Hence It Occurs
That No Offense Against The Post-Office Is Committed When The
Connection Between Different Mail Trains Is Broken.
The post-office
takes the best it can get, paying as other customers pay, and
grumbling as other customers grumble when the service rendered falls
short of that which has been promised.
It may, I think, easily be seen that any system, such as ours,
carried across so large a country, would go on increasing in cost at
an enormous ratio. The greater is the distance, the greater is the
difficulty in securing the proper fitting of fast-running trains.
And moreover, it must be remembered that the American lines have
been got up on a very different footing from ours, at an expense per
mile of probably less than a fifth of that laid out on our railways.
Single lines of rail are common, even between great towns with large
traffic. At the present moment, February, 1862, the only railway
running into Washington, that namely from Baltimore, is a single
line over the greater distance. The whole thing is necessarily
worked at a cheaper rate than with us; not because the people are
poorer, but because the distances are greater. As this is the case
throughout the whole railway system of the country, it cannot be
expected that such dispatch and punctuality should be achieved in
America as are achieved here in England, or in France. As
population and wealth increase it will come. In the mean time that
which has been already done over the extent of the vast North
American continent is very wonderful.
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