Zp e L , y- n I T A N CL AN A l. a/ t. REPLY. OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE » 1 IDdatoare ani* Haritan ®anal anb (Hamben an'O KailrcaiJ anb transportation dTompanirs, TO A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE HON. G. W. HOPKINS, CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE OF POST OFFICES AND POST ROADS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE U. S.> BY THE HON. CAVE JOHNSON, POST MASTER GENERA!.. TRENTON: ARK OLD U BRITTAIN, PRINTERS. 1847. REPLY. In the month of October last, a committee of the joint board of d rectors of the Delaware and Raritan Canal and Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Companies, made a report to the joint board on the subject of the transportation of the mails between New York and Philadelphia. To this a reply has been made by the Post Master General, in a letter published, in the present month, addressed to the Hon. G. W. Hopkins, which con- tains statements, allegations, and reasoning, which, in the opin- ion of the Executive Committee of the companies, require cor- rection, denial, and refutation. But this would seem to be unnecessary, since the whole ques- tion is settled by the authoritative declaration of the Post Mas- ter Genera], that the “accuracy of its (the Reports) allegations, and the justice of its complaints, you can judge, when I assure you that the schedule it denounces, as being ordered ill the ab- sence of all right, I had full authority to prescribe under the powers confe red by law upon the Post Master General.” How far he is justified in this declaration and in his subsequent state- ments, will be made to appear in the sequel. He proceeds : “ The right of the department to prescribe at what hours the mail shall be conveyed upon its routes exists in every case, un- less surrendered by the Post Master General in the contract. In this case there was no subsisting contract, and the last contract between the company and the department expressly recognized the right of the Post Master General to alter this schedule. The endeavor to make out an. admission by the department against its right to change this schedule is done, I regret to see, by means ©f a letter, relating to a different schedule, which had been placed ', 2 . $3 4 by the contract and the correspondence of the parties on a foot- ing entirely the reverse of the schedule in question, in respect to the power of the Post Master General over it.” In order that, in the examination of the letter of Mr. Johnson which we propose there may be no misapprehension arising from garbled extracts, we annex the contract and schedule of 1840. No. 1301. RAIL ROAD MAIL. New Brunswick, N. J.,to Philadelphia, Penn. §16,927 96. This Indenture of contract made the twenty-seventh day of June, 1840, between R. F. Stockton, president of the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Company, &c., contractor for carrying the mails of the United States, of the one part, and of the United States of America, of the other part, witnesseth — That the said parties have mutually covenanted as follows, viz : That the said contractor covenants with the United States, 1st. To carry the mail of the United States, from New Bruns- wick, N. J., by Kingston, Princeton, and Trenton, whilst the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad is undergoing repairs* but when that road shall be completed, and the New York and Phil- adelphia passengers are taken over the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad, then, and in that case, the said mails are to be left along the line of the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad, at the following places, viz : Morrisville, Pa., Tullytown, Bristol Bridgewater and Andalusia, to Philadelphia, and back, twice daily, in railroad cars, at the rate of four thousand two hundred and thirty-one dollars and ninety-seven cents and one-half, for every quarter of a year during the continuance of this contract, to be paid by the postmasters on the route, above mentioned, or otherwise, at the option of the Post Master General of the United States, in the months of May , August, November and February. 2nd. That the mail shall be duly conveyed on this route, in the time specified in the annexed schedule, and in a secure and safe manner, free from wet or other injury — that it shall be duly taken from and delivered into the post office at the end of the route, and to the carriers of the intermediate offices — a delivery of the appropriate mails to the contractors on their depending route* 5 will be taken in lieu of the delivery of such mails into the post office. 3d. That if the contractor shall run a regular train of passen- ger cars more frequently than he is required by the contract to carry the mail, he shall give the same increase frequency to the mail, and without increase of compensation, and the like as to increased speed of the mail trains. 4th. That he shall not, by himself or any of his agents, trans- mit, or be concerned in transmitting commercial intelligence more rapidly than by mail, nor carry out of the mail letters or newspapers which should go by post. 5th. That the contractor will, if required by the Post Master General, collect quarterly, of postmasters on said route, the bal- ance due from them to the general post office, and faithfully ren- der an account, thereof to the Post Master General, in the settle- ment of quarterly accounts, and will pay over to the general post office all balances remaining in his hands. 