The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-06
Facts for William Elerov Curtis

Mr.. William Eleroy Curtis, who man
aged the tour of the pan-American dele
! gates through the northern states for Mr..
Blaine, pretends to be something of an
authority upon matters relating to the
/ West Indies, and Central and South Amer
lea, but there is some ground for saying
that his statements bearing upon these
matters are not entirely reliable. It would
be well perhaps for Mr.. Blaine to inquire
| about the information which Mr.. Curtis
impaired to the pan-American delegates
during their trip, for the purpose of correct
ing any misstatements that Mr. Curtis may
have made Ofcourse it would be unjust
to assume that any misstatsmeuts that Mr..
| Curtis may have made were intentional.
1t is charitable to assume that they were
entirely due to Ignorance.
The reason for raising a doubt whether
| Mr.. Blaine did not make mistake when he
| brought Mr.. Curtis and the pan-American
delegates into such close relations is a recent
publication of Mr. Curtis on TRADE and
| Transportation Between the United States
and Spanish America" In this publication
Mr.. Curtis has great deal to say concern
ing 1.-THE West India Fast Mail via Tampa,
Key West and Havana, and the Plant
steamship line"
Mr.. Curtis makes the preposterous state
ment that the Plant steamship line is a subsi-
died one and surprises the public by stating
that while prior to 1SS5it only cost the gov
eminent 81, 143 year to have the Havana
mails carried, the very handsome sum Of
SIS, 339 is now paid to the little steamer
Mascotte, which runs between Tampa and
Havana, a distance of 1873 miles, for perform
ing the same service Mr.. Curtis goes on
to say that this little steamer receives
two-thirds as much money annually for
mail service as is paid for mail service "to
all the other American ships that float upon
all the oceans of this wide, wide world
He thinks that if other American steam
ships were dealt with anywhere near as
literally, steamships carrying the Amsri-
can flag would not be so rare a sight in the
harbors of other lands.
If Mr.. Curtis were far more gifted intel
lectually than he is he could hardly have
crowded into SO small space more incor-
rect and misleading statements. AS a
matter of fact there are two steamships
carrying the mails between Tampa and
Havana They are new vessels, and were
built expressly for that route. They form
what is known as the Plant Steamship
Line-a line that is not subsidized The
Plant company was bidder for the con-
tract to carry the Key West and Havana
mails, and the mail service it now performs
is based upon just such contract as that
which -
based.
1t may be true that prior to 1885 the
government paid only $7,143 a year for
carrying the Havana mails, but what did
1t pay for carrying the Key West mailsl
If Mr.. Curtis had sought information on
that question he would not have made a
blunder that must make him appear
ridiculous even in his own estimation Mr..
HI. B. Plant, in very moderate, but, at
the same time, very crushing reply
to Mr.. Curtis, points out that in
1870 the government paid for carrying the
mails to Key West from New Orleans once
a week 1900, and that the average
cost per year, for the seventeen years prior
to his contract, for supplying the Key West
postoffice alone, was S469 I4 II. The fact
must also be taken into account that the
service which Key West got during those
seventeen years was greatly inferior to
that which it gets under the Plant contract
Now it gets three mails a week regularly
for six months of the year and two rails a
week for the other six months.
Mr.. Curtis is also away off with respect
to distances. He speaks of the Mascotte's
route being only 1SS miles in length. In
quiry would have revealed to him that it is
500 miles.
There are several other things which Mr..
Curtis appears to have overlooked One of
them is that since the Plant contract was
made the European mails for the West In
dies pass through this country, and several
thousand dollars in postage is collected on
them annually by our postoffice department.
Another is that mail matter from the
south and west, intended for Cuba,
instead of all going to New York first,
now goes direct to Tampa, thus saving
several days in transmission. Still another
is the establishment of direct steamship
communication between two Florida ports
and Cuba, which has resulted in increasing
the amount of import duties collected at
Key West many thousands of dollars an
nually, and raising the amount of duties
collected at Tampa from nothing in 1884 to
$1S0,000 in 1888.
From the foregoing facts it appears that
the Havana mails are being carried at less
| cost to the government now than ever be-
| FORE and more satisfactorily, and also that
| William Eleroy Curtis has great ceal to
learn before he is competent to teach the
public concerning the West India fast mail
| service.
Trusts in Danger.
LII