and less complete, and, very fire.
quently, it is out Of order.
The blame for such q state of things certainly
lies somewhere, and can be traced to no other
quarter than that Of the Post-office Depart
ment. Occasional Irregularities, arising from
unforeseen and inevitable causes--the bursting
OF an engine, an avalanche or freshet-thougl
exceedingly annoying, are exeusable. We car
end no such mitigating circumstances in til.
present case We have not had a NewYork mai
as soon as due for the past ten days, and from
the statement made by Mr.. Caldwell, President
of the South Carolina Railroad Company, ds
not see any reason to suppose we shall have one
from beyond Charleston for the ensuing week.
1t seems that in 1851 the Company CON
tracted to carry the Great Northern and South
ern Mail to and from Charleston and Augusta,
their contract containing the following clause.
at Is hereby stipulated agreed BY the raid con-
tractors and their securities, that the Postmaster General
may increase the service or change the schedule al
lowing PRO rata increase of compensation within tbs
restriction imposed by law for the additional
qursd Rnt the contractors may in case Of increased
timely notice. il they prefer it to the change also, the
Postmaster General may discontinue curtail the
vice. be allowing months extra pay for the amour
dispensed with p
Under this contract the mail was transported
until the early part Of the present year, wher
the route of the mail was changed. A change
of service thus became necessary on the route
and there was an agreement between the Com.
pany and an agent Of the Poat-ofhoe Depart.
ment as to the compensation, which proved sat.
isfactory.
In june last, difficulties began to grow VI