THE GAZETTE. LEWISTOWN, PA. Friday Evening, Sept. 24, 1852. FOR PRESIDENT, IIICTIULD SCOTT. FOR VICE PRESIDENT, 11111 mi!. CRM.UI, of North Carolina. Presidential electors. For the State at Large. ALEXANDER E. BROWN, of Northampton. JAKES POLLOCK, of Northumberland. SAHCEL A PCRVIANCE, of Butler. District Electors. 1. William F Huclirs, 13. Ner Miiidleswarih, 2 James Tr.iquair, 14. James 11. Campbell, 5 John VV. Slnkes, 15. James 1). Paxion, 4. John P. Veiree, 16 James K. David*"!), 5. Spencer Mrllvaine, 17. John Williamson, ft. .Lintes W. Fuller, IS. Ralph Drake, 7. James Penrose, 19. John Linton, 3* John Sh.sefier, 20. Archili'd Robertson, 0. Jacob Marshall, 21. Thomas J. Bingham, 10. Charles P. Wulier, 22. Lewis L. I.onl, 11 Davis Alton, 23. Christian Myers, 12. MJIIIOM C. Mercur. 21 Dortnan Phelps. JUDGE OF THJS SUPREME COURT, JOSEPH BUFFINGTON, of Armstrong County. CAN A L COM MISSIONER, JACOB HpFFMAN, of llerks County. FOR CONGRESS, Gen. William H. Irwin, of Mifflin County. ASSEMBLY, Augustine Wakefield, of Oliver. COMMISSIONER, Samuel Comfort, of Granville. DIRECTOR OF THE POOR, David Zook, of Union. AUDITOR, William Cummins, of Brown. LEWISTOWN HOTEL. —This well known < s talilNhment has been taken by John A. Ross, Esq., whose well known energy will no doubt sustain its previous reputation as a first class hotel. CONCERT.—Messrs. Cues and Brown, who i are represented as excellent musicians, will give a concert of Vocal and Instrumental Music at the Town Hal! this 1 Friday] evening. Admittance only 122 cents. £gjfAVe have devoted considerable space in to-day's paper to the proceeding of the Canal Commissioners in relation to the Co himlia Railroad, because a labored attempt is steadily made to justify this strange mo- j no poly. Were the Canal Commissioners to carry out the same principle on the Pennsyl- ; vania Canal, and give to Bingham & Dock, and their " company," the right of transport ing all freight over it, the public would soon I awaken to a sense of the wrong now perpe- ; trated, and, rising above party, would at once sweep them from office. The statements of Messrs. Miller and Thompson throw consider- ; able light on the effects likely to be produced ; on the treasury, and are deserving cf an at- ' t-. nave perusal. • > Congressional Nomination. The conferees from several counties in this ; dijtrict, met at Lock Haven last week, and j unanimously agreed to tender the congres sional nomination to Gen. Wa. 11. IRWIN, of Lewistown, Although the district has a slight 1 sprinkle of loeofbeoisia as far as, and proba bly into, borne parts of New York, we hope '.ho whigs throughout will be up and doing and poll their best vote. What possible in- I terest, we should like to know, can the caual commissioner's brother, James Gamble, who ; i; the locofoco nominee, hate in this and sev eral adjoining counties, that he should repre sent thorn in Congress? None, whatever;! and if elected, ho will very likely but use hi.s ■ place to rivet canal chains around the necks of taxpayers tighter than they have ever been beforo. Besides, are a few families in middle j Pennsylvania to enjoy all the offices of honor and profit, at the dictation of packed con- ; ventions and a rotten delegate system, or will ! the people soon use their power to block the game that has been evidently prepared for years to come? Our citizens, we hope, will ! generally vote for Gen. Irwin—not that we expect to elect him—but to show at least that in their opinion, one man out of a family is enough to hold office. The " Gallant" Pierce. —Geo. M'Lane, Brevet Captain I". S. Army, son of the Hon. Louis M'Lane, gives the following history of the slapping affair in Mexico, recently no ticed in the Gazette, over his signature ; " The substance of my observation, in re " gard to this difficulty of Gen. Pierce's, is, " according to my impression, on the night "prior to his leaving Mexico, HIS FACE 14 WAS SLAPPED AT AGAMEOFCAKDS, " bv an officer ut the army, and the indignity " was not on the instant, or, as far as 1 loarn " ed subsequently, resented in *uch a manner " as iu nvy opinion it ought to have been, by " a man of proper spirit and courage." Wo have capitalized aud italicized a little in the above extract in order to bring forcibly some portions to the mind of those who howl ed at Henry Clay, because, as they alleged, hs formerly played cards. What will they think now of Pierce, the gallant Piorco, the noble Pierce, whom a locofoco Captain in the United States Army not only accuses of play ing cards, but of not being a man cf