6th. That in every case of failure to perform the trip, unless not by neglect, want of proper skill or misconduct, there may be a forfeiture of pay for the trip ; and a failure to arrive at a post office so long after the time set in the schedule, as to lose the connection with a depending mail, will be considered as equal to a whole trip lost. 7th. That the contractor shall be subject, for failure to take or deliver a mail, or any part of a mail — for suffering a mail to be wet, or otherwise injured, or lost, or destroyed, to a penalty of five dollars, which may be increased to one hundred dollars, accor- ding to the size and importance of the mail, and the circum- stances under which the failure occurred, unless it shall appear that such failure, or other accident, as aforesaid, was not caused by neglect, vcant of proper skill, or misconduct in the company. 8th, That the contractor shall be answerable for the ade- quacy of the means of transportation, for the faithfulness, ability and diligence of his agents, and for the safety, due receipt, and delivery, as aforesaid, of the mails. 9th. '\ hat if the Postmaster General shall direct a change of the hours of departure and arrival, set forth in the annexed sche- 6 dule for the evening line, and the contractor shall not comply with such directions, he shall have power to annul the contract, on giving not less than ten days notice of his intention to do so, and that if the contractor shall require a change of the hour of de- parture and arrival in the morning line, and the Post Master Gen- eral shall not agree the: eto, the contractor shall have power to close the service, on giving not less than ten days notice of his intention to do so. 10th. That the Post Master General may dispense wdth the service entirely, he allowing one month extra pay upon the amount deducted, in case he wishes to do so, or to place on the route a different kind of service than is contracted for, first offer- ing the privilege to the contractor on the route of performing such service on the terms that can be obtained. 11th. That the Post Master General may annul the contract for repeated failures of the contractor to perform any of the stip- ulations of the contract, for violating the post office law, or dis- obeying the instructions of the department, or for assigning his contract without the consent of the Post Master General first ob- tained. 12th. The said United States covenant with the said contrac- tor to pay as aforesaid, at the rate aforementioned, quarterly, in the months of May, August , November and February. Provided, always, that this contract shall be null and void, in case the contractor, or any person that may become interested in this contract, directly or indirectly, shall become a postmaster, or assistant postmaster. No member of Congress shall be admit- ted to any share or part of this contract or agreement, or to any benefit to arise thereupon, and this contract shall, in all its parts, be subject to the terms and requisitions of an act of Congress, passed on the 21st day of April, 1808, entitled an act concern- ing public contracts. And it is mutually covenanted and agreed by the said parties that this contract shall be construed to commence upon the first day of July, 1840, and continue in force until the 30th day of June, 1844. In witness whereof the said contractor, and the Post Master 7 General have hereunto set their hands and seals, the day and yea set opposite their names, respectively. Signed, R. F. STOCKTON, President. Signed, sealed and delivered in the pre- sence of The word passenger, in the 13th line from the top of the first page, being first interlined. Wm. Foreman. SCHEDULE FOR EVENING LINE. Leave New Brunswick on arrival of New York mail, say not later than 7 40 P. M., arrive in Philadelphia in four hours and thirty-five minutes (fifteen minutes past midnight) at latest. Leave Philadelphia at 5 P. M., (but to wait fifteen minutes for mail if necessary) arrive in New Brunswick in four hours and thirty-five minutes (9 o’clock and 50 minutes, P. M. at latest.) FOR MORNING LINE. Leave New Brunswick on arrival of morning line from New York, or two hours and forty minutes after its regular hour of starting from there, arrive in Philadelphia in four hours and thirty-five minutes. Leave Philadelphia at 9 A. M. or 7 A. M., arrive in New Brunswick in four hours and thirty-five minutes. This schedule is subject to alteration by the Post Master Gen- eral, agreeably to the provisions contained in the ninth section of the contract. Article 9th. That if the Post Master General shall direct a change of the hours of departure and arrival set forth in the an- nexed schedule for the evening line and the contractor shall not comply with such directions ; he shall have the power to annul the contract, on giving ten days notice of his intention to do so, and that if the contractor shall require a change of the departure and arrival in the morning line, and the Post Master General shall not agree thereto, the contractor shall have power to close the service on giving not less than ten days notice of his inten- tion to do so. 8 It will then be perceived by this ninth article, that the Post Master General had the right to direct a change of the hours of departure and arrival of the evening line, and that if the contractor refused to comply, he had the power to annul the contract, on giving ten days notice of his intention to do so. It is alto- gether in reference to the change of the schedule of this line that the controversy between the department and the company has arisen. The question thus becomes narrowed down to a very small compass. Did the company refuse to comply with the direction for a change of hours of departure and arrival, or did they accept the new schedule ordered under the power conferred by this ar- ticle ? If they refused to comply, the remedy of the department was plain and simple ; to annul the