The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-08-20
THRIFTY sTAR-RoUTERs.
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 tains, where they had no competition at all. Mail routes through the high lands of the Carolinas, Virginia and Kentucky and other states brought them many thousands of dollars. A favorlte method was to sub-let con- tracts to circuit riding preachers who made regular trips horseback, and who would carry the mails for al- most any sum they could get frequent ly for less than one-tenth of the amount the star reuters were receiving for the work
 It is difficult to tell just how much money was made out of the business, and in a manner perfectly legitimate, in it's rosy days, but hints here and there give some idea of the profits. One route of thirty-six miles in Michi- gan, which had a mail each way every day, was awarded to the contractors for six thousand dollars a year. or l twenty-four thousand dollars for the | life contract. It was sub-let to a live ryman at just one-half the sum. The l liveryman killed forty horses and sank a lot of cash, besides trying to get rich l on the job. An old traveling agent now out of the business says he has 1 let many contract at a profit of 75 per cent. to his employers.
 l William Harding of London is one of ! the veteran route agents. He has been in the service of the big contrac- tors for thirty years, and is still in the business, which he says has now about gone the way of many other good things. Harding W has been in every state in the Union time and again, dealing with sub-contractors, and has cashed checks in every county seat in the United States where there is na- tional bank
 Of the younger set of professional star reuters W. B. Catching of London is probably the most successful. He is yet in the neighborhood of thirty, but has an old head A few years ago Catching was a subordinate of one of the old star route kings, and in this way he mastered the science. Then he got hold of little money, a thousand or so, and went to bidding for routes on his own hook. He was shrewd and bold, and his success has been phenom- enal How much he has made nobody knows Some say that at times his profits approximated sixty thousand | uDlldTS d year. f1e UullI LHe IdlCIlilS block in London at a cost of seventy five thousand dollars, has lived we'll and is rated high. When 8 subscrip-
 ton was started for big school at London, Catching was approached, and put his name down for ten thousand l dollars or fifteen thousand dollars as quietly as he would have given a dol lar. Catching, like his successful pre- decessors, transacts the larger part of | his business from an unpretentious Of | flee i'll London.
 | Ed Parker, another brilliant young | operator, has also made his pile In the mountains they will tell you that
 thirty. thousand dollars is not the measure of his income. He, too, was a product of the Kentucky mountains, and learned the art in the service of the veterans. He had brains and nerve, and is still in the game. Parker has lived we'll and his fondness for pol itics, state and national, has cost him
 some thousands. He was the leader of the revolt against Dr. Hunter, the nominee of the republican senatorial caucus at Frankfort in March, and has been prominent in other party affairs | While many large fortunes have
 been made in star route specu1ations, much money has also been lost, and not a few of the mountain operators
 sank tlledr thousands in unfortunate contracts The business is science
 and the novice is In great danger of
 burning his fingers the first time he
 tackles the schedule In tlrs last ten
 years professional star reuters have
 sprung up all over the country. At every letting the competition is warmer
 and the margins more closely drawn
 The Hand office" business of the fa- nous old Southern Mail and Transpor- tation Co. is now thing of the past
 Within few years the contractor will earn all he gets out of the routes.-St. Louis Globe-Democrat.