Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-03-09


 my advertisement to specify their point of start ing on the Mississippi, and the prominent ponts by which they proposed to pass the answer IS an obvious one.
 It would be otherwise impossible to judge ot the reasonableness of the price demanded for the service. Some routes would be longer and oth- ! CTS shorter some more and others less eXpen- sive some possible and others not possible; and | the department not being commanded but only | authorized to establish overland mall to Call l fornia could not consent in the exerclse ol l sound discretion, to attempt the required service over any route which, in the nature of things, | could not be regularly performed.
 The Postmaster General well remembers protracted and very useful conference with the 1 late lamented Rusk, who was as much or more 1 the author of the measure than any body else He had been long at the head of the post office committee in the Senate. He had resided for many year. in Texas and had traversed much | of the route selected His assurances were en- | phatlc and frequent, that to attempt to obtain the services called for in the act ot Congress over any other than he Fl Paso route, would prove to be dead failure for at least three or tour months of the year. After more than one con- ference with Gen. Rusk, the department address, ed itself to the execution of the law, with all that industry and entire exemption from person. al interest and previous bias which so great subject required. The Postmaster General re- fers to this report as atte,ting, at least his earn est desire 10 collect all the facts connected with the obiect-the distances, the elevations, the deserts and mountains, the climate, the supplies of water the amount of arabic and, etc, on each of the prominent routes. All the facts set forth in that report were drawn from the most reliable sources. and this department vet believes they ] .nb.taptiallx- and tuitV sustain the selection of route and the contract made upon The Postmaster General was not selecting, nor the contractors bidding for railroad, but for a staqe line, to be put into operation within ttoelUe months and 10 be in the short time of taoentq- fue days. But the complaints and crt- c>m DOW being made relate to It as a selection of railroad route to the Pacific Estimates are made as to the relative area of country west and east of the NJ issssippi. But what have the number of acres of laud-much ot winch IS yet to be inhabited-to do with mall stage line to be established in a single year! ne desTed service related to population, to present cores p0nlence, 10 the immediate transportation o1 pas senger.. and not to the facilities of a railroad, which could not be competed during the entire period that this coach service was to be con Iarctcd for. What means 1t, then, to subject this location for one service to criticisms and ar guments which can have no relation but to aro.her and different object. Congress never ordered a railroad 10 be laid off by this depart m-ut. nor its mail to be trarsm ted by oHc, and vet the two subjects have been strange lv and unuece ssarialiv connected with each other.
 The true solution of this error however, is to be fouud in the suppo,ition that the successful operation of this stage line, aud the settlements made along f, many have great influence on the future location of a railroad f one shall be constructed, prejudicai to the interest ot some railroad corparalin or injurious to the pf0sperl- Y of certain rival cities that have already or may hereafter spring up on other routes than the one selected These contl cung and rval interests now pres forward with their objection, to pre Went the initiation of policy which they fear may prove injurious to them. There is nolh- Iu5 strange perhaps nothing wrong in al ths; and the only question presented to your com mittee s whethrrth department. acting m iull aud perfect harmony with the Executive, ha> under all the circumstances of the case, come as nearly 10 d far and reasonable adjustment of these conflicting interests, as'was to have been expected. Why dlI not Congress establish the liuc both fo the coach service and the future railroad? Simply because they could not agree on the subject They devolyed it Oh the Post master General to do perpeXing piece of busl- l ness which they themselves had tried unsuccess- fully during several sessions.
 He has performed the perplexing and fficult iuty with a disinterestedness that challenges all complaints, but with diStrust of his ability to do it we'll, which will induce him to yield, with pls sure, to the superior jud5 d5ment of your con- mttee and of Congress. Ii he had been Ietr to the consideration of mere geographical rights, and what was due to the present and tutur- \ population ot the whole country, he wouli have male but one terminus nn the Mississippi river ,.ul that trrmiuuS would have been Cairo, at the mouth of the Ono
 No mlu ctu look al the map of this country without hi> eyes finally resting on the mouth ot the Ono a> the great center ot population and of commerce of the United States. The out stretching valley Of that noble river, in ciiml-e soil and production is nowhere surpassed on the 1 hab.tabie L.phe
 ! Ii Cairo had d suitable site for city, it would surla>s any other inland city ol thi, contiue L or perhaps in the world. But this parmeui had to q al with thing, as they are and Aot a~ ! l, believes :hey will be in the glorious reAliza- | tins Of the future So deaug 1t saw the Lrea, railways ol the north concentrating on the Z sl>s pp al St. Louis. and those of tne south c0a- centradnL on 1t At Memphis
 l. ok the map, which have used much in my examinations of this subject The rel line, will point you to the col orceutration at Sy ! Louis; the blue ones show youthe roals that ap- proacn Memphis. Cairo, lying not far from midway between them, l have re .agded as the point in tIe future, whilst Memphis and S
 Louis on opposite sides, Gt Me present, ci4m i equal recognition Iu reference to either the m li service or the construction of railroad to the Pacific States. The act of Congress made the Mississippi the base lne some point of which the route was to be started. Look along that base line, and see whether a larger region If country, both east and west of that river. is uot accommodat by the selection of Memphis, aad s. Louis, with Cairo near tn sr centre, than womb have been by the selection Of aDy other place whatever.
 From aIl the New England States, and from every m.dlle State, whoever desred to % over this overland route would most easily come to Cincinnati; from Cincinnati it Is equally easy by railroad or the river to reach St Louis, Cairo or Memphis. Railroads (soon to be hnshed) take you directly 10 each place. l. may be safe ly affirmed that the whole of these States would be as reIularly accommodated by the route eS- tablished as ou the Albuquerque, route starting from St. Louis. It is obliged to be so, because fyou go to St. Louis, you have still to go south to Albuquerque, a point due west from Memphis
 Mcln pms IS on latllu'ie % degrees, throwing away small fractions and 50 is A Albuqnerque T Even northern lnlians and Illinois are equally well accommodated at St. Louis or Cairo So much for the northeastern States When von get to the southern States, including the region about Baltimore and Washington city, the route to Memphis over the Virginia and East Tennes- see road, Virginia, North and Snuth Carolina
 Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, are all best accommodated at Memphis.
 h short there is DO ten mile square of the territory of the United States, east uf the Ms sissi pi, which is not satisfactorily provided for by the commencement at Memphis and St.
 Louis.
 Let us consider what would have been the state of the case if 1 had made the terminus at either Memphis or St. Louis alone? Would the