contract upon ten days no- tice. If, however, after their refusal, it failed to do so and con- tinued to employ their services, then the parties were restored to the position they respectively occupied before the issuing of the new order, and the companies became, by the decision of the department itself, entitled to all the rights and privileges secured to them in the contract under which they were holding over. But if, on the other hand, the company did accept this sche- dule, they have no right to complain afterward of its injustice or its hardship. The simple question then seems to be : Did or did they not a( cept this schedule 1 The Post Master General in his letter, states as a fact, what the company most emphatically and positively deny, “ that it was submitted to the companies for their consideration before being ordered — was not objected to, and was duly and cheerfully carried into effect.” It is most respectfully asked when, where, how and to whom, was it ever submitted before being ordered ? With regard to the Camden and Amboy Company and the Phil- adelphia and Trenton Railroad Company, the allegation is alto- gether and entirely without foundation. So far from this being true, the schedule was ordered on the 20th day of February, 1846, to go into effect on the 15th of March, and on the 5th day of March, ten days before it was to go into operation, the president of the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Company, 9 thus refused to comply with its terms. “ I beg leave to acknowl- edge the receipt of your communication of the 29th of Febru- ary last, and in reply regret that the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Company cannot accept the schedule for Route No. 1301, ordered by the Post Master General.” This refusal seems sufficiently plain and explicit, and yet, with this before him,, the Post Master General in his letter, now under consideration, bold- ly declares that it was c ‘ duly and cheerfully carried into effect .” The first time probably since the organization of the department that a direct and positive refusal was construed into a due and cheerful compliance. But further, in order that there might be no mistake in reference to the objectiors of the company, the President adds “ that in running all their lines, as much expedi- tion will be given to the mails, as circumstances and safety will permit, but notwithstanding the route is very frequently run in five hours from city to city, yet the company are not willing to bind themselves for any less time than stipulated in their former contract with the Post Office Department.” And yet even this declaration, according to the new mode of interpretation adopted by the post office department, is a due and “ cheerf ul 99 compli- ance. Again, on the 19th day of July ensuing, upon receiving notice of certain fines having been imposed for non arrival with- in the time specified in the new schedule, the parties who so “cheerfully” carried it into effect, thus address themselves to the post office department. u In reply to the postscript to the printed circular, stating the failures of the mail to arrive at Philadelphia in schedule time on the 21st of June, and 2d, 4th, 5th and 6th of July, you will permit me to say, that the only schedule time recognized by the railroad companies on Route No. 1301 is the schedule time of their contract, and not that ordered by the Post Master General, on the 20th day of Febru- ary last.” Another striking evidence, it will be perceived, of the truth of the Post Master General’s allegation, that it was “ duly and cheerfully carried into effect.” But enough has been said without referring to other communications, to make it mani- fest that the head of the department has either been greatly de- 10 eeived or is grossly ignorant of the circumstances connected with the present controversy. The Post Master General expresses regret “ for an endeavor to make out an admission against his right *o change the sche- dule, by means of a letter relating to a different contract.” We cannot doubt that the regret he expresses is sincere on his part in reference to this letter of the department, for in its admissions with regard to the morning 1 ne, it admits every thing the joint directors contend for in the evening line. The schedule embraces both lines; they are both contained in the same contract, and the decision of the department, must, tl.refore, apply to both alike. And what was that decision ? That “ as no contract had yet been entered into under the last advertisement, the ser- vice you (the companies) rende r , is that prescribed by the last contract under which you hold over,” and again, “ the old con- tracts is to be referred to as containing the only evidence of agree- ment between the parties.” It is upon this decision that the companies rest their case, and affirm that the course pursued by the department in reference to them, is a plain violation of the provisions of that contract, and of its own decision as to its ob- ligat’ons. The Post Master General then next states, “ that in the month of September there occurred a remarkable series of mail fail- ures, and that instead of arriving at Philadelphia in the time prescribed by the schedule, the cars did not reach that city until after the southern train had left for Baltimore and that no excuse was offered for these failures.” If by failures he means the non- arrival of the train by 10 o’clock, P. M., he is undoubtedly cor- rect. In that month the mails were frequently not delivered at the post office in Philadelphia by 10 o’clock, P. M. : — and that no excuse was offered for it, is true, and for this plain reason, that no failure of their engagement had occurred. They were not