Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-03-21
WASHINGTON NEWS AND eoxsIp-

HOW NOT TO Do Ir-has been most enph,n
cally illustrated, indeed, by the Government,
policy with reference to the mail communicates
between the Atlantic commercial cities and rs.
vana, by the steamship line so favorably known
as the Isabel line, from Charleston The contract
EXPIRED last June, and the Post Once Department
iof'n"itn stopped the pay Of sixty thousand dol.
i"i' pei ahhum, ana thus necessitated the stop
pase oi 'ne line. Subsequently, however, its
"ipe were FOUND OF SO great importance to the
commercial interest CT all the Atlantic coast c;te.
as to induce resumption Of the tin. 49,.
.erhs involving no little loss to those owning the
boats. The underwriters and merchants ~ Sa,',
York, Boston and Baltimore have t,Lsr ~. -
Ject IN hand, and are now urging upon Congress
the absolute necessity for keeping up the mail
service oy that line, II the interests Of the great
cods'"ise trade between those cities and the Mis-
sissiPpl rlVer, and their trade with Cuba. are Tn
oe regarded as worthy Of the slightest fostering
care and protection on the part of the National
Legislature
ny way OF illustrating how that particular mail
service operates for the benefit of the nationspen
efai coastw1se commercial interest, we NAV men
'oh that last winter by means of one of the trips
OF the Isabel, Information was conveyed to New
York that seven cotton loaded vessels-amount.
Ing to million Of dollars In value-were ashore
on the Florida coast; thus enabling the under.
writers to send out agents to take charge of their
property, in fortyeight hours after the news left
hey West This fact is certified to by such New
OK houses as Brown Brothers & Co, Moses
taylor d Co., j. NJ. Cabellas, the Mercantile
Mutual Insurance Company, Great Western Insu.
rance Company, Spoford, Tilletson Il Co., the
Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company, Sun Mutual
insurance Company, Union Mutual Company, the
Pinwall, and others Of similar standing. The
result was, saving to the commercial interest of
the country of at least half the value of the whole
property endangered, that would probably have
been lost but for that triof the Isabel; and also
a saving to the Government in the way of port
money, custom dues, &c, on the property thus
| rescued, of perhaps half the whole cost of the
| lines annual pay for pail service
The facilities for the prompt transmission of
commercial letters by tie line have done more to
build up our OF late years so rapidly extending
West India commerce by sailing vessels, than
auSht else, as is certified to by the heaviest houses
In the trade in all the Atlantic coast cities who
are among the loudest compliments against the
short-sighted policy Of the Post Office Depa,t.
ment, which IN this matter seems bent on sacri.
fcing tie general public interest for the benefit
Of what is Familiarity known around the Washing.
ton lobby as the Fernandina and Cedar Kew spec.
ula:ion. On the expiration of the contract las.
June, it seems to be understood here, the Depart.
ment essayed to extract some sort Of pledge from
the owners of the Isabel line, that they would not
apply to Congress for a reestablshment of the
mail facilities Of the great commercial cities lost
by them, as explained above.
The plea Of the Department If we are not greatly
mistaken, is, that it should not be saddled with
n homo inu
involved In the existence Of ocean mail steamer
contracts; of which, by the by. that contract was
not one, as but eighty miles of the whole trip of
six hundred miles was run outside of the absolute
Jurisdiction CT the United States-the short dis
lance between Key West and Havana 1t strikes
us as very poor plea. indeed in view Of the fact
that nearly half the interior mail contracts failing
to pay back their actual cost to the Treasury are
quite IS emphatlcally " burdens on the mail SER
vice, a that contract So long as there was lone
that Congress might be induced to make the Post
Office Department a self sustaining institution we
were for that policy. But that cause being hope
less, we are for the maintenance of the general
public Interest as involved in necessary mail con.
tracts whether the cost of 1t be charged to one or
tue other department of the Government Do not
mistake US, reader The Star has not been op
posed to the ocean mail steamer system; but "a her
mail service, rather than to that Of furthering the
general commercial interests Of the country, to
| which it should be charged, properly.
Instead of the service by the Isabel line, the
Department has seen fit to patronize another line
that of the magically influential Fernandina
| railroad speculation, at cost Of S5l 600 per an
mum, requiring from five to eighteen days usual
ly for the transmission of the mails from the
Atlantic coast to Key West, instead of two and a
half days, as uniformly by the Isabel line. The
consequence is that all commercial letters to that
point as well as Havana, of importance, are sent
to the agents Of the latter line in Charleston to be
sent by it as ordinary ship letters. but usually In
L. ). stamped envelopes, literally without remu-
neration to its owners and the Fernantiina specu
lation contract has consequently amounted so far
its utility to the business interest of the country
is concerned, to the merest pretence conceivable
AS provoking to the business public as tho Grip
pling of the Isabel line has been the general un-
Outstanding that the interests Of this same Fernan
dina speculation is the hitch preventing the con-
summation Of contract for the transportation of
the great through New York and New Orleans
inland mails via the new Southwestern railroad
route, is very justly creating increased discomfort
among all In the coast commercial cities to w bom
slime is money" By that route we very fire.
from New Orleans in three and half days-the
mails OF the United States taking much longer
time to come through 10y the other route
The companies forming the line are said to have
offered to take mail through on any terms the
Department may see fit to accord, until perma-
nent contract may legally be made with them
There Is no doubt whatever that if sent By tina,
route, the mails between New York and New
orleans can be expedited at least forty hit hours
over the time required any other posi- BILE route
yet the Department Las not seen fit to avail the
country OF this advantage 1t is very certain that
public opinion attributes this state of affairs to the
prospective competition (sorne Of these days) of
the Fernandna speculation; and 1t is high time
that Congress should thoroughly sift the circum.
stances operating to enable it thus to injure the
public interest. The Department is said to pay
81 500 for carrying a useless selni-monthly mail
from Cedar Keys to Clay's Landing, very short
distance; $1,000 from there to Bay Port where
there are not more than two families; and SO 500
for semi-monthly mail to Ocalla-all incidents
to its apparently remarkable prediction for the