The Evening critic., 1882-10-16
CERThIN WsAvINosu ExpLAINED.


The Report of the Postonice Depart.
ment 0verhaulcd 20 See How the
Saving" said 10 be Made In the
Star Service Come About-The Claim
ofn" Saving" "Expiodcd-James Ac-
tunlIy Created n Deficiency.
Tho report Of the postoiIlce Department Is
out, and It shows mn apparent Saving" es-
peclally In tho Star-Rout3 Service. Now we
propose to show, as briefly as may be, that
there is no such saving that, on the contrary,
an actual deficit was created by Thomas Il.
James, whose friends inslst that he, by honesty
and efficiency, wrought this wonderful "sav-
ing"
tion: that no saving that Is objected Mt the cost
Of tho onlcienoy OF the service Is n roal saving.
For instance, Mr. Vanderbilt can quit running
half his trains he will thus BIO able to reduce
the expenses OF his railroads enormously.
And II he had any friends OF tho James stripe
they would call attention TO the wonderful
"savlng" he had effected by his economical
Lot us examine this question llttlc. The
longest Star-Route In tho country was from
Fort Worth, Texas, to Yuma, California, 1920
miles; the Texas Pacific and Southern Pacific
Railroads cover that ground.
The Atchison, Topeka 4 Santa Fe Railroad
has been extended from La Puenta TO I'll Paso,
$50 miles; TO Santa Fe, 331 miles, to Donlng,
50 miles, and branch 80 miles, overy mile OF
which was covered by n Star.Route.
The Atlantic paclnc has been extended
Route.
The Denver Rio Grando Railroad has boon
built from Alamo City to Durango, $50 miles;
from Cormolor TO mouth of Chama River, noar
Santa Fe, % miles; from Canyon City TO Silver
olifr, d1 miles, and from the samo place to
Leadville, $50 miles, with branch to Deni3on,
lido miles, all over Star-Route lines.
The Denver & South Park, from South
Park TO Denison, covers 1i0 miles OF Star
Route.
Tho International, of Texas, has boen COM
pleted from Milan through Austin AMI san
Antonio to Laredo, $50 miles. The Corpus
Christi, San Diego Il Rio Grande Is com
pleted 100 miles. The road from San Antonio
to Eagle Pass, 100 miles; the Donison Pa
ciflc, from Denlson west 100 miles and south
80 miles; tho Gulf, Colorado II Santa Fe, 100
miles; the Southern Pacific extension In
Texas, 400 miles; the Texas Trunk, 100
miles. All over star-Route lines.
The Utah Northern has been finished north
from Ogden Into Idaho $50 miles, aud tho
Utah Southern south from Salt Lake City
through and beyond Frisco, 800 miles, both
great Star limos.
The Northern Pacific has been extended
west from Bismarck, directly over tho line of
the Bismarck and Tongue River star.Routo to
near Helena, Montana, $50 miles. In WASH
ington Territory It has been built from the
head OF navigation on the Columbia River east
200 miles, and In oregon east from Pond do
All these railroad lines have been built
where StarRoutes formerly existed, and are
In themselves the best evidence possible In
favor OF the policy OF increase and expedi.
tlon" adopted by General Brady. The fact
that within four years many OF the lines on
which he gave the desired Increase and expo
dition have been supplemented by railways,
shows beyond cavil that his policy was wise
one and that the needs OF the section de-
manded "increase" and "oxpeditlon."
Hero are over 1000 miles OF railway built on
Star Routes, and OF course the Star-Route Ser
vice reduced that much.
An examination of the reports Of tho Post
mastor-General from 1876 to 1880 viii show
that the average cost Of carrying the mail over
StarRoutes during that period was S37 per
mile, and that tho average cost OF carrying 1t
by rail- was $173 per mile. 1t may be possible
that over the routes that have been onumer-
ated above, the cost for the Star.Mail service
| was more than the average. Let us suppose It
| was 80 per cent. per mile; by stopping the
| mails entirely $3.50, 900 would be saved, and
count as part OF the S2,000,O0O "savlug :"
which is so prominently and often alluded to
In the Star. Route journals. But railroad SER
vice has boon placed on this 1000 miles, and
tho average cost of that is s173, which makes
the pay over these lines, that was, as star
Routes, S350,00O, now, as rail routes, S1,2l1,-
COO; fact which the star-Rouio journals
studiously conceal.
Tho truth is that not only have the thou
sands Of miles OF Star-Routes, which we have
shown to be superseded by rail routes, been
taken from the lists OF the former; but the
service on thousands OF othcr miles has been
reduced so that the people have been deprived
OF decent mail facilities. and In this way n
'.saving Of $2,0O0,000 has been effected"
This fact stands out prominently that nearly
all the great expedited star-Routes are now
superseded by railways, and that the average
cost per mile of carrying the mail by rail is
nearly five times tho average cost per mile OF
carrying by Star service.
There is another fact which these Star
Route newspapers fail to call attention to, and
that is, while the cost OF Star Service has been
decreased S2,OOO,OOO, the cost OF railway mall
service has been increased In the same time
considerably over Si,000,000. They forget to
tell tholr readers that there was an actual de-
tlcit created by Thomas l.. James In the pay
TO railways for carrying the mail the last rs.
cal year OF one million one hundrod and ttUenty
| thousand dollars, most of which was made by
James to enable his friend Smith Of Philadel-
phia TO compete with the morning papers pub.
| iished west OF and near lphia.-Snnddy
| Capital.