New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-08-26
WASHINGTON.
THE FAST TRAIN TO THE IVES

THE FAST TRAIN TO THE WEST.
AN ANSWER TO sOMx IJ-NATuaED CRITiCisMs-THS
TRAIN NOT TO BENEFIT A FEW CITES, OR THb
NETWORK NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. OF PEOPLE
TO BE AcCOMMODArED-A MIDNIGHT C0LLEC-
TON OF MAILS TO BE MADE IN SEw-YORK, Bos'
TON, ETC. .r.f - ~
fDY TELyoRAPg TO THE rKIBUsE.I
WASHINGTON. Aug. 2J.-Certain Eastern provin-
cial newspapers have attacked the proposed fass
mail train to the West and have asserted that u has
been projected mainly for the benefit OF the New
York daily newspapers. This charge, II not
malicious arises from an entire Ignorance
of the purposc of the train. Tho nrss
purpose Of this train is to make timetable so that
the train will arrive in the West in the early MORN
ing hours Unless it does arrive at that time, its en-
tire purpose would be destroyed, and the
tine saved by extra speed would be
lost, by the fact that the mails would
remain undistributed until the business OF the
day should begin At present one-half Of the great
mails from the seacOast to the West arrive when
the towns are asleep. In order to have
day dispatch of the mails in the Mississippi
Valley the West, and Northwest, the trip
would need to be made in 10 hours which
il now impossible. The postal authorities, there.
fore decided that whatever delay Is necessary should
occur before tie start, rather than to run l,ooo
miles high rate of speed, and then suffer the mails
to lie at stations from six to twelve hours until tho
towns awake
The postal cars now receive daily at Buffalo not
more than 900 pounds in weigh, of the New-York
newspapers. The estimate is that when tho
EXPRESS mail starts lie weight Of tho Ncw-fork
lailies received at Bnfao will certainly not exceed
600 younds. The entire weight OF tho
nail which this train is expected to
take west Is from twenty to thirty tons. Of TINS
weight the New York newspapers will constitute from
one-twentieth to one-fortieth part only. Nor was
the train projected to benefit the Cities OF Chicago
and Ncw-York alone. The yregate population OF
those cities probably does not exceed one million
and half. The fast train viii distribute mail to
twenty millions Of people.
The regular evening dispatch Of mail TO the West
will be made in New-lorh the sane rs at present.
1t often happens however, that business letters can
not be mailed before g. the time the mail closes, and
must lie until the next morning. Such letters taken
up by the fast mail in the morning will overtake at
Dunlirk the regular dispatch of the evening before
over the Erie Road. Arrangements have been made
to make a midnight collection OF mail for ths fast
mail train, throughout the entire nanhaten Island.
Hoboken Williansburgh, and Brooklyn. There
will also be special late collections of mail at all points
between NewYork and Albany. There will DO
a midnight collection of letters for this tram IN Bos-
ton, and a late afternoon connection in every town
in New-England One New-England provincial
paper has charged that this fast mail is for the bene-
fit Of the New-York morning newspapers, and
has overlooked the fact that tue aggregate
weight Of daily letter mail from the six New
England states is three times greater than the COM
mercial correspondence of New-York City. All
New England will be benefited by this train. The
train will be in the charge of picked men OF tho
postal service. One reason why tho Northern
route has been selected is the fat, that~men
equally skilled cannot be obtained for the other
routes. The departure in the evening for the East
from Chicago insIres the same results as TO tine
and connexions. All the great mails from the
Pacific Coast and territories arrive at Chicago in
the evening. The fast mail train going East will
nick I'D the mail OF the continent and land II at tbs
seabOard.