bound by the contract under which they were running, to deliver the mails at that hour, and hence there was no propriety in of- fering an excuse where they had been guilty of no remissness. With as much propriety might the Post Master General have ordered a schedule, by which they were to arrive in Philadelphia 11 by '9 o’clock, P. M. or 8 P. M., and then charge the company with design in delaying the arrival of the train at that hour, and withhold from them all compensation for the service they had rendered. And this, indeed, would be a cunning device for increasing the revenues of the department, as with such a sche- dule there would be a failure every day, so there would be a fine every day, and these fines would amount in the aggregate to three thousand six hundred and fifty dollars a year. This system of dif- ficult, if not impracticable schedules, and inadequate compensa- tion, rigidly administered, although in its -infancy and but par- tially developed, has, nevertheless, during the last year, yielded a revenue of fines amounting to 26,273 54-100 dollars. The public, it is true, may suffer from it, in its correspondence, but what is that to an economical administration of the post office department, and the ability which will thus be obtained for the department to support itself? The Post Master General assumes the whole power to order schedules not only without the consent, but against the protest of the contractors, and then imputes to them alone the blame of the disconnection of the lines. And with what wisdom and justice the whole schedule from New York to Washington was arranged may be judged from the fact, that the mails despatched from Philadelphia for Baltimore at 10 o’clock, P. M. and delivered in Baltimore in seven hours, remained one hour and a hnlf in that city before they were forwarded to Washington, when a delay of departure from Philadelphia of half an hour would, in a large proportion of the cases of failure, have saved the con- nection. To whom then should the blame of these disconnec- tions fairly be charged ? But although no excuse was made to the Post Office Depart- ment for these miscalled failures, yet there was in every case a good and sufficient reason for the unusual delay in the arrival o f the trains at Philadelphia. In the month of September the cur- rent of travelling sets strongly to the south and the very heavy trains and the loss of time in transferring the passengers and luggage from the cars to the beat at Bristol, together with un- favorable weather on the river at night, delayed them beyond 12 their usual time of arrival. It arose from no desire, as is insin- uated, to break the connection of the mails, or to embarrass the department. But to return to the terms and condition of the contract. By the 9th section of that contract it will be perceived, that the Post Master General has the right to annul the contract upon ten days notice, in case “ the contractor should refuse to comply with such changes as he may order w r ith reference to the even- ing line,” and that it gives to the contractor the right to “ close the service upcn the same notice, in case the contractor shall require a change of the hours of the morning line, and the Post Master General shall not agree thereto.” The difference of the terms and conditions between the evening and the morning lines as respects the rights of the parties, is simply this, that in the one case the Post Master General has the right to annul the contract, in the other case the contractor has that right. The contingency in the case of the evening line, provided for in this section, had occurred. The Post Master General had ordered a change of the “hours of departure and arrival as set forth in the schedule of the old contract for the evening, line,” from 4 hours and 35 minutes, to 3 hours and 15 minutes, and the company in the letter already referred to of March 5th, 1846 had refused to carry it into effect. The right of the department then to annul the contract and to discharge the contractor upon ten days notice is clear and unquestionable. The annulment of the contract is the only penalty provided for such a refusal on the part of the contractor. But the department did not annul the contract or discontinue the service. It took no notice whatever of the re- fusal of the contract r for more than four months, and h< nee he had a full and a fair right to consider the schedule as abandoned by the department. We maintain again, that the receipt and delivery of the mails to the companies, “after their letter of the 5th of March, positively refusing to carry them exeept upon the terms contained in the old contract, and the silent acquiescence of the department in those conditions, establishes that in the lan- guage of the department, as the contract to be referred to as 13 containing the only evidence of agreement between the depart- ment and the company. The special pleading of the Post Master General in reference to the mode of receiving and delivering the mails scarcely requires notice. He says, the companies take them from and deliver them at the post office in the city, and that is a virtual agree- ment on the part of the companies to carry them as required. This he ought to know is part of their duty. The mails, ne- vertheless, he does not deny, are received by the agents ot the department and delivered by them to the agents of the compa- nies the post office in the city. The fact of the agents of the companies taking them from and to their boats in wagons as they were required to do, and for which they had always received compensation, bei; g tortured by the ingenuity of the Post Master General into an acceptance of a contract, in the face of their positive refusal, will