The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1881-03-02
TIE RED RIVER MAIL SERVICE.

Justly, nf The man Ihu"e l'"''
..nlria, via Opciousas, TO Ne" Or
loans Or late The service has b'r-
..re.! IN farce. On Tuesday night
N. o2i wc received New Oriean>
,.v,rs of four Aays-,hc 18Th, 18Th,
,o.L and al,,. We cannot imagine
why this sl,naIA be, when the mails
are sunpo,c.l ~ lie sent from New
Orica..s every day, aud while We 90
NO, wish TO lay the blame on the
contractors, ,it j, very evident that
some one is tn blame, and an inves
LEGATION Ivy tn" postal authorities at
Washington City might very posi-
bly, unrayel the 10Y stery, and prove
Of great benefit to tho merchants
and business men Of the several
towns on the route, and more par.ic.
ularly to those Of Alexandria. Here
| is the article from the Democrat
"There is evidently q very large
screw loose in the Rid River mail SER
vice, and We desire to direct che at
tentiop of the Post Office authorities
both here aud At Washington to the
fact. Letters have recently been re-
ceived in this city that had been t,oen-
IT, t,ro DAYS out from Alexandria, and
letters were yesterday received at the
office of the State Treasurer which
were mailed at Alexandria or. the 9th
instant. Just think of 1t, twenty t'co
days for q letter to come from A!exan-
dria, La, which is only about ono hun
dred and sixty miles in an air line
from New Orleans, when there is a
railroad as far as Opelousas and only
about seventy five miles of staging be-
tween Alexandria and Opelonsas!-
Twenty two days! Almost as long as
it takes to send letter to London
from New Orleans and receive reply;
about the time it takes, to traverse
one third the distance around thu
earth. There is most assuredly
pressing necessity for something being
done, aud that quickly, to remedy this
) trouble, and the sooner the postal Oil
cials investigate the matter and cor
rect it the better it will be for the PEG
pic of the Red River valley, who are
:. now in a deplorable condition so far AZ
communicating with the outside wollG
+, is concerned. This Red River mai
service is somehow chronically out O
gear, and our friends and correspon'
! dents in that section of the State have
t. come to regard the constant delays
j. and incessant irregularities as inevi
table, and speak about the matter in
hopeless way, as if complaint were
G utterly useless and protests were il
:, vain. We think they err about it, ant
suggest that there is much virtue II
e protesting against wrong. Let then
: formulate their grievances and send u
the. document, and We promise to d.
, our utmost to set it before the anthor
s tiles ut Washington in such way a
t to lead tn the correction of any exist
ing abuse. We must say we hav
II found the postal department quick t
n listen to representations, If proper !.
presented, and prompt to act in meas
ures of relief, and there can I've littl
, doubt that this Red River mail servic
y can be Strengthened out and improve
if only the parties most in interest VIZ
take the necessary action to point GU
u inst where the blame ought to res
Il aud to suggest what ought to he don
. to make the service what it should "
e While on the subject OF mails. W
" would again, for the fortieth time
1t call the attention Of the Post Ottic
u Department to the mail service fros
g this point to Shreveport, and at tn
II same time would again state that "
ct do not believe any blame can attac
to the contractor on this route. g
w. the time tables will show that til
: coaches arrive and depart daily;-o
'e the contrary, we think that gentl
"a man deserves great credit for haviu
$ brought the mails at all, owing. to Il
IL very horrible condition Of the roas
between these two points. Our cor
W plant is, why ID it we cannot recei,
g on time the Shreveport dailies2.
- Very often we receive these pape
= as old as seven and eight days, al
very seldom are in possession
nc them within the thirty two hours
y. should take them to come to u.s.
~ These papers are Of some importan
- TO us--or at least, would be- if tn
~ arrived on time-receiving them,
Ae we would, from four to six hou
" ahead of the dailies from New c
leans via. Opelousas. We are full
convinced the fault is with the Pc
~ Masters along the route, and we g
-, firmly convinced that al investie
ton will develop this fact. We no
:, our Shrevepsrt contemporaries "
" take hold of this mstter-(it "
prove of material benefit to them
=. and keep "peggiug away" until
fault is corrected.
~ --ON last Friday and Saturd
70. nights we had the pleasure of "
;all Messing two performances given
Eill the Rolla Ryan Combination. Al
'ou one who has ever seen Rolla will ,