New-York tribune., 1867-08-03
THE OVERLAND MAILS.


The General Government pays S75O,OOO per
annum for the transportation of its mails be-
tween Kansas and California the greater part
of this sum being expended for the carriage by
coach across the Plains from the western ter
minus of the Union Pacific Railroad to the
terminus of the Overland Route in California.
The contract for this service is held by the
express -freighting firm of Wells, Fargo q 20.
There is a manifest impropriety in allowing
any express company to take contract 1or
carving the United States mails, because there
must always be more or less competition be-
tween such private companies and the Post
Office but recent act of Congress has aggra-
waited the mischief by providing that books,
pamphlets, newspapers, and all mailable matter
except letters, shall lbe charged, when sent by
the overland mail, full letter postage. That is
TO say, we give the contract for transportation
to persons who have a direct pecuniary interest
in performing it as badly as possible, so that
we may be driven to patrOnize their rival line,
and then do them the additional favor of
raising our rates so high that there can be no
possible inducement to put anything into the
mail which can be kept out of it, Letter
postage is 96 cents per pound the express
charge is 81 per pound, and Wells, Fargo &
Co., under the laws respecting common carriers,
are liable for loss and damage, while the Post
Office is not.
The result of this system might easily be
predicted. We are assured that only fraction
of the mail-bags sent west by this route ever
reach their destination, while Wells, Fargo
g. Co. seldom fail to deliver their own pack
ages promptly. Our correspondent A. IL. NJ.
writes in his letter published to-day that out
of 30 copies of THE TRIBUNE sent him by mail
he has received but two, and of The Times
sent semi-w weekly since the LIST of May he has
received only one number. AT some stations
along the road he found tuns of mail matter
piled up waiting the convenience of the COM
pany 10 be transported. Sometimes mail-bags
may be seen scattered along the waysde ap-
parcntly dropped from the coaches 10y accident
and abandoned. There has been only one
coach stopped by the Indians this season, and
yet tuns of mail matter have been lost. If the
company can transport private packages with
speed and safety, it il an insult to common
sense to tell us that they cannot do the same
for the mails.
They have now got into their hands the
TRANSFORMATION of nearly all transient printed
matter and more than half the letters between
California and Utah. Business men are glad to
pay the regular postage and three times as
much in express charges additional. because
there is no reasonable expectation of their cor
respondcnce being safely delivered otherwise.
Stamped envelopes. with Wells, Fargo & Co.'S
imprint on them, are regular articles OF mer-
chandi,e in the far Western territories, and
will be so long rs the carriers of the regular
mails are allowed every inducement to lose,
delay, and confuse them. This disgraceiul state
of things is of course notorious all through the
Pacific coast and the Territories, and we cannot
suppose that il is unknown at Washington.
If the Postmaster General has any excuse to
offer for his culpable conduct in the matter,
and especially forhis neglect to enforce the con
ractwith the company andhold themto accoun-
liability for lossand delay we shallbe glad to hear