satisfy all reflecting men of the weakness of a cause which requires a quibble to support it. It surely matters not, whether the mails are delivered to the company by the agents of the department from the door of the post office in the city, or from the wharf at which their boats lie. The delivery in either case is legally the same. The com- pany received and delivered them in the same manner precisely as they had been in the habit of doing under the old contract, under which they were by the decision of the department hold- ing over, and from the terms and conditions of which they had refused to depart. We maintain then, again, that the Post Master General has no right to alter the schedule of the evening line, without the consent of the company, and to continue to employ their servi- ces after their refusal, except upon the terms and conditions of the old contract; and that in the case of their refusal he had but one alternative by the contract, and that was, as has been already shown, the annulment of the contract and the discontinuance of the service. * Secondly : That the department have admitted these rights, as was shown in the report of the directors, in their official cor- respondence with the companies. 14 Thirdly: That the department did receive and deliver the mails as they had been in the habit of doing under the old con- tract, after the companies’ refusal to accept any other terms than those contained in that contract, and that they virtually thereby sanctioned and accepted the conditions ins'sted upon by the com- panies. The Post Master General lays great stress, throughout his whole letter, upon the hour of departure from the cities having been made such as the companies had been long anxiously de- siring, and that after it had been ordered it had been objected to by the companies. Nothing can be further from the truth than this. The Philadelphia and Trenton railroad company, and the Camden and Amboy company, desire now, as then, the hour of 4, P. M., as the time of departure from the cit es for the evening line. But the uncertain arrival of the line from Baltimore rendered the connection at Philadelphia too precarious at that hour; and the mercantile community of New York protested so strongly against so early a departure from that city, that the New Jersey Railroad Company, having the control at that end of the line, consented to defer it for half an hour. But the relinquishment of this privilege, so long and anxiously desired, was made by the companies, exclusively with a view to the better accommodation of the mercantile interests of the community and to ensure a more certain connection of the mails. An attempt is next made, we regret to see, by a suppression of material portions of the letter of the 5th of March, and by a collection of d tached sentences from it, to prove that it was a protest against the chan ; e of the morning hour of departure, but not against the evening schedule. He admits it to be a “ pro- test” against the change of the morni: g schedule, while he de- nies it had any application, except of acquiescence in the change of the schedule of the evening line. But that there may be no misunderstanding in reference to this letter, we insert it entire, that it may be seen how far the Post- master General is right in the inferences he draws from it. 15 Philadelphia, March 5th, 1846. To the Hon. S. R. Hobbie, Sir : — 1 beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your com- munication of the 20th of February, and in reply, regret that the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Company cannot accept the schedule for route 1301, ordered by the Post Master General. So far as this company is concerned, they will be glad to have the evening hour of departure changed from 5 to 4, P. M., and will be prepared to adopt it, if so directed by the department, on and after the ’5th inst. But they cannot consent to change the morning hour from 9 to 7 A. M., except at such periods of the year as make the early hour more acceptable to the travel- ling public. In running all their lines, as much expedition will be given to the mails as circumstances an I safety will permit ; but not- withstanding the route is very frequently run in 5 hours from city to city, yet the company are not willing to bind themselves for any less time than stipulated in their former contract w ith the post office department. You are aware that we have always regarded our compensa- tion as inadequate to the services we performed, and cannot, therefore, be surprised at our unwillingness to add to the burdens of the latter without any increase of the former. Yet we are willing and anxious to accommodate the depart- ment in facilitating the transportation of the mails, provided it can be done at hours which shall be satisfactory to the travel- ling community,' whose interests an ! convenience we feel bound in the first instance to consult. The company cannot afford to run a line for the purpose of carrying the mail, without the as- sistance of passengers. The compensation allowed them forbids it. Put in case the convenience of the travelling community and the arrangements of the post office department should conflict in regard to this matter, in the spirit of accommodation which dic- tated their proposition to the department, in February, 1845, they repeat the offer of the use of their roads for the transportation of the mails of the United States, without charge, at such hours, 16 and at such speed as may be deemed by the department most de- sirable. With great respect, Your obedient servant, JOHN R. THOMSON, President of P. T. R. R. Cc. From this letter it will be seen, Firstly, that the compa- nies u cannot accept the schedule for