Extract

This crisply written book tells the story of the Star Route scandal, a sprawling case of corruption in the U.S. Postal Service that convulsed American politics in the early 1880s. Star Routes were mail delivery routes paid for by the postal service but operated by private contractors. Entrepreneurs bid for postal contracts, promising to deliver mail along a given route for a particular price. Thousands of these routes existed all over the country, with the longest, most potentially lucrative routes traversing the trans-Mississippi West. The situation was rife with graft opportunities. Speculators made fortunes by winning and then subcontracting multiple postal routes. Bribes and kickbacks to post office officials were widespread. Individuals could collude to drive out rival bidders or win contracts with phony bids, then default, letting confederates take over those routes at much-inflated prices. In 1881, the postal service paid one ring, surrounding former Arkansas senator Stephen W. Dorsey, over $100,000 to deliver just $582 worth of mail. That was for only one route, over the course of one year.

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