Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1870-07-02

continue his arrangements for the service.
The reply of the Postmaster. General is
brief but to the point, and can leave no
no doubt as to the final disposition of the
matter. Here it is:
WASHING on. June Is, 1870.
Henry WIxsoR Contracts will be accepted
when received. JOHN A. J. CREswELL,
Postmaster General.
This, it was supposed, was conclusive,
and the people were beginning to congrat.
ulate themselves upon having mail SER
vice performed in conformity with law.
But no, on Thursday evening at 9 o'clock,
three hours before the new contract should
have went into effect, Underwood tele-
graphed to Davis e. Coggan as follows:
PORTLAND, June 30, 1870.
To CoGGAx l. DAVIS: Postmaster will deliver
mail to you on this order, until advice is re-
ceivcd from the Department to the contrary.
Nothing from Cortett.
J.B. UNDERWOOD.
Special Agent P. o.
Upon this order, Postmaster Munson-
while acknowledging the injustice of the
proceeding-delivered the mail to Messrs.
Coggan Il Davis, and refused to recognize
Mr. Winsor's formal demand for it.
The last paragraph of the above dis
patch is significant. 1t indicates that
something is going on behind the scenes
in which the Senator. the Agent and the
former contractors are all interested actors.
1t looks to us just as if some one in the
Senate, whose relatives or friends had been
uuderbid and had failed to receive these
titbits, had deliberately concluded to
thwart the designs of the Department
in the distribution of the contracts to the
lowest bidders, as sanctioned by both Gus
tom and law. The fact that Senator Cor
belts brother is the next lowest bidder for
this route, and the current report that he
had, in anticipation of Mr.. Winsor's con-
tract being forfeited, offered to sell the
contract for $4,000, appears to justify the
belief. And when we consider Mr.. I'm
derwood's action few months ago, in re-
quiring Munson to sanction the change of
schedule he believed and declared to be
an outrage, solely to accommodate the con-
tractors, and the well.established fact that
a surveillance was kept up in the Portland
office by the Agent, and that for days the
Olympia packages Of letters we're opened
to discover and inspect Mr.. Winsor's con.
tract, as it passed through that office to
the Department, all candid persons must
admit that grounds for suspicion are not
illfounded. Some light, at least, is thrown
upon the causes which have conspired to
obstruct Mr.. Winsor in his discharge of
duty. Nothing from Corbett," impelled
the Agent to wait until three hours before
the new service authorized by the Depart
ment should begin, before assuming the
responsibility he did, and it indicates that
Senator Corbett had not been as success.
full as the " ring" had hoped he would be.
Another remarkable feature connected
with the matter is, that the Agent does
not attempt to disturb the instructions of
the Department as regards the only other
important route-that of the Sound-it
being o,oned IN Portland, when the cir.
cumstanccs are precisely alike in both
cases.
Even had MI. Winsor failed to comply
with the requirements of the Department,
or had neglected to make arrangements
for the service rendering it impossible for
him to perform the same, the Postal
Agent was not the proper officer to engage
temporary service. The instructions,
which accompany Mr.. Winsor's schedule,
in which he is named as the Contractor
and that requires him to begin service on
the LIST Of July whether his contracts are
executed or not, enjoins upon the Post.
master at Olympia these duties:
In case the contractor fails to appear in ner.
son, or by his agent, for the mail, the Post.
master will report that fact, and the reasons.
il known, to the Second Assistant Postmaster
General. But before making report, diligent
inquiry should be made as to the cause Of the
contractors non-appearance, and he should
be written to on the subject, if necessary.
Make no report rithout previous thorough inr:s.
| tigafion.
In case the failure of the contractor. fem.
porary mail service is to be employed only by
the Postmaster at Olympia, being the Office at
the head Of the route. The other Postmasters
on the route are to communicate to him the
offers they may receive, if any.
Substitute service is not to be engaged Init
in case of ABSOLUTE and rxQursrloSAsLr PAIL
uRE on the part Of the contractor.
The whole matter sifted down amounts
to just this, leaving the motives which
have actuated the ring" out of the result :
Mr.. Winsor rendered his bid in good faith.
twas accepted good faith, he has complied
a