Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-07-21

while the government demanded bond
of twice the amount of the considera-
tion of the original contract, when the
professional star-router sublet it he
exacted from the gentleman who was
to do the work a gilt-edged bond of
four times the amount of the bid, this
bond being made to the government
and according to its rigid exactions.
Such were the plans of the South
ern Mail and transportation COM
pany, and for years it sailed along
smoothly. Every year it harvested
a rich crop of routes throughout the
country.
sUBLET THE CONTRACTS
Through shrewd corps of travelling
agents, and then awaited another let
ting. The government and the sub
contractor did the rest. Every three
months the United States treasurer
sent the subcontractor his share of the
pay and remitted the balance to the
original bidder at his home in the Ken
lucky mountains.
These enterprising men thought no
more of bidding on all the mail routes
in Maine, Michigan, New York and
California than they did of taking a
two-mile contract near their own vii
lagos, nor did they hesitate about tack
ling the fancy work in the big cities.
At times the Kentuckians held every
contract for carrying the mails in cities
like New York and Boston, as they
now hold them in Brooklyn. The
greatest profit, however, come from
the country business and from the
mountains, where they had no compe-
tition at all. Mail routes through the
highlands of the Carolinas, Virginia.
Kentucky and other states brought
them many thousands of dollars. A
favorite method was to sublet con-
tracts to "circuit riding" preachers,
who made regular trips horseback, and
who would carry the mails for almost
any sum they could get, frequently for
less than one-tenth the amount the
star reuters were receiving for the
work.
1t is difficult to tell just how much
money was made out of the business,
and in a manner perfectly legitimate,
in its rosy days, but hints here and
there give
SOME IDEA OF THE PROFITS.
One route of SO miles in Michigan,
which had mail each way every day,
was awarded to contractors for $4,000
a year, or $4,000 for the life of the
contract. 1t was sublet to a livery
man at Just one half the sum. The
liveryman killed 40 horses and sunk a
lot of cash besides trying to get rich on
the job. An old travelling agent, now
out of the business, says he has let
many a contract at profit of 75 per
cent. to his employers. ...
William Harding, of London, is one
of the veteran route agents. He has
been in the service of the big contract.
ors for 80 years and is still smooth
hand in the business, which he says
has now about gone the way of many
other good things. Harding has been
in every state in the Union time and
again, dealing with subcontractors, and
has cashed checks in every county
seat in the United States where there
is q national bank.
Of the younger set of professional
star.routers, w. B. Catching, of Lon
don, is probably the most successful.
He is not yet in the neighborhood of
80, but he has an old head. A few
years ago Catching was subordinate
of one of the old star-route kings, and
in this way mastered the science.
Then he got hold of little money, a
thousand or so, and went to bidding
routes on his own hook. He was
shrewd and bold, and his success has
been phenomenal. How much he has
made nobody knows. Some say that
at times his profits approximated $780,
900 a year. He built the Catching
Block, at London, at cost of $4,000.
has lived we'll and is rated high,
When subscription was started for a
big school at London Catching was
and
PUT HIS NAME DOWN
For $40, 1000 or SIS, 900 as quietly as he
would have given dollar. Catching,
like his successful predecessors, tran
sacts the larger portion of his business
from an unpretentious little office in
London.
Ed. Parker, another brilliant young
operator, has also made his pile. In
the mountains they will tell you that
thirty thousand a year is not the
measure of his income. He, too, was
a product of the Kentucky noun
tains, and learned the art in the SER
vice of the veterans. He had brains
and nerve, and is still in the game.
Parker has lived well, and his fond
ness for politics, state and national,
has cost him some thousands. He was
the leader in the revolt against DIR.
Hunter, the nominee of the Republi-
can senatorial caucus at Frankfort in
March, and has been prominent in
other party affairs.
While many large fortunes have
been made in the star route specula-
ton, much money has also been lost,
and not few of the mountain oper-
ators sank their thousands in un-
fortunate contracts. The business is
a science, and the novice is in great
danger of burning his fingers the first
time he tackles the schedule. In the
last 10 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 "land-office" business of
the famous old Southern Mail and