route 1301, ordered by the Post Master General.” This schedule embraced both the morning and evening lines. Secondly, That a change of hour from 5 to 4, P. M., will be acceptable to them, but not a change of the morning hour from 9 to 7 A. M., except at certain seasons. Thirdly^, That in running all their lines they will expe- dite the mails as much as circumstances and safety will permit, but they will not consent to bind themselves for any less time for performing their trips than is provided in their old contract, and that they were not willing to increase their burdens without additional compensation. What burdens'? — there was but one in the new schedule, adn that was laid upon the evening line ; and yet the Post Master General says this is only a protest against the change of the morning hour. The running time for the morning line, it will be perceived from the schedule annexed, does not vary much from that of the schedule of 1840. Little objection could be made to it on that score. But the great reduction of the time of ri n- ning was made in the evening schedule from New York, from 4 hours and 35 minutes, to 3 hours and 15 minutes, and there- fore it wa3 against this alteration in the schedule that the protest of the company was principally directed. We cannot conceive how it was possible to be understood others wise. Schedule ordered by the Post Master General to take ef- fect from the 15th of March, 1846. Leave New Brunswick, daily, at 6 1-4, P. M. Arrive at Philadelphia, “ “ 9 1-2, P. M. Leave Philadelphia, u u 7, A. M. Arrive at New Brunswick same day 11, A. M. 17 SECOND LINE. Leave New Brunswick, daily, at 11 1-4, A. M. Arrive in Philadelphia same day, 3, P. M. Leave Philadelphia daily, at 4, P. M. Arrive at New Brunswick same day, 8 l-4> P. M. After having labored, by selected extracts from the letter of protest, to prove that it was not a protest against the eve- ning line, but only against the change of hour in the morning line, with what success will have been seen from the foregoing examination, he proceeds, next, to affirm that there is nothing unreasonable in the schedule of the 20th of February, which he had ordered. He invariably overlooks the important fact that for 8 months in the year, 21 miles are run by steam boat, and mail wagon, and 38 miles by railroad ; for, by the contract, the mails are received and delivered atjthe post office in the city. If the whole distance were performed on rail- roads, he would not be so much in error. The necessary speed could then, without difficulty, be attained. But such is not the case ; a fact which he appears to be entirely uncon- scious of, or entirely to disregard. And in page 10 says, that the joint directors set up the speed of a “ steamboat route on Long Island Sound as a standard, by which to regulate the speed of the highest class railroad in the United States.” How unjust — how unfair, all who have read the report of the di- rectors will painfully feel. He also states that in the report there are some errors in reference to the length of the route from New York to Stonington, and of the schedule time of the boats on the North River. But these, if true, are very unimportant. The information respecting them was obtained from the officers of the companies in New York, and was be- lieved to be correct. But we will adopt the highest schedule speed of the boats, as stated by the Post Master General, viz : 13 1-23, instead of 12 miles, as assumed in the report. This rate of speed, then, for the steamboat route from Philadelphia to Bristol, 21 miles, would give 1 hour and 26 minutes, to be deducted from 3 hours and 15 minutes, leaving 1 hour and 49 minutes to perform the railroad route of 38 miles; or s 18 nearly 21 miles an hour, instead of 16 4-13, as stated in the letter, without any allowances whatever for the reduction of speed through the towns, stopping to receive and deliver pas- sengers and mails, and in changing passengers, mails and bag- gage from the steamboat to the railroad. But making, as should be done, these allowances, as set lorth in the report of the directors, requiring a running speed of 30 miles per hour. And this, he repeats, is not unreasonable, and concludes this branch of his subject by stating that “ it is idle to waste time to show that the speed required is perfectly practicable; for these gentlemen have, since the pending of this controversy 9 offered to increase even this speed, on one day of the week, if the department would consent to a change of hour for that day, “ Sunday.” This, indeed, is true. This offer was made for the purpose of obtaining the consent of the department to dis- continue the morning line on the Sabbath; but how it was pro- posed to run this line, if he knew, he does not think proper to state. The speed required to make good the schedule, we have been considering by railroad alone, is within the regula- tion of the companies and can be attained without any diffi- culty; and the line proposed would have been run by railroad to Camden, dispensing with the boat at Bristol. This steam- boat part of the route, as run, for so large a portion of the yCar, is what the Post Master General, throughout his' whole let- ter never appears to take into view, and he reasons altogether as if the whole route was a railroad route, and hence the mis- takes as to facts and inferences into which he has fallen. A doubt, also, seems to be insinuated in reference to the length of the route, as he states the sworn distance is but 53 93-100 miles ; and in reply to the statement in the report, that the joint companies* cars continue to New Brunswick, 3 1-2 miles beyond the junction of their road, with the road of the New Jersey Railroad Company ; “ true,” he