New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-05-14
TRANSPORTING q. s. NAILS ACROSS
THE ISTHHU6.

F,Su M Cssv,sr and -Exssys>. ..
Or readers have already been ,niosmec, y zee
controversy has srisen between the Post. Office De
pArtment and the Panama RairVad ICupeny' respect
irg the amount per pound to be paid for importing
tie mas between Aspinwan and Psnaus. The con
troversy although involving q sum Of money, both i'm
medstely and remotely, e chiefly important for the
-.ines. also involved for the determination Of SINH
lar csses in time To come.
The facts appear to be these: Before the Panama
railway was completed, q contract extending to no
definite period. existed between the United Nates
Poet-Offce Department and the Railway Compauy,
under which the latter received % cents per pound for
transporting the mails partly by railway and partly
on the backs Of mules across the 1sthmus and putting
them on board the steamer which to proceed with
them to their destination. We have high authority
for saying that iAis service performed without
profit not positive loes, and was only continued IN
the expectation that when the completed the
same rate would be continued, and the perseverance
Of the company be recaunerated whsn In consequence
of the diminished expea scs, profit would acc,re IN
der il.
But 70 sooner, il would seem, is tts railroad sou,-
pleted, and the Company In Q position to reap the
fruits OF an enterprise that might have challenged NE
Of any nation to accomplish th.a the Pose-
master.General proposes-inteed, demands-a diminu.
ton Of the rate per pound for sai ing the rails The
Company advertise to cary Tst-cass ercsandse for
ten cents per pound and the Postmaster General ex-
pressed the opinion that the mails should be carried at
the come RATE. Being reminded. however, that the
Company did not undertake to place such freight
board the STEAMER in the harbor asn the Of the
mails, and that in Gaze that duty was undertaken,
fifteen cents per pound were charged, the Postmaster
General recalled the proposition to pay ten cents
pound, and substituted for it an announcement that
more than eighteen cents per pound would be paid.
1t seems TO be conceded that corporate bodice,
sting under charter from Government and dependent
more or less upon Government for protection of their
chartered rights are, wien in the possession Of fsch
ties not to Be found everywhere bound to serve the
Government at fair remunerative rate, although the
Governments had better pay most exorbitsntly than
foego such service. We have little doubt that the
this respect, and viii discharge them The Company
has undertaken and completed railway at the expense
Of more than seven millions Of dollars and the
chsracterKof the work, connecting as Il does, the
great of the earth, and afordng highway for
the commerce Of the world, ought to commend the en-
terpe that has been exhibited to the liberal consider
alton Of the Government under whose protection has
been directed. But casting this view aside: does the
Department act Justly in refusing to pay % cents per
pound A European tourist relates that the propre-
tor q the first steamboat upon one OF the principal
German rivers maintained hisl enterprise with great
difficulty for some time, and in the end failed.
His fall srose in this wise: the phlegmatic and
easy going burghers had been in the habit of
making the journey between two principal points on
board Of soop occupying from two to four tS ssys
points in less than day--statiog soon after sunrise
and arriving before sunsetfor the same sum as that
charged the sloops. And yet tho steamer did not
that they could ride the soops three four days
for the same money that required on the steamer
for carrying them less than one day Stupidity deep
is unfatbomabe by a man who has imbbed the busi-
ness habits OF the United States And yet in what re-
spect does the action of Mr.. Campbell differ from that
OF the German travellers He paid willingly twenty
two cents per pound for transporting the mail slowly
and precaOusy On the backs OF mules bat no sooner
does the Company become able to do the work in q
manner worthy its importance, than he proposes re.
duction Of their pay commensurate with their an
creased facilities is erroneous to make any refer
epce to the charges for freight In this connection. BY
reducing the rates for freight, an increase of BUSH
ness is invited. VIII reduction TO the Government
of the Sate for carrying the mails tend to increase
theI weight of the mails Certainly not. Aud then,
letters are held to be more valuable than any other
article of freight. The Department charges ten times
as much for carrying them for carrying newspapers
end pamphlets. Would Mr. Campbell undertake to
cany gold dust ct the same rate Per pound that he
would potatoes Would he accept the same for silk
that he would for pig front The Company Is subject
to fine for any delay in carving tho mails: They 90
a aaa aSsn the 10 IS we IT,
compelled to carry the mails Of other countries for the
same rates those paid by our Government; and, al
though the weight of our mails may be such that they
may be carried with profit at less than 90 cents per
pound, the necessity of carrying the small mails Of
other countries at nearly the expense attending
the transportation of the larger ones Of our own
would result greatly to the disadvantage of the Com
pany. To obvate the operation of this circumstance
adversely to our Department, the Company, We I'M
dentand, is willing to make contract TO carry the
mails in bulk ut rum per annum that will, IN all prob
ability, before the lapse of many months, bring the
rate per pound less than eighteen cents which is
paid.
The safe and speedy transportation of the mails
across the Isthus of Panama is of tho greatest i'm
port ance 10 the business not only of this ty and the
county but of the world; and the magnitude of the
undertaking rises above the considerations OF dollars
and cents to the extent of the few thousands involved.
The Company have accomplished what few hoped to
see: and il becomes the Post Office Department TO
avoid all mputstions of niggardiness in this behalf
controversy has been made public since the close ofhe
Nicaragua route it sprung up early as February,
1855. II is to be hoped that the question In dispute
will be settled at and upon an enduring basis for
we know Of nothing that would give greater satisfac-
ton to the business public than liberal and perma
nent arrangement for transporting the mails along this
connecting link, uniting, as It were, two commercial
worlds.
r1ocTyT yTyrC lGlTN COMMENCED IN