The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1855-01-24
The postmaster general in hisreport recon-

valuable letters at the option of correspondents
five cents additional postage being charged fol
registration, and all registered letters to be
i made up under special post bill and sent un
der special enyelop to the postmasters =
J system of checks and accounts is also suggest
ed. in order the more readily to ascertain wher
| valuable letters are missing, and to give ar
easier clue to mail robberies. The recomnen-
!, dations deserve consideration; but will never
answer with the present employees IN majority
of the postoffices, for it appears, that IN mos
! of the cities in the Union, a valuable letter
: being placed in the postofice is certain to be
1 stolen or misaid. The postmaster general com
pliments the Collins steamships highly, ano
admits that the sum originally allowed to them
Inv the government was too little; but thinks
the present pay too high, and neglects to r.
commend any decided course with reference
thereto He says truly that the California MAJ
steamships service costs too much, and sug
Eeests that unless the contractors will give week
Nv service for the present contract price, the Y
States had better exercise its light and abrogate
the contract by purchase of the company
4 Geo. Laws, steamers. We should regret to
see the latter done, as it would seriously lnJure
N. Orleans, The report states that the depart
ment is aware Of the irregularities in the recep-
ton of letters and papers throughout the coun-
try, and we can but hope one ofthese days he
will find time to glance at the state of affairs
/ in the Red River parishes and Texas. He ought
to do SO before he is ousted out of Office, if for no
other reason, that he may be made to confess to
himself his own imbecility. He says that he
is now occupied with the task of revising and
correcting the 'sschemes Of distribution" at the
various distributing Offices, which he has eaus-
ed to be forwarded to him, and most Of which
he finds so very defective that he "no longer
wonders at the delays which have occurred. :,
| We trust that he will continue his nyestiga
tons and make an effort to cure the Irregular
| ties and abuses of his department. The man
ner in which the postal affairs of the south west
have been managed during the past two years
would disgrace the youngest "devil'' Of any
printing Office in the land; and would not have
been tolerated by the people of any govern
ment on the globe except our own. The post
master general sapiently informs congress that,
| email depredations are becoming of such fire.
quent occurrence as to constitute great draw
back upon our postal system. ''>It also appears
that nearly all ofthese depredations take place
in the postoffices. The only way then to pre-
vent them, is for the postmaster general to ap-
point none but honest men to Office. If the
present state of affairs exist much longer, the
people will be forced to resort to some means
by the aid Of which they can compel the presi-
dent and the postmaster general to appoint
postmasters notas reward for officious parti-
san services, or on the strength ola recomnnen-
ton from half-dozen obscure demagogues, but
for their fitness, soundness of judgment and in
tegrity of character-men who can pass the
Jeffersonian ordeal appoint postmasters
who will have the discretion and independence
toselect subordinates whose honesty, capacity
and integrity they know can be relied on.,ss
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DEFAuLTERs.- Guthrie, in his re-
port, mentions no less than four defaulting col
lectors of customs, to be added to the long list
that has disgraeed the financial annals of this
country. The defaulters are the collectors at
Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio, at Oswego, New
York, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The collec-
tor at Oswegois defaulter to the tune of merely
$75, 1000; the collector at Cleveland, $3.50 900;
the collector at Toledo, $4,000; and the collec-
tor at Milwaukee for about $3OOO-total de-
is pretty fair for one time, but when we recol
ect that tile same thing happens almost every
year, it makes it better, and shows the science
of ssfree trade" ascarried on by Office holders
with the public money. Why is this so? Let
us look back on the line of government default
tiers, and remember that from Swartout down.
through Jesse Hoyt and a thousand minor sub
iects, until the present time, not a solitary de-
faulter has been punished, and we think the
answer is plain. He who steals from Uncle
Sam steals with impunity more he steals
the safer he is--Uncle Sam gives an immunity
from punishment to all his magnificent plum
derers When will this state of things be rem
edied? Never! at least there appears to beno
hope Of it at present. When one or two of
these defaulters are condemned to the peniten-
tiary and made to work out term Of years at
hard labor, there will be some hope that gov
eminent defaulters will be fewer, and the trea-
surer's annual report will be more free from
such foul stains on our financial accounts
Accounts from Washington state that Mr.
Soule has resigned his station as American min
lister to Spain, and that Mr.. Breckenridge, Of
Kentucky, has been appointed to succeed him.
If the honor and dignity Of our country had
been consulted for moment Mr. S. would new
er have been sent abroad in an official station.
His mission has proved signal failure, as he
wasnot able to adjust single measure entrust-