proper spirit and courage WHEN HIS FACE IS SLAPPED ! We hope no locofoco will faint on reading this scrap of history from the life of their il lustrious federal candidate Scott Meeting. Quite a spirited meeting, called at short notice, was lield in front of the Lew is town Hotel on Monday evening, which was ad dressed by Judge CONRAD of Philadelphia, and Gen. W. 11. IRWIN. With a single in ' terruption from some ignoramus, who was de , cently kicked out of the crowd, the large number of persons in attendance listened with marked attention to Judge Conrad, and when applause did burst forth, it was a spontaneous shout well calculated to wake f locofoco babies. Gen. Irwin addressed the • meeting in his usual happy style amid re peated applause. THOMAS REED, of Der ry, presided, assisted by WILLIAM RAMSEY, Esq., of Armagh, JAMES T. TAYLOR, of Brown, JOSEPH M. COO LEY, JOHN XEFF, JOHN SWAN, and a number of others whose names we do not remember. As usual, since the tremendous ratification meeting at the Town Hall, when about two dozen and a half, including candidates, of ficeholders, &c., ratified the doings of the : locofoco convention, the Democrat not only ; disparages the inci ting, but considering that j the junior, who at present edits that paper ; and is himself an officeholder on the canal, : rather inaptly calls Judge Conrad a pensioner from the Philadelphia Custom House. If the Judge holds an office, we presume he re | ceives precisely what the law allows him, in the same manner that a Collector, a President Judge, or his associates, or other officers, re | ceive their pay. Does it follow that they too \ are pensioners, or will the rule onlv hold good j in the one caw f Judge Woodward and l!is N'ativeism. The Democrat displays a commendable solicitude for the nominee for Supreme Judge, and in publishing his letter of expla ; nation kindly offers us the type in order that i we may do "justice'' to a political opponent. We have not the room this week, or we should accept its proposition, but couple it with such a statement that might render ! another explanatory letter r.eees-ary. Wood | ward is evidently one of those lawyers who i "deny everything, and call for the proof," as iii- 1 iter fully shows, but while he at tributes his speech to a Whig reporter, he unfortunately omits to discredit the official , record uf the convention, which at page 444 informs us that George W. Woodward moved to amend an amendment by adding thereto the words— i ' And that the said committee be also in ' structed to enquire into the propriety of so ) ' amending the Constitution, as to prevent , ' any foreigners who may arrive in this State ' after the fourth day of July, I*4l, froiuac ' quiring the right to vote or hold office in ' this commonwealth.' This proposition tallies precisely with the speech, and if a reporter put the words into his mouth, he most strangely fell into the same vein with the amendment offered, And again, if the whole thing is false, how comes it that Judge Woodward, in a letter to the democracy of this State, dated September G, 1851, only one year ago, in speaking of this very subject, says: ' Who would complain of my proposition ? ' Certainly no foreigner then in the country — 4 none on his way to this country —none who ' should choose to come before the 4th of ' July, 1841, for noue of these were to beex ' eluded fr<>ra an} thing, either a residence or 'political privileges, among us. Nor could 4 those who should choose to come after the ' 4th of July, 1841, complain, for they would 1 ' have had nearly four years" notice ttiat they ' were not to share in our political privileges !' Now, did a whig reporter also write this letter, making a defence of the proposition introduced by Woodward—and : i* so, how comes it that it was published over his sig nature ? The intelligent reader who will compare the amendment to the resolution, the speech, and the deb rice of last year, will not be slow in discovering that is a re semblance in theiu—so much so that it will not do to deny a part. HOPKINS'S NERVE. —The Democrat, last week, gave a denial to the ascertion that their candidate for Canal Commissioner had stated he wanted nerve to oppose his party on a certain occasion some years ag". Well, here is the extract, as reported in the llarrisburg ; newspapers of IB4U, and thus far never con tradicted : " I receded in voting on the resolution re lative to the resumption of specie payments, j I believe the final passage of that resolution would produce a scene of RUIN and DISAS- ' TER from the center