The Portland daily press., 1897-07-13
THRIFTY STAR-ROUTERS.
Kentucky M0untaineers Almost MO-
nopolized the Business.

oPoAANOA tAC OuSlucSSs
They Held Eighty-seven Per Cent of It
Some Tricks of the Trade", Men of the
Second Generation Who Still Make
Good Incomes.
(From the St. Louis Globe Demotrca).
Danville, KY, July 3-From 40 to 60
per cent of the star route mail business,
which costs the Government about S., 900,
600 year, is held by shrewd contractors
who live in or near the little mountain
town of London, the seat of Laurel coun :
ty, Kentucky. 1t is likewise not generally
known. perhaps, that the contracts for
carrying the United States mail through
the streets of such cities as Brooklyn,
Newark, New Haven, Atlanta, Vicks-
burg, Louisville, Detroit, Sacramento,
Kansas City, Jacksonville, Salt Lake,
Milwaukee, and so on are also held by
citizens of this same little town Of / 200
inhabitants, which until few years ago
was nearly 200 miles from a railroad.
The star routes are those over which
the mail is transported by stage line,
horseback, afoot, or in private convey
ance. At the close of the last fiscal year
there were nearly $1,000 of these star
routes in the United States. The other
contracts referred to come under the
wagon, or screen, service, where the con-
tractor transfers the mails from the Post
Offices to the railway stations.
In addition to the larger cities already
named, London men hold contracts for
the cities of Lewiston, Springfield, Mass.
Bridgeport, Harrisburg, Dubuque, Nor
folk, Montgomery, Knoxville, Mobile,
Selma, Vicksburg, Canton, Bloomington,
Little Rock, Wichita, Charleston, and
many others scattered throughout the
entire country. The London star routes
do more general business, holding
thousands of contracts in every state in
the Union, from Maine to California,
and from Michigan to Louisiana.
The history and operations of the noun
tain combine whic h shortly after the war
actually held 81 per cent of the star route
contracts of the country are interesting.
Some members of the company frequently
made more money, year in and year out,
Der of them are numbered now among
the rich men Of Kentucky Leading
pioneers in the industry were ex-Congress
man Frank Finley, now living at ease in
beautiful home at Williamsburg, KY. !;
Judge Vincent Boreing of London, also
o1xy nd ~;
didate to succeed Congressman d. g..
Colson; Judge Robert Boyd of London,
one of the richest men in Kentucky, and
the Hon. R. D. Hill, one of the formida-
BILE applicants for the position of United
States District Attorney under President
Mckinley. OF these, Judge Boreing is
still largely interested in mail routes. In
the younger generation-worthy chips
from the old blocks-are ex-State Senator
Ed Parker, who ran up against the Platt-
Quay combine as a candidate for Ser
geant at Arms; W. B. Catching, W. II.
Steele. P. F. Stillings, ]. G. johnson,
H. P. Brown, j. L. Yaden, j. NJ. Bore
ing, and E. A. Chiffon, all of London.
began with the organization of the
Southern Mail and Transportation Com
pany, made up principally ofLondon and
Williamsburg men, This was just at the
close of the war. Prior to that time
Judge Finley and a few other individuals
had handled small star routes here and
there with good success, and recognizing
the extraordinary possibilities Of the bust
ness, organized to carry out scheme of
huge properties. Their intentions were
no less than to bio for the entire lot of
contracts, Sublet them to second parties.
let the sub contractors do the hard work,
and the mem bers of the company draw
the surplus, which was to be in fancy
figures. The United States was divided
into four postal districts, as it is today,
and the star route contracts for the four
districts were made to run for four years,
expiring alternately, SO that bids for one
of the four would be taken every year.
The Southern Mail and Transportation
Company, having carefully investigated
the cost of carrying the routes in various
sections of the country, went into bust
bid on every star route in a quarter sec
ton of the country. The bids were not
made as a company, but by a series of
firms. Smith & Jones would bid on a
lot of routes, Brown & Bender on lot,
and SO on, all BIDS however, under one
general management. The reason for
this is unique. If the Government award
ed a route for our years for 10000, the
contractor had to make a bond good for
double that sum to the Government Had
the Southern Mail and Transportation
Company, as a body, secured 1000 900
worth of contracts, it could not probably
have made bonds good for 70, 600 600; but
if Smith & Jones made $4,000 contract,
their friends Brown & Bender could 20
on their bonds, and when Brown & Ben
der made similar contract, their friends
Smith & Jones would be their bondsmen.
By this scientific method of see-sawing
an aggregate capital of 100000 could be
made as far reaching as the mantle of
charity. Be it remembered, too, that
the contractors ran no risks in making
such bonds, for while the Government de-
manded bond of twice the amount of
the consideration of the original contract,
when the professional star-router sub-let
it, he exaoted from the gentleman who
was to do the work gilt-edged bond of
four times the amount of his bid, this
bond being made to the Government and
according to its rigid exactions.
Such were the plans of the Southern
Mail and Transportation Company, and
for years 1t sailed along smoothly. Every
year it harvested a rich crop of routes
throughout the country, sub-let the con-
tracts through travelling agents, and
then awaited another letting. The GOV.