The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1882-03-08

ase asvusa againet this amsndnent9
rltst, thet + will 0imln1oh eo0poell3on.
Sir, hold that It win not diminish, but
Ia&bes increase e0mpetitio0, for when
local hjddesD throughout the country
flud that they con- make bid which viii
sand sumo chance Of acceptance you
win go that they will bid freely, and
they are made nov.
tellD % that II we adopt this amendment
It win be practically saying that there
shall be one ,tract0r for each one of
the thousa.. : Of mail routes in thu
country. That gentleman will remem-
Der that in the testimony given before
his committee last year the largest con-
tractor in the United States testified that
he carried the mails over every route for
which he contracted, and that he had
never let . contract. Consequently that
dOes away with the objection that II will
be necessary to have y separate cOntrac-
tor for every separate route in the
United States.
Another objection was made by my
friend from Nebraska, (Mr. Valentine,
that these men would not let sutD-cOn-
tracts. but would do this work by agents.
Well, they do that now, and one Of the
difficulties about the sub-cOntract sys-
tenn IL this: these ring-cOntractOrs let
route to sub-cOntract0r, that sub-cOn-
tractor goes out into his country and
runs q lot Of debts through the country,
obtains animals and vehicles from our
home people, and then fails. and the
contractor is not n sp0nsible for any Of
the debts incurred among our people.
He then gets another sub-c0ntractOr to
try It. That man al>O fails, and 80 on
to the end of his term. great! to the
detrilnent Of the people Of the country.
These contractors who get such .
number Of routes bid off the contracts in
different names. They have a bad
route, and they cause their factotum to
fail on 1t. He Is irresponsible; his bonds
generally prove worthless; the govern
ment IL forced to re-let the route, and
the ring contractors perform the service
only Onsuch routes, as . general thing,
rs are profitable to them. The number
Of routes that these people carry 1t loss
tn themselves is very small ! assure you.
You need not be afraid If voting for this
amendment for fear Of letting them out
Of many had contracts. They will get
out Of them 50 ne way. II In no other
wav they will get come special agent to
declare the route unnecessary, and
through political influence here have It
This dodge generally
works well, % 1t h apparently in the in
terest Of economy. l know that this
has been done In my own Territory
against my protest, to the great injury
Of numbers Of people who have been
left with0u, mail until another route
could BE- advertised and let in some way.
There Is no danger of this amend
ment breaking down the recent letting.
II It does, It would not do much harm
to have . reletting, for l understood
that most of the successful bidders are
Of the same party that have been 50
loudly ccnsured. And many other
routes have fallen into the hands
Of new combinations which, BE-
fore the contract time is out,
will prove as bad a. the old ones. 1t Is
not . change of individuals, not an al
Of rings that the country
wants, it is q change Of the system. We
want method under which rings will
be improbable, and consequently Inn
possible. Let US encourage the local
10 pay . little more at first It will at
least pay It to the honest local mail-car-
rier. He will spend 1t IN the country
where be lives and carries the mail. He
will carry the mail better than the nom
resident contractor, because he Is more
to public sentiment ut home
and to the criticism and complaint of
his own neighbors. His profits will' go
70 the general good Of the community In
which he lives, and will not he used ~
those Of the professional bidder are used,
70 corrupt your clerks and officials and
70 create perennial scandals in the con-
tract Office. l think that If We adOpt
his proposition, and make q discrimi-
nation in favor Of local bidders, we shat:
AXE step further on the high road to
zeal reform in the P0stOffice Depart
llent; We will do more to secure clean
of the service than has
EVER l,een taken before i,y Congress. 1t
nay cost little more at first, but in the
nd it will lie inf. .itely cheaper. besitlee
ltlding to the honesty, the elficiencys
md the good reIute Of the postal de-,
mrtMent of this Government.
A RBOKLBSS MON0OL.