Mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado Co., Cal.) 1854-1860, 1860-07-14
OVERLAND MAIL.

We know of nothing which car prove more inter
e.ting to our readers than tho remarks of Senator
Gwin, made in the l.. s. Senate on the 25tlI Of NAV
last, upon the substitute reported by the Post Office
Committee Of the Senate, for the House bill-"invi-
ting proposals. for carrying the entire mail between
the Atlantic aud Pacific States on one line" The
exposition made by the Senator, is much clearer
than any could give Of the purport Of the meas.
mre,-wc therefore insert his remarks entire com.
mending them to the pcrusa Of the people of Cali-
fornia, aud particularly to the citizens OF Pluccrvie
and I'll Dorado county, who ill be the recipients Of
superior advantages, should the bill become law
Mr.. Gwin said;
Mr.. President, tho cljcct of the Committee
on the Post Office and Post Roads, in report
ing the substitute for the House bill, was to
establish permanent overland mail yStcm to
SuperSede entirely the ocean service In or.
der to do that the first section provides for n
Sciui'wcrkty rTTif letter mail, bctwCCn ST.
Jo>ci'It, III Missouri, and Placcrviiic, in Cali.
fornia, TO be carried in twenty days. The Ser
vice on that route row is Scni-monthlv. Ii
was, until it was reduced by the Postmaster
General, weekly. The compensation for the
weekly mail was S32o,UO0; and the time for
tl.- delivery Of the mail was thirty. light DAYS
hto for semi monthly service; and the time is
now tEirty.cight days. That time rcndrrs il
impossible for it to carry any letters to the
Pacific coast hccausr, OIL the great overland
Ilt:tt tl4e ffAtt'titttt ttetrtt-ettr
to twenty-five days. The schedule time is
twenty yilve days. 1t was proposed to put this
service from st. Joseph 10 Placcrville on the
same footing with that Of the Buttcrtcld CON
tract, which was n schedule of twenty five
days, but they performing the service in about
I" cnty-two or tHcntv-twO and q half DAYS :;
and the addition Of the distance from St. Louis
to II. JOSEPH and iIom Placrrvillc To San Fran.
ti>r" iiiakCH ii about the same schedule of time
II itc Utilcrt wTS-fU tfrCSr two mats 10 CIIrV
mail llatter- On -MlicAletter- postage
va, paid between San Francisco ana the At
i;utlr coast Another provision of the bill re.
!'Iirc> that printed matter and haukcd matter
,Lal b. cnnycycd for an ainnli1 Lot exceed.
il. Slin."pu. TIL" committee when they in.
serted that provision, had the assurance that
it could be ror,ycycd as fire. .ht Oh the steamers
f"r that sum Of moncy; but afterwards it waS
a>ccitaihcd that the owners Of those ships
would hot let 1t 90 a. freight. The committee
Hirndcd I" make another provision in regard
To that subject; but the object was tn carry
the entire mail, letter and printed matter, in.
~ ttfr ocean steamers --'-'
The second section provides for semi.
weekly mail from Lake Superior to Puget
Sound aud the Columbia river. That is
service to the extreme Northwest, which is If
the greatest consequence to those States. 1t
completes the system Of overland coumuni.
cation, and was intended to supply all of that
region of country. not only with local mails,
but also communications would pass ii ion the
Pacl'ic to the northwestern States.
The third section provides for daily matt
from Sacramento to l'oIt'aud, the seats of goy
oruncnt Of the States Of Oregon and { a'iiur-
mia. The object of that daily service was to
suPcrScdc the ocean service in the Pacific
ocean, a hy the way Of the overland system
We intend to SGirr>odr the ocean sorI ice he
tween the At,an;ic and Pacific States. We
now have n >cmi.mo'thly contract for carry
ing the mails by steamships for 81 400, aud
ii was proposed that We should have n daily
inland service, provided it could he procured
for $luo,QpU; Il reduction for n daily scrvir"
Of 2,on0 less tian We now pay for semi.
monthly service.
The fourth section contains limitations upon
the contractors. pro, diu! that if they do not
perform the service within the schedule time,
they Shall forfeit the pay for the trip when
they so fail and in the second place, that they
shall convey all matter upon which letter post
age is paid, and that the contracts shall expire
on the 18th Of September, 1864 That is the
time when the Butterticld contract expires.
The object was to establish the whole over
land mail system, 50 that all the contracts
should expire at the same time; and by re-
advertising at the close Of these contracts,
there should be competition. In the mean
time, the opening and development of the
country will show where the best routes are,
and the competition on the various routes will
give the cheapest service.
The fifth section is intended to establish a
connection between New Orleans and the But
tel field route, in the State of Texas, north of
San Antonio. On the present local contracts,
the schedule Of time is such as to make the
mail communication between New Orleans and
California by this route much longer than it is
to send the letters up to ST. Louis. The oriSi-
nal contract from San Antonio to San Diego
was thirty days schedule time, covering four
hundred miles in Texas Of the Buttcrtield over
land mail route. That contract has been dis
continued by the Postmaster General. 1t is
proposed to permit the Buttcrfirld company to
discontinue the service from Memphis to Fort
Smith, and to bring up the local service from
Memphis to Fort Smith to the present schcd-
ulc time OF the overland company, and for
them to put service from San Antonio at
shorter schedule time, so as to take the mail
within twenty days from New Orleans to San
Francisco by this connection.
The sixth section provides that the whole
expense Of this service shall be paid out of the
Treasury Of the United States, inaSmuch aS
other objects are to be accomplished besides
the conveyance of the mails, such as the open
ing Of the Territory and its dcvclopment.-
That being the case, and the service being of
rather an unusual character, it is proposed,
instead of having these appropriations annu-
ally taken out of the Treasury, as is the case
at present, that they shall be charged to the
Treasury at once, and not be nominally n
charge on the Post Office fund.
The seventh section, as stated before, pro-
vides that these contracts shall not go into ef:
feet until the contractors agree to convey all
printed and frankcd matter at an annual cx-
pcnsc not exceeding $l50,000. At the time
that was inserted by the committee, RESPONSE
bic parties gave an assurance, to me at least,
and have no doubt to other members of the
committee, that the holcprinted matter could
be conveyed semi.monthly within the speci.
fled time. Subsequently, it was ascertainCd
to be doubtful whether it could be done, and
we feared that the ocean steamers might re.