to the circumference of the Commonwealth. But I HAD NOT THE NhR\E to array myself against the Democ racy oj the House, and I GAVE UP MY OPINIONS | OF rut; MEASURE, AND VOTED FOR IT!" Gen. Pierce having set the example of do nying an inconvenient record, and throwing the blame on the reporters, Woodward next jumped at the same rope, declaring that a whig reporter put a speech into an official record which he did not deliver, and Col. Hopkins, we suspect, will now soon be out with a declaration that some whig reporter ! has also misrepresented him. Although our neighbor some time ago hoped that all mass meetings would prove a failure, and often strongly deprecated all ap peals to mummery, we see a call in the Demo crat for a mass meeting and pole raising to be held on Saturday, October 2d. 7. here is this distinction between the tick et.~ now before the people of this county, that while one did not seek a nomination, tht. other did; that if one portion has held 1 small offices with plenty of work and little pay, the other seeks only that which pays j best, and if they have not been office holders they have been office hunters. I n such cases there can bo no difficulty in ascertaining AVIIO ■ are fresh from the ranks of the people. A number of articles intended for to-day's paper, are unavoidably omitted. Taxpayers and the Canal Board. n THE MONOPOLY. Col. J. J. MeCahen, Gov. Bigler's special ' Agent to borrow money in Europe, it is said, has failed to get the money wanted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This is a little fact, but is full of meaning. Header, if a business man applied to you j for a loan of money, and you had it to spare, 1 and were satisfied with the security he offered, and wanted to loan your money to some per son, would you not give it to him? Aye, would you not be eager for the chance to in | vest it ? Now, suppose you did not give it | to him, and were honest in telling him your reason, what would it lie ? Why simply this : j f KiU not trust you ; Jam afraid you can't, or j kUI not pay me. Now Europe is full of capital. Mmy v J j a begging at three percent. The Penn • . *yhama Railroad Company gets motiey there; , S CVPr y responsible corporation that wants it J gets money there; United States stocks are t not an hour in the European market until r they are sold. Why, then, did this special agent not get money, this well dressed Penn sylvania democratic mendicant, while i.ros | trate at the feet of British Bankers ? I Ret this be as it may, it is said he did not ( get it. lie doubtless talked of the broad , : acres of our beautiful valleys—of the iron ' ; and coal mountains—of the vast forests and i } | great rivers of Pennsylvania, and said to the ! | capitalists of Europe, "all those uHI I mart- ; ! o'oyc, if you will give me money for the an- j j cieut Commonwealth of Pennsylvania." Hut they denied fum, and said, your State j , ; is in debt to domestic and other creditors , j some forty to fifty millions of dollars already. 1 and every year is sti.i going in debt further. Go home, we can give you no treasure; but ! for taxation venr State is bankrupt, and j must some day repudiate. ll he had sought advice, instead of money, ' they would have told him, 41 to home, and I sell or lease, or give away your public works, 1 and pay your debts, lor they are nothing but vast pauper establishments, where rabid poii- j tieians are supported- a grand nuisance kept up at the public expense, (io, and buiid on some healthy location an asylum, where iaese people whom you must keep nmv be Kept at less expense—contort your Canal j j Commissioners into wardens, and let them clothe and feed them in the most cloverlike ! manner." Now, why and jiow has Pennsylvania been > reduced to this humble position ? The an- j j swer suggests itself to all—by an unheard of i waste and profligacy in the management of j the public works. \Vc have Canal Commis sioners who seem t<> lie but simple instru ments—managed, and wholly managed, by others outside of tlie canal board. For example, take the work on the Portage Railroad—how, and to whom was it allotted? ; To professed, thorough-faced politicians, and i not to the lowest and best bidders. In the ! ' published statement of the letting of this ! work, we find the names cf but few of the class of contractors we mention ; but on it j i Cummings & Painter, lloekfellow & 1 Tamil- ! ton, Beck it Dull, while among the actual ! contractors who are at work on the road, we find that one John a contract. Ross ! & Price another, one John Ross and James ■ j Burns, and birds of this feather, to be really ; those who reap the benefits of this vast ex ' penditure. i Other contractors were there, among them J Malone it Co., of Lancaster, one of the oldest j as well as most respectable firms in the State, ' who bid for work, and us Malone alleges bid j lower than the parties to whom it was allot- ! i ted, yet did not get any. The inference to be drawn from this, i- that i if any work had been allotted to -Malone, it j I would have interfered with certain private ar- ' rangemonts believed to exist between the Cu- | na! Board and their especial friends. Now 1 this inference is true, or perhaps such men as j I the favorites named were the onlv parties to ! whom such work might be safely entrusted, I they a!one of the numerous bidders being fit to do work of this kind. If this is true, they have recently discov ered, themselves to bo great contractors, fur when the Pennsylvania railroad was making, they had no contract on it—need we say why. • The reason is simple: the Pennsylvania rail i road had no favorites ; its work was let to the lowest and best bidders, and no profligate al lowance was made oy the final estimate to ; particular favorites. Again, why did the Canal Board come to Mifflin county to hunt up a contractor to re- ; pair the locks on the Delaware divisiop ? in : the absence of any better reason we mav suppose that he alone had energy arid expe rienee to do that work. But, tax-payers of ; Mifflin county, will this reason answer, or do s you believe it was allotted to the lowest bid der? • But the last, and probably the most bare- i faced outrage cf the (.'anal Board, exists in the contract of Bingham & Dock with the j Canal Commissioners. They seem to have i fallen into the mistake that they own the pub- ' lie works, or rather that they, with a few others, own them, and that either themselves | or a few others are entitled to all the profits j derived from them. This contract with Bingham i Dock closes I up a public highway of the State, which the ; " Act of Assembly" declares shall remain j open to all. It overrides law, and gives to a ' few favorites the special privilege to carry ! passengers on the Columbia railroad. This ' monopoly, too, is conferred by the very men who think it a part of their religion to deeply curse ajl monopolies. The effect of this con tract has been and will be to embarrass travel along the great Central route, along the Co- I . lumbia railroad, and the Pennsylvania rail- j ! road, through our State to the west and south west, and turn this travel along the Baltimore and Ohio and the New York and Erie rail roads, and divert much, very much of that trade to New \ ork and Baltimore from our dwn commercial metropolis, thus placing our railroads and canals in a position directly hostile to tiie best interests of Philadelphia. And why is ail this done ? Why has the State of Pennsylvania turned common carrier? The answer is, to enrich Bingham & Dock and their confederates, and for ought we know, the Canal Commissioners themselves, if they are shrewd enough not to allow their masters to cheat them when the affair comes to a final settlement. This tiling of leasing the public works to a monopoly of a few men, is a new doctrine with the Canal Board. A few years since, when an association of men, with Wni. B. j Foster at their head, as high minded and i honest a man as there is in the State, pro posed to lease the public works; not only the railroads, the paying part of the public works, but our canals which never have and never will pay, he was informed this thing could not bo done, lie was informed there were legal i objections, at e, and there were objections j which had the force of law with these men. Mr. Foster was too pure a man to serve the 1 1 purposes of the Canal Board ; he did not be long to the right party ; he was not a near re- . lation of Gov. Bigler's, and did not entertain j the kindliest feelings for some of the leaders in this county. And here we will ask you to read as full an extract from the protest of Daniel Miller, of Lancaster, as our limits will allow. We need not say who Miller is; all who travel know that the reduction of fare on the Co lumbia railroad from time to time has been the result of his energy of character and pub lic spirit. He says. ' If we were not doing the business of the road, on terms which pay much more to tiie State than it now receives, under the contract with Messrs. Bingham Dock, we would not complain. According to the terms of that contract, they are to carry all passenger