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 entitled 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.
Endorsement—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.