Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1859-08-16
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erl has been gotten up in New Orleans in regard tc
the transportation CT the great Northern aad South
ern mail in which the memorialists says sthey ars
Informed that proposal has been, or win be- made
to transport said mails BY what is known as ths
Fernsndina ROue'--viz: by railroad between
Portland and Charleston thence by steamer t, Fer
nandna, Fla. thence across Florida By railroad TO
Cedar Key, thence to New Orleans by steamer" and
they suggest that il the route referred to be einteud
ed as substitute for that established last year By
the Department through the States OF Louisiana
Mississippi, Alabans, Tennessee, and Virginia, il
will result 10 great ineOnvenienss, dalsy vsxatiOn
and loss to the commercial interests of the country
The "Fernandins route" they say Includes upwards
of seven hundred miles Of sea navigation, which
cannot be performed, even in good weather. in less
than three days. and the carriage By railroad alOne
] over said route, between New Orleans and New
York, will require two and half OF thles days
more, making the time between New Orleans aud
NeE York not less than five and Ilf or six days;
and that in bad weather the time viii be mush lon
ger. They express q confidence that the mail may
be carried between New York and New Orleans in
three and q half days by the interior or present
route frem the list If January next, by which time
the Mississippi Central Railroad viii be completed
There win then be q continuous and uabroken line
Of railway between the two points, the total length
Of which will be about fifteen hundred miles They
contend that this is she true route for the rapid and
reliable transportation of the great through nails
and they earnestly recommend its maintauence
The Washington Constitution of the 10th inst.
contains a response to this memorial, from which
We make the follOWing extract:
The proposals invited by the Department. under
ads sertisement of June %, 1852 embrace material
features to which this memorial makes no allusion
whatever. They are Contained in the second para
graph Of the advertisement. which reads ss fellows:
bidders will name in heir proposals the inter
mediate points by which the route shall run, and
propose the mede or modes Of conveyance with
schedule fixing the times of departure from and ar
rival st the terminal points alone Wig Portland snd
New Orleans-.he trip zach way to be absolutely
guaranteed TO be performed within the stipulated
Time, or no pay required"
An HtentioH to substitute any particular ropte for
another Is obviously incompatible with the teImI
here used The door for competition could not have
been more widely opened. To the proprietors of
every route the Department offers an equal oppor-
tuhty Ard it, indeed, an advantage be possessed by
any, Il must be by "the one, 10 use the language
OF the memorial, (which, above ell others, will N
o
mail. TO do this, is the very object had in view
and the Department will be IN lst happy to entain
proposals TO this effect from the proprietors of the
route the memorial recomnends But the desired
end must be secured by some m1re effective guar
antee than the mild system Of fines and forfsiures
provided for in the ordinary contracts for mail
transportation toe int fcieney Of which, as 9 means
Of iRsuriHg "despatsh and regularity" may be
shown BY sdSerting, by way of example, to a few
Facts respecting the very route the memorial declares
to be the most reliable,
In May, 1853, the Department entered into an
arrangement with the proprietors Of the route
" through the States Of Louisiana, Mississippi
Tennessee, and Virginia" for the portation OF
the local and through mails between New OrIeans
and Washington, once daily, $500 per nile per
annum for the railroad portion Of the line the SER
vice TO be performed by 9 schedule proposed bv the
the parties, according to which the trip each way
between New Orleans aud Washington, was to be
performed within q days, or days between New
Orleans and New York. The service under this ar
rangement went into operation on the lst Of July !
1895 But Of 22O mails sent by tkis route from /
New York to New Orleans during the nine months |
from lst Of July, 1858, to Slst March 1859, as ap-
pears froa minute and reliable information on file
in the Department, only l6 were carried through in
schedule time, leaving 204 of which the transporta
tion occupied from 81 to Is days OF 246 mails
sent from New Orleans t. Washington, only 90 were
carried through in schedule time leaving l48 Of /
which the transportation occupied from to 1874
days.
The Constitution states the average time Of trans
porting the mails frem New York to New Orleans
for the WHOLE period of nine months to be six days
andtWO hours, and the average time between Wash
ten and New Orleans, five days and twelve hours,
and adds;
The number Of days on which no mail from New
York reached New Orleans by this route, during
the Whole period, was 81 during the six winter
months, 70. The number Of days on which no
mail from New Orleans reached Washington by this
route, during the whole period was So; during the
six winter months, 81, That these delays and fail
ures are chsTgeable almost wholly to that part Of
the "lnterior route" beyond the point of diverg-
ence (VIz; at Richmond, Virguis) from the trunk
line common both 10 this and the old route for the
great northern and southern mails is apparent from
the comparative "despateh and regularity of the
service, during the same period between New York
and Charleston, performed to that point over the
same route, OF sos mails sent from New York to
Charleston from lst July 1853, TO 31st March,
1909, (the service being double daily, except Sun
day, on which day single mail is sent,) 484 we're
carried through in schedule time, two days leav-
ing only "A, Of which 2l were carried through in
two days and half and in three days. And
during the whole period there were but four days
which no mail reached Charleston from New York
The Constitution might have added that much the
larger portion of these delays and failures occurred
on that part of the Mississippi Central Railroad
over which the mails had to be transported in
coaches This gap will be closed up before the 1st
Of January and the running through the entire
distance between New York and New Orleans This
will insure greater degree of regularity on the
route than has heretofore been attained This route
certainly possesses advantages for the speedy trans
mission of the mails over the "Fernandina Route"
and we are grstifed to learn from the Conshutions
aurhorstive announcement that it is not the inten
tion Of the Department TO substitute the latter for
the former As we interpret the Constitutions state
ment, the Department invites competition from the
several routes between New York and New Orleans,
and will award the contract to that route which sb
solutely guarantees to perform the service within
the shortest tlme and in the event Of failure pay
to be required. This looks like q determination on
the part of the Postmaster General to insure the
certain and speedy transmission of the great North
ern and Southern mail The contamination Of some
reliable arrangement, the Constitution remarks,
by which the grea. commercial communities inter-
ested in this important line Of mail communication
may be relieved from the vexatiOus delays and un
certain!iss with which they have been SO long com
PEELED to bear especially during that portion of the
wear in which their business demands the utmost