The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-08-18


rightfulness of the conduct of the Postmaster
General, which would have been hopeless task
but to prevent, by the dead weight of a sectional
and party majority, any censure, reversal of
the act which had been accomplished Mr. Iver-
son of Georgia summed up the whole matter, by
saying that the South had got what it wanted,
and meant to keep it.
In reference to an amendment moved by Mr.
Wilson, in substance like that offered in the
House by Mr.. Blair, Mr.. Iverson said;
This is nothing more or less than movement of the
North against the South that what is 1t an attempt
take away the Southern put il in the north
ern regonthe region Of SHOWS and mountains This
land mail authorized by Congress- and the President de-
termned to put it upon this route, which now
from St Louis and Memphis across by FL Paso
CISCO 1t runs through portion of the Southern states
and Southern country These Northern gentlemen already
have two their region They have one from
81 Joseph to Placervile And believe another AT any
@ Mr.. TOoMBs- One from Kansas City to Stockton.
Mr.. NERsoN. They want TO take this away from the
Southern States and put upon their region for the
purpose of deprvng the South of the poor benefit having
mail route the region of the Southern States The
ct to operate upon the construction of the Pacific railroad
That the ultimate design and another one those
circumstances in which the Northern numerical majority
of this Government intend absorb all benefits of the
Government trust that Southern Senators viii put their
foot upon this proposition of the Senator from Massachusetts,
and that those who act upon this floor in unison and syma
thy with the South will have the manness stand by
South on this OCCASION and that this amendment which
nothing more than attempt to mOnOpOze the benefits
this Government for the advantage Of the North will be
voted down"
In the same vein, Mr.. Johnson of Arkansas
denounced the amendment of Mr.. Wilson, as
" simply sectional IN ITS character"
And thus, according to the frank and straight
forward statement of Mr.. Iverson, mail route,
which had been established by Congress upon
the petition and for the benefit of California had
been so located by the President, as to he, not a
California measure, but Southern measure and
ne sustained anch NV g Co,,fbar0 Co,,1-
tors" and by that no less reliable corps of North
ern allies" who, upon all occasions, " act in uni
son and sympathy s0ith the South" The South
had got the route, and was determined to hold
on to it. Let those keep aoho can" 1t was not
a case for argument, and Mr.. Iverson had too
much sense to argue it. He knew well who
commanded the Senate of the United States, and
that he had only to sound the Southern bugle,
to rally lOng-tried and invincible majority
The Northern mail routes to which Mr.. Iver-
son referred, Offset to the Butterfeld route,
happened, most unluckily, to be both of them
Southern routes, and they had both of them been
established by Southern policy, and as aids and
supports to the Butterfeld route. Any route to
the Pacific must terminate in free State, as
there are no slave States that side of the con-
tinent So much is unavoidable. But all the
routes which were in operation when Mr.. Iyer-
son spoke, or which are in operation now, COM
them commences at ST. Joseph Missouri.
The predicament of affairs was precisely this.
The President had, in violation of the law of
March 3, 1857, established the Butterfeld mail
upon the thrty-secOnd parallel of latitude In
so doing, he had betrayed the interests of the
Pacific coast and of the whole country. All this,
however, was a matter of but small consequence
to him. The only thing which embarrassed him
was, that under the overpowering necessity of
fha Gn1f ha hoI
thing which was locally offensive to Missouri, by
which State the straight and natural line from
ST. Louis to San Francisco was desired and in
sisted upon. The problem was, to do something
which should compensate and satisfy Missouri,
or, at any rate, something which would relieve
the task of those venal politicians of Missouri,
who were determined to stand by the Admins
tration, do what it might. This was the prob
lem, and the President had solved it, by estab-
fishing the Kansas City and Stockton route, and
by putting a weekly mail upon the st. Joseph
and Placerville route These were he measures,
which were to make the loss Of the Butter
field route palatable to a State, which it was i'm
portant to retain in the interest of the Admins
tration and of the Democratic party.
Both these measures were scandalous and ex-
travagant jobs, and utterly useless in every pub
lie point of view.
The Kansas City and Stockton line, a monthly
line at a cost of eighty thousand dollars per an
mum, was not wanted to carry mails to the Pa
cihc, three other overland lines being already in
existence, in addition to the ocean lines by way
of the Isthmus. And the carriage of mails to the
Pacific NOT being the object, there public
object in it, because the infrequency OF monthly
mail precludes the idea Of doing anything towards
the settlement of the country passed over. It
was simply job pecuniary, for the benefit of
contractors and political, as sop and blind for
the State of Missouri. All this was so paIpable
and so bare-faced, that motion in the Senate,
March l. to strike out this Kansas and Stockton
line, was carried without division, not a single
Senator daring, or choosing, to go upon the rec
ord as supporter of such line.
The ST. Joseph and Placerville line, weekly
mail, with a contract time of thirty EIGHT days,
at cost of three hundred and twenty thousand
dollars, was another job of the same character,
but Of still more enormous proportions. On the
face of it, it was worthless as matter of mail
accommodation, the contract time being thirty
eight days, so that the citizens of st. Joseph,
even, could get their letters quicker to San Fran
CISCO by sending them by the way of New York.
And it was worthless in other respects, because,
from the slowness of the time, it did not insure
any of those Improvements in the road and in
stations, which would have facilitated emigra-
ton. No public interest gained anything by this
substitution, at great cost, of a weekly mail
for the old monthly mail. The contractors, one
Of whom, George Charpenning, jun, of Pennsyl-
vania, is the especial friend of the President and
Of Mr.. Attorney General Black, got good job,
and the Missouri politicians, who were breaking
down under the heavy load of the Administra-
ton, got something which they could boast of
as Missouri measure. So much was accom-
plished, but beyond that, nothing.
To accomplish any really desirable results, it
yVa al hat no Of no -ba
so increased, and with corresponding pay, as
would compel and enable the contractors to
make Improvements in the road, and to estab-
fish frequent and extensive way stations. I'm
less this was done, really nothing was done.
But to do so much was impossible for the
President because two routes with first class
service, to California, would not be likely to be
tolerated by Congress, so that to maintain what
had been done for the Texas route it became
necessary to refuse what was required for the
Salt Lake route. The slow mail answered the
purpose of job, and beyond that the President
would not CO. Indeed, he not only refused to go be-
yond that himself, but he actually pocketed and
defeated resolution, passed by the late Congress
at the close of its first session, requiring an in
crease of speed to thirty days upon the Salt Lake
route.
To sum up, then, instead of there being, as
Mr.. Iverson alleged, two Northern lines to offset
the Butterfeld line, the two lines, both of them
commencing in slave States, and both of them
in the condition in which they existed, utterly
worthless for any public object, Northern or
Southern, established by Southern Cabinet and
subserve the Southern policy Of covering the Buterfed
route Having taken six hundred thousand dollars per
mum out OF the treasury to assist immigration into Arizona
the President had sadded the treasury with annual charge
of four hundred thousand dollars shelter fayore line
from attack The free States gaining nothing in any
part OF the whole arrangement while treasury which
they chiefly supply being bled at the rate of million
Of dollars per annum And this the whole
tent Of the bleeding which then gong on and which has
been going ever since.
When the Butterfed entered into there was