The weekly union record., 1865-09-16
The Oregon Daily Nail.

=
outrage on the entire people of California.
As the matter row stands We have no mail
Communication North or South-not single
letter can be forwarded TO our neighboring
towns except By Express The Sacramento
Union gives the following history of the action
Of the Postal Department:
At the opening Of bids for this service,
March 18th, it was found that the only bidder
was the California Stage Company. the old
contractors. The company asked $500. 900
per annum for carrying the daily mail during
the term ending July l, 1866. The Postmaster
General rejected the bid and offered 100000
per anuum, which the company declined to
accept. The chief of the Department then
solicited various mail contractors at Washing
ton. among them being several Californians, to
undertake the service at the price fixed by
him, but none could be found who were willing
to incur the risk. Instead of inferring from
this that be might be mistaken in regard to
the value of the service, as We should expect
OF a cautions functionary, the Postmaster
General hawked the contract around for seve-
raj months, or until the LIST OF June, when J.
+. Reside, gentleman who had never been
on this coast, but who had been a mail con.
tractor 10 the South and West, took it for
year at S225,000. The old contract expired
on the Both of June, and Resides agent
arrived here on the 9th Of that month. with
out any means of performing the service. The
agent actually expected TO take the mail from
Lincoln to Portland daily in six and half
days-a distance of $50 miles-in burpies
drawn by a single horsel The same steamer
which brought Resides agent, filed with this
accurate idea Of the task before him. also
brought mail matter, to go over this route.
weighing several tons, and in bulk enough to
iii two Concord wagons. The agent, compre
bending the awkward situation, Immediately
concluded an arrangement with the old cos.
tractors to carry the mail at contract price. for
one month until he could go over the route.
On returning from bis tour of inspection. this
gentleman was fully satisfied that Concord
coaches and wagons, drawn by four borses
were indispensable to the proper performance
OF the service; but the contractor has thus far
failed to put him in a condition to do The work.
The California Stage Company carried the
mail, during the month of July, for the benefit
of Reside, and then, seeing that no arrange
menis were 10 progress on his part to fulfill
the contract were about TO haul off the stock
aud abandon the route, but at the earnest
solicitation of the people of California and
Oregon, arranged with r. c. Gaskill, Postal
Agent, aud the Postmaster at Lincoln to take
the mail for the month Of August, or until the
Postmaster General could be advised of Rec
sides neglect. Under this arrangement, the
mail service has been performed with the usual
fidelity and celebrity. On the 9th Of September
the Postal Agent received the following dis
potch:
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 1o65-9:45 Pm.
R. c. Gaskill, Special Agent Post Office
Department: The temporary contract made
by you and the Postmaster at Lincoln with
the California Stage Company is rejected by
the Department. Send no more than a weekly
mail between Lincoln aud Portland, and that
temporarily, at cost not exceeding forty
thousand dollars per aDnum.
GEORGE W. MCCLELLAN,
Second Assistant Postmaster General.
A dispatch similar to the above has been
sent to the Postmaster at Portland, Oregon.
The Stage Company cannot afford to accept
such an arrangement. and the passenger travel
is too light to pay expenses, consequently the
line to Oregon must cease to run. No mails
are now being carried by the company.
Does the Department understand that the
withdrawal of this stage line will leave the
people of California north of Marysville, and
the people of vast section of Oregon practi-
caly destitute of postal facilities? Under the
contract entered into with the California Stage
Company, thirty-oDe Post Offices in Northern
California and twenty FIVE in Oregon were
furnished with daily mail, and weekly and
semi weekly mails were supplied to the people
on lateral routes connected with the main line.
Quite oae hundred and fifty thousand persons
are interested in the maintenance of this ser
vice and, in consequence Of the action of the
Department, are now threatened with the
sacrifice of the regular means of communica.
ton, to which they have been accustomed
since 1860 1t has hitherto been the policy
Of the Government to extend the mail service
10 the new States and Territories as rapidly as
possible. as an agent in encouraging settlement,
promoting trade and increasing intercourse
between the pioneers of the wilderness aud
the people of the more advanced sections of
the country. Upon the obvious wisdom of
this policy We need not dwell. In this instance.
strange to say, we find the Postal Department
not merely ignoring this bene6cent principle,
but taking step backward, and deliberately
deciding to deprive long established communi-
ties, as well as many new and promising settle
meDts, of the postal facilities enjoyed for more
than four years, rather than agree to pay such
a subsidy as will enable competent parties TO
maintain the service upon the old, efficient
basis. The Oregon line is very expensive
one. The route is long. running through
comparatively thiuly settled country and eros
sing four ranges OF mountains, three of which
are heavily covered with snow in Winter.
The passenger business, though increasing, is
still hight. 1t has been satisfactorily shown by
the experience of the Department since March
last that a stage line, equal 10 the mail service
on this route, cannot be maintained by less
subsidy than 100000 per annum, for no
responsible aud competent parties have been
found, after the most anxious search, 10 incur
the risk. Under such circumstances, a spasm
of "retrenchment'' may prompt the Postmaster
General to abandon the daily mail altogether,
but such deplorable action is against the gene
raj policy OF the Department. against troe
economy, which never hesta;es TO make wise