The Old Pike Part 46

JAMES REESIDE, SAMUEL R. SLAYMAKER, J. TOMLINSON.

To the Hon. WM. T. BARRY, Postmaster General.

CONTRACT.

This contract, made the fifteenth day of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, between James Reeside, of Philadelphia, Samuel R. Slaymaker, of Lancaster, and Jesse Tomlinson, of Philadelphia, contractors for carrying the mail of the United States, of one part, and the Postmaster General of the United States of the other part, witnesseth, that said parties have mutually covenanted as follows, viz.: The said contractors covenant with the Postmaster General:

To carry the mails from Pittsburg to Harriottsville, Cannonsburg, Washington, Claysville, West Alexander, and Triadelphia, Va., to Wheeling and back, daily, in four-horse post coaches, the first mail to be changed at each county town through which it pa.s.ses; the second mail at every office on the route; and to furnish armed guards for the whole, when required by the department, at the rate of six thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars for every quarter of a year, during the continuance of this contract; to be paid in drafts on postmasters on the route above mentioned, or in money, at the option of the Postmaster General, in the months of May, August, November, and February.

That the mails shall be duly delivered at, and taken from each postoffice now established, or that may be established on any post route embraced in this contract, under a penalty of ten dollars for each offence; and a like penalty shall be incurred for each ten minutes'

delay in the delivery of the mail after the time fixed for its delivery at any postoffice specified in the schedule hereto annexed; and it is also agreed that the Postmaster General may alter the times of arrival and departure fixed by said schedule, and alter the route (he making an adequate compensation for any extra expense which may be occasioned thereby); and the Postmaster General reserves the right of annulling this contract, in case the contractors do not promptly adopt the alteration required.

If the delay of the arrival of said mail continue until the hour for the departure of any connecting mail, whereby the mails destined for such connecting mails shall miss a trip, it shall be considered a whole trip lost, and a forfeiture of one hundred dollars shall be incurred; and a failure to take the mail, or to make the proper exchange of mails at connecting points, shall be considered a whole trip lost; and for any delay or failure equal to a trip lost, the Postmaster General shall have full power to annul this contract.

That the said contractors shall be answerable for the persons to whom they shall commit the care and transportation of the mail, and accountable for any damage which may be sustained through their unfaithfulness or want of care.

That seven minutes after the delivery of the mail at any postoffice on the aforesaid route named on the annexed schedule, shall be allowed the postmaster for opening the same, and making up another mail to be forwarded.

The contractors agree to discharge any driver or carrier of said mail whenever required to do so by the Postmaster General.

That when the said mail goes by stage, such stage shall be suitable for the comfortable accommodation of at least seven travelers; and the mail shall invariably be carried in a secure dry boot, under the driver's feet, or in the box which const.i.tutes the driver's seat, under a penalty of fifty dollars for each omission; and when it is carried on horseback, or in a vehicle other than a stage, it shall be covered securely with an oil cloth or bear skin, against rain or snow, under a penalty of twenty dollars for each time the mail is wet, without such covering.

_Provided always_, That this contract shall be null and void in case the contractors or any person that may become interested in this contract, directly or indirectly, shall become a postmaster or an a.s.sistant postmaster. No member of Congress shall be admitted 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 its terms and requisitions of an act of Congress, pa.s.sed on the 21st day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eight, ent.i.tled, "An act concerning public contracts."

And it is mutually covenanted and agreed by the said parties that this contract shall commence on the first day of January next, and continue in force until the thirty-first day of December, inclusively, which will be in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.

_In witness whereof_, They have hereunto interchangeably set their hands and seals the day and year first above written.

(Signed.) JAMES REESIDE. (Seal.) SAM'L R. SLAYMAKER. (Seal.) JESSE TOMLINSON. (Seal.)

Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of

ROB'T D. CARSON.

JACOB SHEARER.

BOND.

_Know all men by these presents_, That James Reeside, as princ.i.p.al, and Richard Morris and David Dorrance, as sureties, are held and firmly bound unto the Postmaster General of the United States of America, in the just and full sum of two thousand nine hundred dollars, value received, to be paid unto the Postmaster General or his successors in office, or to his or their a.s.signs; to which payment, well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors, and administrators, jointly and severally, firmly by these presents. Sealed with our seals, dated the seventeenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.

The condition of this obligation is such that whereas the above bounden James Reeside, by a certain contract bearing date the fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, covenanted with the said Postmaster General to carry the mail of the United States from Bedford to Washington (Pennsylvania), as per contract annexed, commencing the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, and ending the thirty-first day of December, which will be in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.

Now, if the said James Reeside shall well and truly perform the covenants in the said indenture expressed on his part to be performed, and shall account for all penalties, and shall promptly repay all balances that may at any time be found due from him, then this bond is to be void; otherwise to remain in full force.

(Signed.) JAMES REESIDE, (Seal.) RICHARD MORRIS, (Seal.) DAVID DORRANCE, (Seal.)

Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of

(Signed.) R. C. WHITESIDE.

A true copy from the original on file in the General Postoffice.

MW. ST. CLAIR CLARKE, Secretary.

CLAIM FOR EXTRA ALLOWANCE.

