The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-12-28

Weekly nal from Salt
Lake City 10 Placer 4 - Ell
y yS,s ,.,; - 10000 l2oa % l2s,7er q
ling The $4,000. paid annually for carrying, q
few sacks Of letters from the valley Of the
and onnhabtsd country would deiSay the cst
o. mail transportation including agents local agents
and messengers m the States Of Kentucky Tennessee
North Cal DINA Ihe post flee at Salt Lake City yields
revenue Of but $500, and yet connect that ONCE with
The valley Of the Mssnppl aud the Pacific this depart
asse, Sas ne during lF past year will be
toned above, 81 u.s. 800 05 The ocean mail service u
tass, heretofore on the treasury except the cost OF
department, and under the present advantageous
Contrast, will result In q loss during the current
year Of q, least s5i o2I 81 This added 70 si7s o5
81 1901 3e--a sum sufficient TO pay the entire
expense Of transporting the mails and the salaries
o. route and local agents and messengers Ia the
States Of Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York. II
would improve the postal facilities 10 all Cities towns
and populated distis giving daily mails 70 those who
are entitled 70 them but who have but weekly
service, add niweekiy 10 those who have but weekly
acconnodaiions The power OF steam and the electric
have awakened In the most remote districts aud
in Me most tranquil villages energy and restiessDess
u social and commercial lite known other years only
amid the great commercial emporums OF the world IA
consequences, daily mas rapidly becoming uni
veIsa' Necessity, and on rs right by the
SMALLEST Communities Hence II has been impossible 70
make the slightest curtailments without provoguq re-
ops and rebuke But in presepce Of the stsi,s,ics
which have been presented, when the pubic oonoiaip
that tie postal service s not equal the ac~y Of their
bum tsh and Social relations, they should make such cam
plants heard, not here, but IN the halls Of Congress
They should appeal TO their Representatives 70 restore
10 'hs department. It's revenues, ~hicb sqnAn-
dcIed ia the Wilderness and when this shall have been
DONE and tho other justice reform herein
rec mepdcd shall have been adopted, then, by the
practcc OF severe economy every reasonable demand
upon the service can be mat tE
comparison Of the expenses and products Of the routes
named, taves for doubt that the postal com
muDlcat.n which they afford ia not looked 70 BY the
rlneni emo, but instrument for the nd
meDt Of ulterior objects. Indeed, 1t has no, been
concealed but openly avowed BY the friends Of the policy
which maintained these roues that they intended
as the pioneers Of civilization; the OF rapid and
regular communication between remote military posts
aDd The government, and most especially instru
mentality for promoting the settlement Of frontiers
and thus apprecatng the value Of the national domain
That these and kinored Objects Which may have been
con mplaed by the authors OF this policy, are fully
within the range Of action which great aud en-
bghtened government may prescribe for ITSELF will
denied But such objects are national and not ~
all postal In their character and being Intended as they
arc 10 advance the interests Of the entire body polite tho
expenditures which they involve should be met the
common treasury The postal does not ead but
follows population, and the devotion directly or indirect
~, Ia AID 0r schemes OF colooizau0n thse revenues
which arc coDsecrated and set apart for the
and expansion Of mail accommodations, is manifest
breach Of one Of the must solemn obligations with
which the government has charged ITSELF It would be
easy to distinguish the routes falling within ths category
OF postal and their establishment and regus-
ion by Congress accompanied by provision that after
the application Of the revenue arising from them their
support the balance due the contractors other agen
cies should be betrayed from the treasury complete JUS
tice would be done 10 the department and the govern
ment would have fully discharged the highest re-
sponsbhes which rests upon as trustee Of the postal
fund.