from West Philadelphia, at 5 mills per mile, precisely what 4 Our Line' receives forcarrv ing them irom Eighth and Market streets. \\ c have been paying to the Niate 2 cents per mile since the Dt day of June last, and were charging passengers 2 cents and 5 mills per mile fare, thus leaving to us but 5 mills over the State toll to pay all expenses, of of fice rents, depots, car hauling, agents, and city toil, all of which expenses the .State un der the contract will hat e to pay in addition to the 5 mills per mile from West Philadel phia. allowed to Bingham 6: Dock, and the travelling public will now Re compelled to carry their baggage to and from Schuylkill 1* iftli street, which is ten squares further out than our Depot, and arc thus subjected to the inconvenience and expense of cab hire. For this distance it will cost each passenger 50 cents according to City Cab regulations, and cabmen never charge less. I desire now t" say a few words in regard to the secret manner in which the letting of the passenger business was conducted. 1 have been a carrier on the State Road for 13 years, during which 1 have run throe different opposition lin< s, ami the public weii know that each resulted in a reduction of tho fare. Ihe first opposition line was placed on the road in 18-iy by myself, solitary and aluno, against the 'Old Pioneer Line.'' After this then monopoly had succeeded in running a new line called the 4 Washington Line,'off the road, and its Cars, been sold for tolls by the Collector of the .State Road, I purchased them, and started the Accommodation Line. The fare then charged by this monopoly was S3 to Lancaster, 53.50 to Columbia, and Si to Ilar risburg. I immediately reduced the fare down to what 1 considered a just price, ac cording to the tolls then paid the State, and charged the following rates, viz :—From Philadelphia to Lancaster 82.50; to Colum- bia, 82.8<j; to Uarri-burg, 84. Immediately after I started my cars, the Pioneer Line put the fare down to the State toll, and ran at that ruinous rate overonevear, with the view of driving mo off' the road : and after losing over twenty thousand dollars in an effort to : accomplish their selfish purpose, and finding that J was rather more spunky than they at first supposed, they finally agreed to compro mise the fare and run all their lines at my ; reduced prices, thus making a difference to the public of one dollar from Philadelphia io Harrisburg, 50 cents to Lancaster, and 021 cents to Columbia. The second opposition was run by our Phoe nix line, against Mr. raid Hamilton atuf sun dry slerpinj partners, which resulted in a further reduction of fare, viz.:—from 31 cts. I per mile, to 3 cents, or 50 cents less on all through passengers, Qn the 23d day of April, 1851, this present ; Line, known as 4 Ol R LINE,' was started in opposition to the Central Railroad Monop oly. This was supposed In" all my frinds to be a hopeless and vain attempt; they con sidered it but little short of madness in me to run against such a mammoth corporation and all advised against it: but, recollect ing that David slew Goliah, I concluded tljat notliipg was impossible, and determined to ■ make the attempt, and took in as partners ' with me Mr. Thomas Jefferies, of Philadel phia, and Capt. D. llerr, of Columbia. The result is well known to the travelling pub lic. After a fruitless attempt of tjie former directors of tlie Central Railroad .Company to drive individual enterprise off the Road, by running eleven months for the State toll, and losing over Thirty Thousand Dollars to tho. Stockholders, the new Board of Directors, who wore then elected, took a different view of their interest, and abandoned the idea of forcing us off the road. This has resulted in a further reduction of fare from 3 to 2J cents per mile. This is precisely what Bingham & Dock charge, except on the through passen gers ; we charged but 82 to Columbia, and they charged 82.45: and wo charged 81.75 t*T Lancaster, and they 82.11), or 3 cents per mile. Now, one word more in regard to this let ting : i think, as I ha\e been a carrier of pussencers for such a length of time on the State Road, and was running 4 Our Line,' over which 1 had entire control at the time of this letting, I ought to have had some official notice of it. The Canal Commissioners cer tainly knew there was such a line rifnning on tho Road at the time, as the date of their first notice, informing me of the contract, corresponded with the date on which it was let. Had 1 been notified of this letting, and been allowed to make a proposal, I never could have dreamed of asking more than three mills per mile, or 25 cents for each through passenger, from West Philadelphia I to Columbia, for the same service for which Bingham <k Dock get 5 mil is per mile, or 41 cents for each passenger, from theabove points. Tiii® is giving them 2 mills per mile, or 16 cent.