Morning journal and courier., 1880-02-28

THE STAR ROUTE RING'S DEFEAT.
 The battle over the tsStar' route bill in the House terminated in the dscomfture of the Postofice department, the contractors ring, an industrious lobby and the many members of Congress who seemed to feel 1t necessary to defend the pernicious policy that has been pursued by Second Assistant Postmaster Gen. eraI Brady. That MT. Brady has been able to secure such powerful support as he has is not altogether pleasing, but it is matter for congratulation that straightforward, honest men of both parties have united in the fight against him and his packers.
 Mir. Bradys course has been most reprehen- sible. He has assumed the right to spend public money without regard to the limita- tion of the appropriation made for the depart ment which he does not adorn. Take his own showing. According to his own figures sworn to by him before the Investigating committee he admitted that upon the twelve largest routes alone he allowed total increase of $o34, ,990 year. He attempts to justify this extraordinary act by stating that the rapid growth of the country rendered this step nec- essary. The revenue obtained by the Gov PooIoAA4AOo SAAOoC should be test of the business transacted. The following are the receipts together with the expenses on five large routes: The Fort Worth and Yuma route, increased by Brady from $134, 1000 to $299, GOO year, yields the Government a revenue of $38, 194. The Vinila and Los Vega route, increased by Brady from $6, ,33O to $150, 542 per annum, yields revenue of $5, 12o year. The Prescott and Santa Fe route, increased by Brady from $13,- SIS to $135, ,975, yields annual revenue of $1O, 16S. The Rock Creek and Etchetah route, increased by Brady from $1O, ,507 to $8S, 765, yields a revenue of $2, 493. The preceding routes then, which were originally let for S166. 800, and were increased by Brady to SS744, 544, produce to the Government, on account of the increase of business, revenue of only $63, 716. This hardly sustains MT. Brady's principal plea.
 The public money having been thus ex- travagantly and unlawfully used, it is not to be wondered at that the appropriation for the Postofice department was not sufficient and that the sum intended for twelve months lasted but nine. But the coolness with which Brady took the exposure of his mismanagement, the assurance of the department in asking for $1, 900 to supply the deficiency, and the efforts made to get it are, under the circum- stances, calculated to excite mild surprise. It does not add, for instance, to one's admira- tion for the Postofice department to read that among the lobbyists on the floor of the House during the discussion of the deficiency bill was Assistant Postmaster General Tyner, busy, with the agents of the contractors, in trying to induce the members of the House to vote the full amount demanded by the Post office department. But in spite of the efforts of Tyner and his companions the House granted but about $1, ,oOo, ,Ooo, and the star service will probably not be as extravagantly conducted during the rest of the year as it has been, though we should feel safer about it were General Brady removed from it's control, as he ought to be.
 Prominent among those who have shed light upon this abuse in the Postofice depart ment, and worked hard to defeat the schemers who would continue it, is General Joseph R. Hawley. He has not hesitated to speak his mind concerning the conduct of General Brady, which he has denounced Rs an 'fopen, defiant and shameless infraction of the statutes of the United States" It is nothing else, and General Hawley did his duty in thus charac-