Not pursue the subcc, further in view Of wha. has
been done and proposed the financial status OF the de-
part rent would be as follows
Deficit for the year ending June 90, 1853. %
Annual retrenchmert from curtailments al
rtady madc-less S2S7 $50, Of the 1887 $50
saved on renewal Of contract for ocean SER
vice to CaIifornia-which S2S7 $50 having
been pay able out Of the Treasury, the gain
eDures TO i: instead Of 70 the postal rcve-
Revenue II ON government hostages, on abo-
on Of frapsipg privilege, estmated at. 500 900 90
Reduction Of cost Of railroad TanspoT 90
Payment by government on routes non .
postal 1,22o75s 50
This aggregate OF 81, deducted from the de-
6ciency Both June, leaves deficit Of 81 473 co.
which the gradual increase Of receipts and the cura
mens still practicable would In few years,
end the department be thus restored TO complete ndepen
dcnce
There are thoee who PROPOSE substitute for these
just and Statutory reforms increase Of the existing
rates OF postage. To this am well persuaded the popu
rests mainly upon The conviction that the PUss ONCE
department were justly dealt by II could and would
M s ss s
experiment Of rendering II eoM-supporting by the
measures which have been discussed shall have been
tonal burdens on the correspondenoc Of the country
that experiment. upon being tried shall fail 70 che
department to ndepcndencewhich cannot be Rntcipat
ed-sben an enlightened and liberal people will not hest
tate to authorize any augmentation OF the rates which
may be required, but mot until then.
This department cannot much longer occupy It's present
equyoca position II not allowed 70 10 the princi-
pics on which was conducted in lie earlier and better
days--the days alike Of its Independence, its efficiency
ard its renown-borne by the pressure Of the ex-
istng course Of legislation, 1t must ultimately be-
venues. The first step which would probably fol-
low thereafter would be for Congress, in creating
and adjusting the principal post routes, 10 declare what
would open an almost ilmiiable field for mercenary in
igne and slolation An approach 10 tho Inauguration
before the country Since 1885, Congress has inter-
posed and made extra allowances contractors amount
ing TO 70 beyond what the department regarded
them entitled to receive under their contracts and be-
yond what believed the postal demanded or
justified. has also fixed the compensation for the semi
weekly Overland mail at per though the
receipts from the route but $27 o. and for the
Transportation Of the California mails via the Isthmns
paid annually $73s25o, though the servce-less
that from San Francisco TO Astoria and San Degoupder
recent contract with the department, is performed
at The ratio Of 1851 0o0 per annum With arrangement
for its further reduction These are fair illustrations Of
the fruits which naturally, not inevitably follow from
transferring the Contract Bureau OF this department to the
balls of Congress- Should this step be takon the depart
men being thus completely dependent and sustained by
an exhaustees treasury and having no longer the power
full motive to economy which has been the conserva
i've element Of its being would be tempted plunge
waste until, it may well DO apprehended, all the aafo
guards Of it's purity would finally disappear. With its
urmy Of postmasters and contractors, now numbering
80 900, and constantly increasing; with It's train Of
other dependent nstrumeLtatos; with its twenty mil
lions OF dsbursementsfor they will soon reach and
pass that sum-ond with S ramncatiops extending to
every city and village and reighborhood in the Union, II
coud not fail to be seized upon by ambitious hands, and
welded for political pewer, until the very air Of It's being
might become an atmosphere OF political corruption. The
ggnnc sysen Of internal improvements BY the general
government, which few years since oyerthrown by
the voice of the people, in the omnpresence Of
It's complete development, could scarcely have proved
potent instrument for exhausng the treasury and
depFaviDs the public morals.
The Post ONCE Department In Ms ccaseless abors per
yndes every channel OF commerce and every theatre Of
human enterprise and while visiting, as II does kindly,
every fresde, minelcs with the hrobbpgs Of almost
every heart in the land Id the amplitude Of It's benod
ministers to all cimes and creeds and pursuits,
with the eager readiness and with equal fness Of
Gdeiiy II Is The delicate car trump through which alike
nations and families and isolated individuals whisper thor
Joys and their sorrows, their convictions and their sympa
thies, 10 all who listen for Lelr coming Naturally enough,
such an institution hns been and still Is cherished
favoritc with the American people. The country has