® on each passenger, more than the State would have teen required to pay, had this letting been public. Now, to satisfy the Canal Commissioners, Bingham & Dock, and the public in general, that there is no humbugging in what I have stated, I make the following proposition to Bingham &. Dock, viz :— I trill, in connection with respon.sibit<> men, agree to carry all passen gers over the State road, for them, at 3 mills per rade, or 24 cents and G mHis for alt through passengers, by which they wiif clear on each through passenger, 16 cents and 4 mills, or SIOO,OOO in the nest four years without being subject to one cent of expense, and for the faithful performance of the contract I will give us good security as the State of Pennsyl vania can produce, only asking them in re turn to give me good security, that I will not be disturbed during their four years lease. This proposition I dare them to accept. 1 have made it in good faith, with a full knowledge of what I am about, and believe { that 1 understand the expense of railroading, quite as well as those who hold the contract. To the friends and patrons of ' Our Line,' ! 1 return my most sincere thanks, for their ; liberal patronage, in sustaining us in our darkest hours, and beg leave to inform them j that the cars of ' Our Bine i.ine' are now in the repar shop, to be fitted up in the very best style; and the moment the lload is open to competition again, (which 1 hope is | not far distant,) they will be placed on it, j ready to accommodate the travelling public, ; and keep down any imposition that might be practiced on them hereafter. DAVID MILLER. j We next call the reader's attention to some extracts from the excellent letter of Mr. Thompson, President of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, under dgte lGth August, 1852, and regret that rye cannot give it at length. Mr. Thompson say? : it is not our intention to ask public sym pathy in consequence of the apparent breach of good faith on the part of a member of the Canal Board, under whose sanction the Com pany purchased the cars of the old Eagle line at S2U.(J< Ht more than their actual value, aud engaged in the transportation of passengers over the State road, with assurances of his of licial protection. Th"se nssu-uices tie- 1' -e.- idcnt of th Citn ft Board now says he has forgotten, although he recollects the terms of the purchase, and frequently expressed his srtisfaction at th • great improvement in the coinf rt ot travelers, introduced bv the new arrangement —circumstances in themselves sufficient to have prevented any change, utj less the Company had pot yielded the neces sary facilities. It is admitted unit the President of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, after being informed, in February last, that there was a party endeavoring to secure a contract for the mails oyer the Columbia Railroad, in connec tion with the transportation of passengers, made inquiry as to the truth of the rumor. Mr. Morrison, one of the Corar •.issiuiiers, re plied that such propositions had been re ceived. but he did not state that the Board in tended to consider them, or by excluding ail other persons from the uso of the thorough fare, " assume the office of common carriers." Propositions of the kind*had been before the Board nearly every year, and not eon.-idered for want of legislative authority; and were, therefore, not deemed novel, or of any conse quence, except in connection with the trans portation of mails, which gave them, in the view of the Commissioners, an importance that they were not otherwise entitled to. This interview with Mr. Morrison was at Washington city. On consulting the books of the post Office Department, the name of the party Lidding was ascertained; aud, on a representation being made to him of his posi tion, he desisted from his object, and the whole matter v,as considered as at an end. We therefore assert that no notice whatever was given to the Company of the intention of the Canal Commissioner's to make a contract of any kind, or to become common carriers on behalf of the Commonwealth, or of the time or conditions upon which proposals for carry ing passengers would be received. Second. —The material point at issue has only