The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-07-24
,r.c Fac, NIa,I service.

On Saturday last the ia't N r.n,,.i
over the lines OF the New York IeH''|'
tae Erie and the PennSylv'niH Csn's"'' ',!
came to an end, and hereafter the mai's .
will travel at the ordinary rates Of 'Peeu
on the regular train'. We confess 'hl'
We do no, .ee in this discOntinuance any
cause for or grisf 10 anybody outside Of IL the
n"Tli,bc,. Of the New York papers. The
pDbIic in general was not better served
by the fast mail arrangement than by the
old method. II has been shown that all
business letters, mailed at the close Of
business each day in New York, made no
time by being held over fot the early
morning fast 'mail, instead Of being senl
of as before on the night trains. The
only mail carried by the fast trains
that could not just as well have left on
the $ and 0 o'clock evening trains the
night before was the New York newspa.
per mail, and no one has yet been able to
point out any other advantage than the
earlier delivery oi The New York papers
aiOug the lines ii the railrOadi named.
II was very pleasant OF course to the
people Of PhiIadelphia to get their New
York papers two or three hours earlier
in the day, and even our Pittsburgh
nCighbors enjoyed the idea OF getting
their 7fibuaes and Herdids at season.
able hour in the evening OF the day oi
their issde. But'really such sratitica.
ti6n was nore.a matter Of fancy than a
practical benefit, and not such service as
anybody need miss very much, nor that
the government should pay extra money
for. The Democratic House at Washing.
ton did we'll enough therefore in refusing
to appropriate any ndditionn! pay for
such service, and for one we shall not
find fault with them on that account,
especially as the people Of this immediate
region were not at all benefited by the
ias, mails. For u short time the mail
came through to this city from New
York on the same day, but owing to the
TACT that connection had to be made at
steubenville between train that left
Pittsburgh via the Cleveland 4 Pitts
burgh road about quarter past ! in the
afternoon, and one that left about G in
the evening via the Panhandle route, we
were wholly dependent on the good will
Of the two lines fof receipt Of our fast
mail. It soon turned out that it did not
suit the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Company
to have travellers holding over at Pitts.
burgh for two hours in order to take the
limited maip tain on a rival route and
connect with them at Stcubenville. They
managed 70 arrange their schedule 80 as
to leave Steubenville just as the Panhan.
die train was getting in 10 the upper
depot. And thus it was that Wheeling
was cut off from the scanIy benefits it
might have derived from the fast mail.
In discontinuing this experiment, the
public, as we have shown, win lose moth;
ing in the way Of expeditions mail ser.
vice, and ii is not to be supposed that the
railroad companies will discontinue their
fast trains II there is any special demand
for them. Their present fast expresses
are scheduled through to Chicago from
New York in 20 hours, and that is fast
enough. For our part We do not care
to travel any faster than by the train that
now leaves Baltimore at 4:l0 in the after
noon and reaches Wheeling at 4:5O next
morning, or the one that leaves here at
3:95 in the morning and reaches Chicago
the same evening at $50. The public do
no, as a rule demand any faster travelling
than this; and are mol likely to do 40 until
the crooked ways of railroads are made a
good deal straighter than at present.