Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-03-08
THE NORTHERN NECK.
The Mail Confrncts-Telepho Ser
yice-PersOnals and briefs.


CONFORM. HING GEORGE COUNTY,
VA, March 7.-(Special )-Once in every
four years there Is an exciting scramble
here for the contracts to carry the
United States mails from Fredericks-
burg to King George Courthouse, one
route, and from Fredericksburg to
Hampstead. the other route, through this
county; and present indications are that
the competition this year will be no ex-
ception to the rule. Although the new
contracts will not be '1et" by the gov
eminent until some time next winter,
the subject is already agtating the pub
lie mind. and the prospective bidders
are surveying the routes and calculating
the cost OF carrying Uncle Sans big
pouches every day, except Sundays, Tor
four years. The route from Fredericks-
burg to the Courthouse Of this county
is the chief bone of contention" and
there are dozen men here who VIII Did
for it. The distance between these two
points is Twenty-Five miles, and the malls
go and return daily-involving travel
of forty-four miles every day In the
year. Formerly. the mail on this route
was comparatively small, and only tri-
weekly. Then the contractor was paid
some years past this mail has been daily,
and very heavy-a great part OF the
Northern Neck being supplied by this
route-requiring an outfit of three horses
and two vehicles, and most Of the time
of two men. to perform the service; and
for this service the contractor receives
about $500 per year. When the govern
ment allowed $500 for a light, tri-weeily
mail on this route ii was the consensus
Of opinion that the carrier was very
poorly paid for his hard and exact
ing task. and Congress promptly ap-
propriated an extra sum Of money for the
route. This increased allowance so
whetted the greed for the contract that
bidders rapidly multiplied-one man I'M
derbidding the other-until II was an
easy matter for the government to
have the mail carried for a sum greatly
under that appropriated for the purpose
This low bidding has been kept up, until
now the work is being done for $780,
as stated-barely enough to pay the ne
cessary current expenses.
TELEPHONES.
II is rumored that some OF the busi-
ness-men OF King George will take steps
in the spring to establish several
new telephone Offices In the county. A
telephone line has been running through
the entire length OF the country-some
twenty miles or more-for several years,
but there Is not, and never has been,
but one place in the county where
message can be sent or received. and
that place Ia King George Courthouse
the only telephone office, by the way,
between Fredericksburg and Oak Grove.
in Westmoreland county-a distance Of
about thirty-fve or thirty-seven miles.
With but one office in the county, the
telephone line has never been public
convenience to this section. There has
been a desire. and, indeed, a business
demand, for other offices in the county.
but the rates have been so high. and
the commission allowed operators at the
country Offices Is so very small, that our
businessmen have not felt encouraged to
have additional Offices established here.
A great many winter calves are being
shipped from this county to Washington
and Baltimore this week. and good ones
are commanding very satisfactory prices.
Mrs. Captain Emmernizer who was
called here last week by the death OF
her mother, has returned TO her home.
in Baltimore, Md.
A prominent King Georgian. who last
year raised 800 bushels Of oats and as
many of corn. now abandons farming,
and gives as his reason for so doing the
fact that his oats net 1f1-2 cents per
bushel, and his corn % cents per bushel-
after paying freight and other expenses
Of shipping
THEY ARE PLEASED.
The agriculturists OF this section are
very much pleased with the monthly re-
ports of the Virginia Climate and Crop
Service, as a part Of the work Of the
State Board of Agriculture. The idea
of a State weather bureau has grown
in popularity. and meets with general
public favor here. That the farmers, of
all people, need such a service, and that
a State weather bureau is a public ne
cessity, no one here-not even the fogy-
pretends to deny.