| From the Southern Confederacy (Atlanta,
Ga.) |
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| March 14, 1863 |
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| Reply of the Post Master General to the
Letter of Major Campbell Wallace |
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| Post Office Department |
| Richmond, March 4, 1863 |
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| Dear Sir, |
| Your letter of the 10th of
February ultimo was received by due course of mail, and I have been
prevented from answering it sooner by a pressure of business. I can
but thank you for the generous and patriotic expression of your views
recommending a reduction of the mail pay to railroads to a uniform
rate of fifty dollars per mile, during the war, as a means of enabling
the Post Office Department to keep up the mail service. At a
convention of the officers and representatives of the railroad
companies, which was held in Montgomery soon after the organization of
our Government, they cheerfully and patriotically met the views of the
Department by consenting to a reduction of the rates of mail pay. |
| But this consent was coupled
with a resolution which requires a considerable increase of
expenditure by the Department for the payment of messenger service,
which had before that time been paid by the railroad companies. And,
on the whole, the reduction of the cost of railroad service had not
been as much as was at the time expected. |
| As bearing on your
proposition, I would mention that at the railroad convention recently
held at Augusta, the proceedings of which I have not yet seen, I have
been informed a resolution was adopted for the appointment of a
committee to urge upon Congress the propriety of increasing the rate
of mail pay to railroad companies. If I am correctly informed as to
this it would indicate that they would not probably consent to the
reduction you so patriotically propose. |
| I have for some time past been
endeavoring to accommodate the views of the officers of many lines of
railroad, I may say of nearly all, by agreeing with them to the
arrangement of schedules at a rate of speed of about fifteen miles per
hour, instead of the present schedules. This, they represent to me, is
made necessary on account of the difficulty of keeping up the motive
power and rolling stock of the several roads as well as from the
difficulty of getting iron to repair the roads. If this slower rate of
speed shall be adopted, I am advised it will be beneficial to the
roads by facilitating transportation. And for this and the decreased
speed in the transmission of the mails, which is the special advantage
derived from conveying them by railroad, they may possibly consent to
some reduction of present rate of pay. If our railroads would consent
to the rates of mail pay received by those of other countries, it
would greatly relieve the Department, and would possibly enable it to
pay its own expenses without a further reduction of the mail
facilities of the country. And when the current amount of
transportation gives them full employment, as at present, and
especially if slow schedules be agreed on, so as to favor
transportation, and while the messenger service is paid for by the
Department, I can see no good reason why they might not agree to a
reduction of mail pay. |
| A reduction of the railroad
pay for transportation of mails to a maximum rate of one hundred
dollars per mile would produce a saving to the Department of one
hundred and seventy-five thousand three hundred and ten dollars
($175,310). And a reduction to a maximum of fifty dollars per mile
would produce a savings of four hundred and eighteen thousand four
hundred and ninety-five dollars ($418,495). A reduction of the
expenses of the Department by an amount equal to this latter sum, if
it can be made, would enable the Department to meet its future
liabilities, it is believed, without further additional aid from the
Treasury and without the necessity of further reductions of the
service. |
| While I do not regard it as
probable that the railroads would consent to this latter reduction, I
should have hopes that they might consent to deductions to a maximum
of seventy-five dollars per mile with the twenty-five per cent.
allowed for night service when performed, upon the arrangement of such
slower schedules as will accommodate their freight and travel. I will
call the attention of the committee on Post Offices and Post-roads, of
the two houses of Congress to your recommendation, that they may give
it such consideration as its importance requires. |
| ***** |
| With much respect, your obedient servant |
| John H. Reagan |
| Post Master General |
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| Campbell Wallace, Esq. |
| Pres'nt E. T. & Ga. R. R. Co. |
| Knoxville, Tenn. |
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