Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1866-01-26
Loulsville Daily Mail.


We have received from Judge Charles !
Mason, of Cannelton, menoriAL set
ing forth the necessity for . Daily hne
If Packets between our city and Louis
lille, and requesting the Postmaster
General 10 establish the same. Inc
alleges that said mail route is
.hopt 200 miles in length, and accom-
modates in the aggregate at least 254,-
COS people. This is exclusive Of large
population in the tier Of counties inns-
diateIy back Of those bordering on the
river. These citizens, exclusive of those
in the cities at the termini of the |
route, depend exclusively upon the river
for their trade and mail facilities. Ex-
elusive OF the same cities, the value OF
trade Imports and exports) of the IN
termediate points is nearly, if not qnite,
$l9, GOO, 900 per annum, or fraction
less than 100000 per day. The memo
rial ventures the assertion that there is
not another instance in the United
States Of an equal number of industrious
and enterprising citizens, doing an equal
amount of business, who are destitute of
daily mail.
G Under the present arrangement the
memorialists receive four mails week
each way, an arrangement which deprives
them Of Eastern mails from Sunday
to the following Wednesday of every
week. This is justly regarded as ex-
tremely oppressive. Such condition
of affairs, if it existed in Rhode
Island, with q less population, would
result in O second DORIS Rebellion.
What makes the matter more aggrsva-
ting to the memorialists :.is that the BUSH
ness upon the river is sufficient to give
employment to daily line of boats, and
il 10 difficult to conceive why it 10 that
so much trade should possess such in-
| ferior mail facilities. We. cannot close
without copying portion of the closing
paragraph of the memorial. 1t is as
follows:
| To be deprived of all knowledge of
what il doing in this busy, changing
world, from Sunday to the next Wednes-
day Of every week, and in the meantime
TO behold from six to twelve steamboats,
steaming past our very doors, coming
directly from the centers of trade, in
telligence and activity, TO which we look
for information, is spectacle not very
well calculated to increase the content
ment and amiability of enteFprising and
moderately ambitious people Without
intending to be unjust towards the Lou
isFille and Henderson Mail Packet Com
pany, the present mail carriers on this
route, we respectfully suggest that they
might improve upon the mode of dis
charging their duties in this behalf We
insist that private interests should be
subordinate to the public welfare, and
vet il has not escaped our observation,
that for several years past the mail
carriers along this route have universally
reversed this salutary rule and subordi-
mated the public welfare to their own
convenience. 1t has been an easy mat
ter for them to find passable excuses
| for not performing their contract when-
ever their cupidity tempted them TO
trespass upon the good nature of the
people. All this we have borne patient
| iy, because we were not disposed to
grrmble, and because for the last five
years the Government and the people
have bean absorbed in the great events
Of the rebellion. The war fortunately
| closed, now presents a favorable oppor-
4 e.. thnua avflo lOno
and 90 quietly endured. We think thai
in the matter of conveying the mails up
on this route the people have the righi
to insist that contractors shall "come to
time"-that the mails shall not be de-
lsyed to accommodate the trade of indi.
viduals, but that personal interests shall
give way to the wants of the public.
When mail contractors learn that their
boats are for the purpose of conveying
the mails, and that the way-trade is but
an incident of their object, then the
people will be accommodated, as they
ought to be, and will also understand
that "U1ited States Mail Packet
means something more than mere sal
aried imposition, or licensed trade
monopoly. Some of ne know Of in
stances on this route where towns receiv
ing mails lie Just opposite each other
one in Kentucky and the other in Indi
ana, when the whole population of one
town has been kept waiting for hours FOL
the packet to transact its business OF
the opposite side of the river, before de
livering the mail to them, although i
would have been triaing task to make
] the landing and deliver the mail on tht
opposite side first. Such total disregard
of the wants and wishes Of large mum
! Der of people, is an intolersnt grievance
which we hope soon to see entirely re.
moved. There is also great need OF i'm.
provement in the manner of distributing
the mails along the route. Letters
mailed for q town perhaps not more
than six or ten miles distant from the
place of mailing, are very frequently
carried to Louisville or Evansville, and
not left at their destination for days
after date of mailing, when they should
arrive there in as many hours. This ID
very common occurrence, and to rs Il
seems might be avoided.
We will also state that the memorial
was laid before the merchants OF our
city yesterday for their signatures, and
that copies may also be found at the
Post Office, and JoURSAL Office, TO which
citizens may attach their names if SC
disposed. We regard the matter as well
worth their attention.