says, sneeringly, “ arid so they continue to the end of the route, at New York, or rather Jersey City.” This sworn distance he might, in all candor, have stated was on a route not now run, beginning at the comer of 3d and Willow streets, more than one mile 19 from the city post office, and on the Philadelphia and Trenton railroad, via Frankford, Bristol and Trenton. His knowl- edge of the connection and the geography of the route, will fur- ther advantageously appear from the following extract from his letter, page 12, “ the junction of the roads of the two compa nies, is in the town of New Brunswick, about three and a half miles from the village of that name. But where that village is situated is a matter of indifference in this question, each road having its own schedule and its own pay, according to its own length and the same car performing the entire trip over both roads.” But this is not so much a matter of indifference as may at first be supposed by the Post Master General. In the ar- rangement of a schedule for performing a distance on roads owned by different companies, and connecting at a certain point, it is not a matter of indifference in regard to the time allowed to the companies, respectively, that one should receive the credit in time for performing what it does not perform, and the other receive no credit for what it does per- form. The engine of the joint companies carries the train to New Brunswick, a city of 10,000 inhabitants, incorporated in the year 1784, and not a “village,” as set down by the Post Master General. The time lists, kept by the conductors, on both companies, commence and terminate at this city. And the injusiice of the scale of the department consists in this : that the New Jersey Railroad Company have time allowed them for 34 miles, when they run only 30, and the joint com- panies are only allowed time for 53J, when they actually per- form 58 J. This may be, it is true, a matter of indifference to the department, but it is not so to the company, who suffer by it. The next subject noticed by the Post Master General is that of mail agents, “ which, he says, the companies refuse to carry over their road.” The importance of these agents on the road of the companies does not appear so evident to the joint directors as it does to the Post Master General. At any rate, if so important to the department and its revenues, and en- t 20 tirely unnecessary to the companies, why should the department impose this burden upon them, without proposing to pay them any consideration for doing so ? This would seem to be at once an answer to the department. But the companies have always been anxious to accommodate the public, so far as it can be done with safety to themselves, and they therefore consented to receive those agents, upon the condition that they should be such persons as they would have confidence would not carry on a commerce on their own account, as is too often done to the injury of the companies. The nomina- tion, by the companies, of these agents, the present Post Master General seems to regard as an encroachment upon the rights of the federal government, that strikes him with dismay. But it is not a novel proposition. His predecessors did not regard their throne usurped, or their sceptre taken from them, because a mail contractor had the privilege of nominating a mail agent, to the department, for its approval. We have before us the contract to carry a mail from Phila- delphia to Trenton, via Frankford, Bristol, Morrisville, &c., made with Mr. Cumming, on the 19th day of July, 1841, and subsequently, transferred to the Trenton Railroad company, in which there is to be found the following proviso ; “ And, for these purposes, to furnish a post office car, and the requisite agents to assort, deliver and receive the mails ; said agents, however, to be subject to the approval of the Post Master General.” With regard to the transaction of business on their own account, to the detriment of the company, “ which he regards as a libel upon men of worth and standing,” we can only reply, that it has been done very extensively, and that, in all probability, it will continue to be done, to a greater or less extent, according to the peculiar circumstances and character of the agents. But this does not affect the depart- ment. The railroad companies alone suffer from it. But even this is no longer a subject of contention between the depart- ment and the companies; the latter, to accommodate the department and the public, having consented, conditionally, to receive and carry them in their cars, 21 But the length of this review admonishes us to be brief in the consideration of the matters which remain still to be no- ticed. The Post Master General is pleased to say, that “ all refusals and omissions the joint directors think they have made ample satisfaction for, by having offered to the post office department the free use of their road for the transpor- tation of the mails at any hour, and at any rate of speed they might adopt.” — “ It is true they made the offer” — “ and it is true they run no sort of risk in making the offer.” — “ It was utterly impossible for the Post Master General to accept if Whe- ther the company thought so or not. He had no authority by law to apply the funds of the department to the purchase and man- agement of steam engines, and railroad cars,” &c., &c, What ! can this be possible 1 Has he then no authority, by law, to make a contract with a company or an individual, to eonvey the mail on a road, no matter whether a rail road or a common road, the use of which is offered to him ? Is it necessary for the department to purchase engines and cars, and to employ and supervise engineers and firemen, when it can make