The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1856-05-24
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THE RAILROADS THE MAILs-THE POST
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THE RAILROADS THE MAILs-THE POST
L. ei OFFICE DEPARTMENT. l s.5cV
OFFICE TERRn HAuTE s RIcHM9sP RA1RoAR GoMFAsT.}
To the Editor Of the 81. Louis IateII genesr.1 % E
-s DEAR SIR.-I notice in a late issue of Tour
paper, communication from W. J. Brown,
Special Agent P. U. Department, in which he
undertakes to contradict certain statements,
made in an editorial of a previous issue Of
your paper. The first statement of your edi-
torial which he thus contradicts is as follows
| viz: .-5
The Company { the T. H. & R, Railroad )
charge that they have carried it (the mail) for
nine months without compensation, and aver
that they are willing to carry it for what they
claim to be a reasonable compensation ~ q
The next statement of that article, which he
Icontradicts, is the following et.'
e But it does not appear that the Post Mas
ter General, has ever made any effort to pro-
cure reasonable terms with the Company. lie
seems to consider that his prerogatiye will be
degraded by any negotiations with them
Now the particular object of this communi
cation, is to Vindicate your assertions, and to
say that the clauses contradcted by Mr.. Brown
are true, .F.r ..-4 ..t. 7-
The following is correct statement of the
service performed by this comprny-compen-
sation received-and the negotiations had
with the P. O.. Department .a,r --T
On 1st May, 1852, the mail was placed on
this road, under contract for two years. at
500 per mile for six trips, weekly. The fol-
lowing extract from letter Of Z. H. Warren,
Second Asst P. NJ. General, dated 18th April,
1852, to c. Rose, President, will show the ma
ture of the service and amount of small mat
ter to be CARED, viz
Z" In relation to that portion of your letter,
which states that this is the direct St. Louis
mail route, you are informed that the recent
allowance made to Mr. ?. Campbell, for an
additional daily line Of coaches, has been sus-
pended, and at this time all mail matter for
st. Louis, and beyond, from Cincinnati, and
east Of that city, is forwarded by the river
route. The amount of mail sent over your
road, will not probably much exceed the
amount carried by the Madison & Indianapo-
lis Railroad" M al4 asa ~ fe
After the above contract expired--no con-
tract was eyer, made, lu, the Company con-
tinued 10 carry-that same mail, receiving the
same compensation and asking no more, until
the railroad connection was ol ened to st. Louis.
When that was accomplished, there was placed
upon this road, by this same Mr.. Brown, as /
special P Q. agent large and heavy mail
the great Western and Southern mail. This
mail was never contemplated in the expired
contract, nor in the taeit understanding by
which this company was afterwards carrying
the TeTe Haute mail. When it was placed on
this road Mr.. Brown told us we should have
compensation for the service. We have made
repeated applications to him for settlement of
{, the question of compensation for this mail
service, and also for carrying the Indianapolis |
and Lafayette mail, from list October, 1854, to
10th November 1854, from indianapolis to
/ oct1 ha;n rnf1c cad hv thal
Lafayette road, and by Mr.. Brown, special P
O. agent, put on our road, we being assured by
him we should receive compensation from the
| Department for this service. He has always
seemed to be desrous, but powerless to do
anything, and has recommended the very
course we felt constrained to take, viz: to de-
cline the service after stated period, if not
adjusted. sa5 f .aa2'
| We sent a special agent to Washington City
in December last, to make personal application
at head quarters for settlement and payment.
This agent was given emphatically to under
! stand, that nothing would be paid above the
past and (then) present rate of compensation
graciously conceded by the Department AT
ter his return and OH the Sth February, Il
wrote an urgent letter to the Department,
stating the extra service performed by this
Company--under assurance of w. j. Brown,
|
paid for all such serYice-and asking that pay
ment, therefore, be made up to 1st January,
1856, to which no answer was ever made
And finally, on 1st March, L wrote to the De-
partment that unless they would pay us $3.50
! for the service we were then performing, and
also at that rate for the extra service from
July, 1855, to January, 1856, with compensa
ton for carrying the Lafayette Mail to Green
CASTLE we would decline the service after the
1st of April. ---..... -,...,s--ez vy
| To this letter we never received any answer;
! but it is true that on the 14th March Mr.
Brown wrote us line offering S125 per mile
for the service we were then performiug-re-
questing an answer at earliest convenience as
he was instructed, in case Of our refusal to
carry the mails to provide other conveyance.
This letter was received in my absence, |
having left Terre Haute, 18th March, for the
East 1 returned by Washington City. 9th
April, and there for the first time was apprised
that the mails had been directed to be con-
veyed by wagons, unless we would carry them
for S. l25 per mile per annum. a5 a
4 In Mr.. Browns letter he gives list of rail-
road companies in Indiana, Michigan and Illi-
nois, with the rates of compensation. He
wishes to have it inferred, that the Depart
ment has contracts with these companies at
the rate mentioned; but the fact is, that in ALL
or nearly all the cases named by him, there
are no contracts. When these roads were
: opened, the mails were placed npon their
trains, and the Department pays the company
what IT pleases. None Of these are satlsaea
and many ofthem are urging for increased pay.
II this controversy had been with another
company, the Terre Haute and richmond
Railroad Company would no doubt have ap-
j reared in the list, as carrying the Great West
arr nnd Southern Mail for 800 ner mile MI