Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-03-25

. SgNSlOn Ul AUIlEl Sss. hhih ~ vi klilo dAtiA ~
the failure of the Post Office Appropriation
bill. I should be glad to learn what course of
administration is proposed by the Department
for the relief of its creditors. and especially if
any provision is contemplated for %eytinguish-
Ing its liabilities, which have already matured
and are now payable.
have the honor to he, very respectfully.
your obedicnt servant,
GEORGE MArrISGLY.
Sup't Potomac Steamboat Co.
Hon. JosEPm EoLr. Postmaster General.
Posr OFFICE D~EpAErMENr.I
March -. 1859.
Sir: In answer to the inquiries contained in
your note, just received, beg to submit the
following statement:
Congress, for the first time since the or.anl-
zation of the government, has expired without
having made appropriations for the service Of
the Post Office Department during the next IFS
cal year. which will IN on the lSt Of
July. Had the members OF the next Congress
been elected from all the States. the President
might Oh the 4th of March have called an extra
session, and this omission of the late Congress
might have been thus supplied. This was.
however, impossible without DISTINGUISHING the
people of nearly half Of the States of the Union
which had not elected members. At that date
there were fifteen States without representa-.
tivcS. New Hampshire has since elected: Rhode
Island and Connecticut will elect in the begin,
ming Of April; Oregon in the beginning of June:
Virginia on the fourth Thursday Of May; Ken.
lucky, Alabama, North Carolina and Texas. in
the beginning of August; California early in
September; Georgia, Mississippiand Minnesota,
in the beginning of October, and Louisiana and
Maryland not until the first Monday and We'd
nesday in November. This is most unfortunate.
There ought to be no interval when Il full Con-
grcSs could not bc convened, and it Is To be
hoped that there never will be one hereafter.
Had the appropriation bill which failed made
provision only for the fiscal year commencing on
the lst of July next, there would obviously have
been no necessity for IN extra session. The first
quarterly service Of contractors for that Year
will not have been performed, so rs to entitlc
them to pay, until the first Of October; and bv
the terms of their contracts-tho>c for railroad
routes only eXc~cptcd-siNty days more must
clapse before their accounts can be finally set.
tied, which would postpone the day Of payment
till the LIST Of December, within less than a week
from the regular meeting of Congress. Ifit
should be deemed advisable. Congress might he
WI ttlS Wv VI III III 'ilIlt
time to provide for the payment of what will
be due contractors for the first quarter service
Of the next fiscal year; before it will be in fact.
payable. This statement makes it manifest.
therefore, that had the appropriations proposed
in the bill which failed been intended 10 meet
only the liabilities Of the next fiscal year, there
would have been no sufficient reason for calling
Congress together before the regular period of
its assembling.
Such, however. is not the case. That bill
also provided that the sum of $3.S3S. T2S BE-.
and the same is hereby. appropriated. ont of
any money in the treasury not otherwise APP
propriatcd, to supply Deficiencies in the rcyc-
nucs Of the Post Office Department for the
year ending the Goth Of June. 1873" Urona
careful examination and investigation, it has
been asccrtained that the deficiency will
amount to about the sum of $i.3s5.2Sl -. 1t
ought, however. to he observed that, after the
Goth Of June next. the sum of$70O, 900 granted
to the Department by the acts Of March >.
ls4?, and March 3. ISL. for the transporta.
ton and delivery Of free mail matter for Con.
grcss and the Executive Departments. NAV lac
applied in part to the cXtinguishment Of this
deficiency. This will leave the balance to be
provided for $3.6Sj,2Sl -. Of this SUN Of
$4.3s5,2Sl -, the deficiency which existed in
the quarter ending on the 3lSt of December
amounted. $749,Sll.Gs
That for the quarter ending 3lSt
OF March 1864, lJJ.22G
That for the quarter ending 10th
$+.3S5.2SI.95
The $74?.S41 ~6S-bcing the unpaid balance
of the quarters liabilities closing Dist Dcccnr-
Der, and payable 2sth Fcbruary-can and will
be paid by the Department within sixty days
from this date; the payment of the principal
part of it will be made within thirty days. The
effect Of this will be to divide the entire deficit
Of 81. 3S5,2 PSI % between the quarters ending
3lst March and Goth June, and payable 3lSt
May and 3lst August, 50 that the suspension
Of payment on no part Of this Indebtedness will
exceed, hcyond a few DAYS. six months be-
fore the regular meeting of Congress: on near.
ly one half OF it the suspension will he but l
few days more than three months.
Ii is Il gricvOlS misfortune To the contractors
that the Department has been left without the
means of discharging this debt at lis maturity.
Under existing circumstances, however. il
would be impossible to convene Congress, i'll
time to meet these responsibilities without vir-
tually excluding from that body the rcprcscn-
tativcS Of several Of the sovereign States Of this
confedcratcd government. This would be- a
just cause of serious complaint.
The choice Of the President has been I'M
doubtcdly 4 choice between great evils; but. in
his judgment, the lesser evil would be to wait
until the first Monday of December, when
Congress will he full.
The debts due. and to become due, to the
contractors are Of 4 sacred character. The
contracts out of which these debts arise have
been entered into under the express authority
of existing laws of Congress. To appropriate
money for their payment is as obligatory and
binding upon Congress rs it is to provide for
the principal and interest of the national debt.
There never will bc-thcrc never can bc-a re-
pidiation of this debt by the representatives
Of the American people. After the amount
due tn each contractor shall have been asccr-
tanned and finally settled according To law, this
amount becomes 4 specific debt Of record against
the US. Its payment is inevitable. and if the
contractor desire to borrow money upon it the
lender could have no better security. Besides,
as Congress are in default for not having made
an appropriation to meet his debt, it would be
no more than strict justice, for them to provide
for the payment of interest on these accounts
from the time Of their final adjustment by the
accounting officers Of the department. and when
a warrant would have issued for their payment
had an appropriation been made. This intc-
rest, excluding from view that on the $7i?,sil
now in the course Of payment, and applying on
the LIST of July. to the cxtinguishmcnt of the
principal, the 5000 o for free matter, which
will be then availablc-Should Congress think
proper to allow it, would amount to less than
800, 600 "A sum not to be compared with the
great difficulties and cmbarraSSmcntS off, pub
lie and private character which would result
from holding Il special session of Congress, to
say nothing of the expense that would nereS-
sarily be incurred, even though the members
should receive no additional pay.
:. system Of rctrenchment, 50 far as it may
be practicable under existing laws, is now an