a contract with persons who are prepared to furnish them, and, for a given sum, would engage to per- form the required service ? As well might he say it was necessary to purchase the horses and coaches upon the com- mon roads, and to supervise the drivers, as to say it was necessary to purchase the engines, and cars, &c., for the same specific purpose, viz. the conveyance of the mails. No, he has the same power, by law, to make a contract in both cases, and we must seek for some other reason for his declining the offer of the companies, than the want of authority, by law, to make such a contract. The offer of the free use of the road was originally made in view of the injury sustained by the public by the south- ern mail being detained so long in Philadelphia before being forwarded to New York, from 2 in the morning to 9, (before which time it ought to be in New York,) seven hours. The companies themselves could not afford to run a line at that hour, for they could not expect to carry any passengers, that would not (if no sucli line existed,) take their earliest regular line to New York ; and the expense of running an engine and car, expressly for the mail, would be far greater than the compensation allowed ]?y act of Congress, and the construc- tion of the post office department, for such service. It is a matter of regret, though not of surprise, that this offer should be received and treated, as it has been, by the department, and sneered at as a “futile” offer, and that the views and motives of the companies should have been so entirely mis- understood and depreciated in making it. But before we, conclude this examination of the letter of the Post Master General, it is necessary to refer to the subject of compensation for services rendered by railroad companies in the transportation of the mails of the United States. In the year 1839 , an act of Congress was approved, limiting the Post Master General to the payment of not more than $300 a mile. That act had reference to the weight and bulk of the mails at the time of the passage of the law. But, from the annual report of the Post Master General, these have increased from 200 to 300 per cent, in weight since that time. The expansion of the post office department, and a corresponding expansion of the service on railroads, has been ascertained from authentic data, to more than quadruple itself in twenty years, so that, if the pay for the service should bear any pro- portion to the expansion, the compensation per mile, in 1847 , should be $500 per mile, instead of the present allow- ance of $ 300 . Taken in another point of view the present rate of compensation will appear utterly inadequate. The space occupied in the crates and the cars of the companies by the mails, and the mail agents, would readily accommodate forty passengers, which, at three dollars each, would produce one hundred and twenty dollars per trip, whilst the pay for the mails is only about twelve dollars. Again : the same accommodation would carry six tons of merchandize, which ? at eight dollars per ton, would yield forty-eight dollars; or, if the cheapest freight were carried, say flour and iron, at the usual prices of two dollars and a half per ton would yield 23 fifteen dollars; so that it will appear that the United States have their mails carried in the fastest lines, at a cheaper rate than is paid for iron and flour in regular transportation lines, which occupy, in the passage from New York to Philadelphia, sixteen hours. It cannot then be wondered at, that these companies, per- forming such unrequited services, should seek to obtain, by way of indemnification, a contract on another railroad owned by them, connecting, by a steamboat route of twenty-five miles, the cities of New York and Philadelphia. The Post Master General, in referring to this, at the close of his letter, states “that the southern mail, going to New York, by this route, might be somewhat facilitated, but not much.” Not much ! True, not always a day, yet, frequently, for want of it, a whole day is lost in the connections with the north and east, as is admitted in the letter of the Post Master General, of Jan. 31st, 1845, which speaks of the connection by the other route, “via Trenton and Jersey City, being hazarded and broken.” A mail on this route (Amboy route,) leaving the city of Philadelphia at 5 or 6 o’clock, A. M., three or four hours in advance of the mail train on the upper route would always preserve this connection unbroken ; and, is this of no importance to the community ? Besides, by the line arriving in New York, three hours in advance of the mail, mailable matter is forwarded by private conveyance, more in all pro- bability, than sufficient to pay the cost of a contract on this route. And, in addition to all this, the towns of Heightstown, Spotswood, Freehold, and others, within a short distance, on either side of the Camden and Amboy road would be furnish- ed with mail accommodation, for which they have in vain so long been praying : — all of which considerations seem to make no impression on the head of the department. By order, • » > 4 h^in'l -Hit ir , ?{• J. '.V -j.fr. It' ti v Up •iKl :.!4t 'j.>- • ■•’.'• r J»> : =' * ■ , ' 1 ' ’ . ,• : i i .. l! ' •• i ■(. » ■ ! '• i' ; ! ■ ' : ; » ; "■ f >' '* ' i '"'f ’■** ‘5 I'A-u zr • . in • >!«r U ti |- .01 ■ ! • • s: ' J.,i< - : v •*» i * i • * • ' ■ ' ' ui\-;Uicun v - ftu- ^ 'n\ •.,/[ " b<. .i'i* » V .>Hio y I ‘ ■ f{ ■ ; • ' ! » i •. . » .jcf! • • > l ■ -..io. M ■> " - ;i: 1 ' i; *' " 1 r o/. ii- j;l . •. »'•' ■ '•* ■ ' Siftw • ! li'Jisni hi iJJ 1(1 . p th ; ' • : f L:nno-) phis M i>.o<£ orft i . ; - i il' , ' "y^hr pi »■ • «}$>,, * , m*' ■ ; . 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