. Leslie's history of the greater New York . sistants inthe most obnoxious and de-termined manner, but noneof these affected Mr. Jamesiu the way of causing him tolessen his efforts to break upthe nest of dislionest officials,whose nefarious work wasspeedily laid bare beforehim. The dishonest mail routes were cut oft, faithless employees weie disiuissed, and ilie gen-eral tone of the service was strengthened and inii)roved. He hadbeen met on his entrance into office by the fact of an annual deticitof ?jj;2,U00,000. The reductions which he made in the Star Poute serv-ice and the steamboat servic
. Leslie's history of the greater New York . sistants inthe most obnoxious and de-termined manner, but noneof these affected Mr. Jamesiu the way of causing him tolessen his efforts to break upthe nest of dislionest officials,whose nefarious work wasspeedily laid bare beforehim. The dishonest mail routes were cut oft, faithless employees weie disiuissed, and ilie gen-eral tone of the service was strengthened and inii)roved. He hadbeen met on his entrance into office by the fact of an annual deticitof ?jj;2,U00,000. The reductions which he made in the Star Poute serv-ice and the steamboat service amounted to over .^2,000,000; wliih>his thorough investigation into the abuses and frauds of the Iost-office department resulted in the famous Star Koute trials, and re-vealed the scandals which had existed iu that service prior to lasassuming charge of it. A])plying, as far as it was practieable, thecivil-service methods which had been in operation in the New YorkPostoffice to his new field of operations, the postal service was made. TH()M.\S .rAMKS 554 HISTORY OF THE GREATER NEW YORK. self-sustainiuji, up to the time wlieu the rate of postage was reducedby Act of Oougress. Several institutions have conferred the degxeesof and upon Mr. James. FULTOX, ROBERT (for portrait, see Volume I. of this worlv, page259), although not the inventor of the steamboat, was the first to dem-onstrate its commercial utility. He was born in Little Britain, Pa.,in 1705, and died February 24, 1815. He early developed mechanicaland artistic talent. From 1782 to 1T8G be resided in Philadelphia,supporting himself as a mechanical draughtsman and a painter ofminiatures and landscapes. He went to London in 178G, and studiedunder Benjamin West, the famous artist. Under the influence of theDuke of Bridgewater he subse(iuently took up civil engineenng. Hemade several inventions of utility in canal improvement, and pub-lished a treatise on this subject, which attracted some attention.
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