been made fully apparent hv the pub lication of the contract of Messrs." Rui-ham & Dock, an instrument which evinces a most singular indifference to the interests of the Commonwealth, or a lamentable ignorance of its ultnnate effects upon the revenues of the State. It could not have been made more favor able to the contractors, if drawn by themselves with no otiier object in view than the advance ment of their private interests. They assume no risk, no responsibility, and participate in no reductions of fare on long travel to meet competition, or on excursions or otherwise, while the State, under the terms of the con tract, sustains the onerous responsibilities and risks of common carriers, and must bear all losses to life, limb and property, and all reduction of fare. The favored contractors have good reason for the demand of SI<M),(X)O, which thov ask as the bonus for which they will sell "their contract to other parties. They certainly de serve credit for tact in obtaining so favorably a contract from gentlemen, so keenly alive to the interests of the State, that have been able to discern in the most simple and equit able propositions of the Company sinister de signs upon the revenues of the Common wealth. Singular as it may appear, thry have published to the world a contract which convicts them of giving to other parties, under exclusive privileges, terms at least Ob per ct. better than those upon which the Pennsylva nia Railroad Company have been performing the same service, under an arrangement which involved no violation of the law, but which left the State road open to the free use and competition of every citizen of the Com monwealth, as intended l>y the Legislature. Irom a careful perusal of the contract rer ferrcd to, it will be seen that, for eyerv pas senger carried from Philadelphia to Colum bia, or an equivalent distance, the contract ors are to receive 41 cent?. No exceptions are made in favor of free passengers, or those who may he carried at 1, 14, or 2 cents per mile, or upon second class and excursion pas sengers. Upon all of whom the State must pay, according to the contract, a half cent per mile, while the Pennsylvania Railroad Company received only a pro rata proportion, and, in fact, submitted at one time a distinct proposition to carry all passengers at 20 per cent of the receipts. The contractors are no± required to furnish depots, pay city railroad tolls, or incur ilie expense of horse power, without extra charge, neither are they required to assume any risk of transportation as common carriers. Those expenses were all paid and risks assumed hy tl lo . Pennsylvania Railroad Company, while their .charge, as will be seen by reference to any of the published tariffs of rates, aver- j ages less than 2* cents per mile. The Penn- j sylvania Railroad Company charges on each 1 i pastfitgor to Columbia §2, and to all other important point 3 in the same proportion. Out of which they pay the State toll, $1,64 Horse power and advertising, 8 City Railroad tolls, 2 Risks to life, limb, and property, say 2 Total 1,77 Leaving the whole amount received hv the Company for U3e of cars, conductors," and collecting fare, &c„ 23 cents, but little more than half the amount paid to Bingham <x Dock for the same service. Assuming that the average number of through passengers annually for the next four years, will be 150,000, the loss to the State on this item only will be SIOB,OOO, The statement in reference to emigrant travel (of which they also possess the exclu sive privilege of transportation) is as follow: The Pennsylvania Railroad Company receive for emigrants from New- York to Pittsburg, $4 50 Out of which they pay the Camden and Amboy Rail road, $1 12$ Horse power, City Railroad tolls, and incidental expen ses, say 15 Canal tolls west of mountains, say 15 cents, and transpor tation from Biairsville, to Pittsburg, on Canal, 57$ cts. 72$ —2 00 Which leaves a balance of §2 50 Equal for the railroad distance from Phila delphia to Blairsville 8$ milis perroile. Of the above sum, the State will receive, for the : use of her roads and the carriers thereon, as I follows : Columbia and Allegheny Portage Railroad tolls. " 35 Pay Bingham &, Dock for carrying over Central Railroad, " 20$ Worth an equal amount on Port age Railroad, 20$ —1 26 Leaving for Harrisburg and Lan caster Railroad and Pennsyl vania Railroads, 201 miles in length, S-l 24 which is equal to 6 mills per mile—while the charges on the State under the new ar rangement, is 11 mills per mile, nearly 70 per cent more than the Companies'. But