WASHINGTON CITY, December 28, 1831.

_Sir_: For the four years which I have been your contractor for transporting the great Eastern mail from New York to Philadelphia, it has happened almost every week, and several times in a week, that arrivals from foreign countries have brought thousands of ship letters to the office of New York just before the time for my departure, and the importance of their being forwarded without delay to the Southern cities has required my detention from one to two hours beyond the ordinary time for me to leave New York. This detention I have been required to gain in speed, and that increased speed has required me always to keep on that route two extra teams of horses, at an extra expense of not less than one thousand dollars per year for each team. During the first year your predecessor made me an extra allowance for this expense, but during the last three years I have received nothing for it. I now submit the subject to you, in the expectation that you will allow the claim; it is certainly but just that I should be relieved, at least in part, of this burden, for the last three years it has subjected me to an expense of not less than six thousand dollars, which I hope you will direct to be paid to me, at least in part, if you do not think me ent.i.tled to the whole. I have also, within the same time, transported to New York all the large mail bags which are made in Philadelphia and sent to New York, not with mails, but to be used in New York, and to be sent from New York to other places. These within three years will amount to about five hundred pounds a week, as will appear from accounts of the manufacturers in your office. Wherever I could procure transportation for those bags in wagons, I have uniformly paid $2.50 per hundred pounds for carrying them, rather than overload my coaches in which we carry the great mail.

For this service, I hope you will not consider my claim unreasonable, if I charge ten dollars per week for three years. All of which is submitted to your sense of justice for decision.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JAMES REESIDE.

HON. WM. T. BARRY.

Endors.e.m.e.nt--Allowed. Allow $4,500. The residue of the claim is reserved for future consideration. Allow the remaining $1,500.

COULDN'T AFFORD TO CARRY NEWSPAPERS.

WASHINGTON, July 12, 1832.

_Sir_: When we entered into contract with you to run two daily mails between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, one with unexampled rapidity, and the other in three and one-half days, we had no idea whatever of carrying the newspaper mail in our most rapid line, nor do we suppose it was ever contemplated by the department. It was our intention and we so expressed it in all our conversation with you, and with the superintendent of mail contracts, to carry the princ.i.p.al letter mail only in the most rapid line, not believing it practicable to carry the heavy load of newspapers sent to the West with sufficient rapidity to reach Pittsburg in the shortest time specified. Indeed, if we could have supposed that it would ever become necessary to carry the newspapers with that rapidity, we should not have undertaken it for less that fifteen thousand dollars a year beyond what we now receive; but experience soon taught us that great complaints were made against the department and ourselves when the newspapers were not received as soon as the letters, and that these complaints were not confined to Pittsburg, but extended all over the West. To satisfy the public, and sustain the credit of both the department and ourselves as its servant, we made the experiment of trying to carry the newspapers with our most rapid line. We have partially succeeded, but with very great loss. For three days in the week we are compelled to exclude all pa.s.sengers, to the loss of not less than one hundred dollars a day. We are willing to perform our contract to the full extent of its meaning, but we must relinquish carrying the newspaper mails by our most rapid line, unless we can in part be remunerated for it. If, however, the Postmaster General is willing to silence the public clamor, which is so great when we carry them in our slow line, we will carry all the newspaper mails, together with the letter mail, in our most rapid line to Pittsburg and Wheeling, in the shortest time specified in our contract, and so arrange the connection of the Baltimore mail at Chambersburg with our swift line, as to carry the newspapers as well as letter mail, from Baltimore to Pittsburg in two days, for the additional allowance of ten thousand dollars per year, from the first of April last. The increased expense to us will not be less than fifteen thousand dollars a year, and for our own credit and for the credit of the department, we will make one-third of the sacrifice and perform the service for ten thousand dollars a year. We would gladly do it for a less sum if we could afford it, but we cannot, and at that rate our sacrifice will be as much as we can bear.

It would be much more gratifying to us if the public would be satisfied without it, but they will not, and our own feelings will not suffer us to perform a service in which we cannot give satisfaction to the public.

Very respectfully, your obedient servants,

JAS. REESIDE, SAM'L R. SLAYMAKER.

To the HON. W. T. BARRY, Postmaster General.

A true copy from the original on file in the General Postoffice.

(The above letter is marked "Granted.")

MW. ST. CLAIR CLARKE, Secretary.

MR. REESIDE DEFIES ALL COMPEt.i.tORS.

PHILADELPHIA, January 25, 1833.

_Dear Sir_: Your favor dated the 22d inst. has just come to hand, which I have examined with much care, but must confess myself at a loss to come to the exact meaning it is extended to convey.

That there is at present, and has been for some time back, an express carried on horseback between this city and New York, is a fact which is well known, and which is publicly acknowledged by the newspapers in New York. That it is impossible to carry the whole of the great Eastern mail through in coaches or otherwise with the same speed as a small package can be carried through on horseback is a fact that requires no comment.

Not having pointed out this matter clearly in your letter whether it was the wish of the department that a certain portion of mails should be sent by express to New York at an earlier hour than it now does.

Should it be the latter, I would at once a.s.sure the department of the impossibility of having it carried through in as short a time as it is now carried by express on horseback.