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Show 42 FROM FORT HALLECK dollar to a dollar and a half each, and for all baggage in excess of 25 Ibs., a dollar and a half per pound is charged. He has been reimbursed by the Government for animals lost or stolen by the Indians, and since the contract for carrying / the mails was awarded to him, he has secured the passage by Congress of a bill, requiring letter postage to be paid on all printed matter sent in the overland mail, except on news papers mailed by the publishers to regular subscribers. Fond mothers are thus deprived of the privilege of sending occasionally a newspaper to a soldier son on the frontier, and sweethearts in the States must content themselves by writing to their soldier lovers the gist of the new novels, as it is too expensive to forward them in Mr. Holladay's mail. How has the Government, which has sustained this mo nopoly, been treated in return for its liberality ? It is the custom of railroad companies, throughout the States, to transport officers and soldiers of the army over their lines, on orders of quartermasters, for which they col-iect a lower rate than is charged passengers generally. Mr. Holladay refuses to recognize the orders of a quartermas ter, because, when settling his last account, he was required to make a deduction from the enormous rates charged. No officer or soldier is allowed to travel in his coaches without paying for a ticket at the established rate. The result of this was great inconvenience to officers, and in jury to the service. For instance, an officer may be or dered from Camp Douglas to Fort Leavenworth ; he has not $ 300 to meet his expenses, but he must go. The quartermaster then furnishes him with an ambulance and wagon, and the commanding officers of posts. escort him through the dangerous country, and after a two months' journey he reaches his destination, the Government having incurred greater expense than the stage- fare, besides losing the officer's services for the two months he spent on the way. The mail company have made ferries, and built bridges over streams crossed by their coaches. When government |