the amount charged by the State is too high, and the rate agreed to be paid to Bing ham i\, Dock, is also 8 cents for cverv emi grant passenger, more than the service is worth. The fact is, if the Pennsylvania Railroad Company allow for their road and motive power the same that they have been charged on the State roads, nothingwillremain to them for transportation sorvce. The rate paid Bing ham & Dock is, however, but about 8 cent® above its value, which, on an average .t 50,000 emigrants for the next four years, will make a loss to the State of SIO,OOO. A.ld this to $12,000 mail pay, in addition SIOS,UA> on first class passengers, will nvakc altogether a loss to the Treasury of $136,000. exclusive of loss on ptv-seqgers carried at, reduced rates during Christmas holidays, conventions, Ac., for all of which the State pay, under the cci-- tract, to Bingham & Dock lull rates, and up. n which the Company have only charged pro rata rates. Third. —M c have little to say in regard to the question of law, which the contract in volves. The Canal Commissioners assert ir legality, while Mr. Tyson, the legal adviser of the Company, supported by Judge Bell and the s>cst jurists of the State, assert the con trary ; but as legal questions are out of our province, we will leave their diacqsah-'n to the. lawyers and their decision to the court. Wo do not assert that the Commissioner-? have leased the road, but they have raad< a contract which i 3 worse than a lease. It. not only excludes all but the contractors from the use of the road as much as a lease would do it; but it constitutes the State the carrier, and makes her sustain all the burdens and incur all the risks of such a relation ; ami while- it involves the same objections that would apply to a lease, it is far more danger ous and exceptionable. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company has made no issue with the State, as i.® asserted, and they will make none. They ha ve regarded the Canal Board as a l>odv constituted t < manage the Public Works in accordance with the laws of the State, and not in opposition to them. If they have a legal right to make an exclusive contract with any parties, the act rf Assembly which authorises it can doubtless bo referred to. When was the appropriation made to purchase cars and build depot®? We can no where find the law authorising it. If no right existed to make these expendi tures directly, there can be none to doit indi rectly. by allowing individuals a large exes® over the proper value of the S'-rviee sufficient to cover them. The money is abstracted from the trca-ur\ just as certainly in this vvav as if a direct- a>. propriation had been made: but the manner of doing it is far more objectionable, in as much as the transaction is not an open one, and the actual compensation of the carriers may be excessive, which it must be in the present instance, since these gentlemen have asked SIOO,OOO for their bargain, equivalent to a salary of $25,000 per annum for superin tendence. True economy, the Commissioners argue, does not consist so much in getting work done cheaply, as in paying for it well: tin: price to be paid to Bingham <St Dock, they say, dope not go beyond that standard, " a fair remuneration." The public will form their own opinions upon the propriety of so novel a position. By what rule of propriety the Pennsylva nia Railroad Company is to bo excluded from the privileges of the Columbia Railroad as a public highway, and tie West Chester Com pany admitted, it is difficult to conceive, un der the disavowal of the Commissioners of all hostility to the interests of the Company. We wish to credit their assertion, and must, therefore, attribute their action to a mistaken idea that the interests of the State required it. Charity will not permit us to assign a loss creditable motive. On theso facta we make no comment. Or. their face they show a contract made secretly and against the la. o. Whether they are truo or not we leave as a question of veracity with Mr. Miiler and Mr. Thompson. And -Aat the effect of them is true, we leave to the common son so of the tax-payora of this Com monwealth. Elect Mr. Hopkins, and you elect tho fac tion who rule the Canal Board. Elect Mr. Hoffman, and you elect a man whose life gives you a guarantee that he will and can say NO to these and similar outrages. A SIGN. —Tho Lehigh Register, an influen tial neutral paper with a large circulation, published at Allentawn, hut hoisted the. Scot; and Graham flag.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers