American Mail Co. "collect 6 Cents"

Spooner, last.part, part 5.

Quote:
REPORT OF THE P. 0. COMMITTEE OF THE SENATE.

On the 22d of February, 1844, Mr. Merrick, Chairman of the P. 0. Committee in the Senate, made a report, from which the following are extracts:

"The indispensable duty of doing something is upon us, and an effort must be made to reform this most important and useful branch of the public service. This necessity is imposed both by a proper regard to the public will, and the pecuniary condition of the Post Office Department itself."

"The cause of this great falling off, in a season of reviving prosperity in the trade, business, and general condition of the country, cannot be regarded as transient, but, on the contrary, is known to be deep and corroding, and, unless arrested in its operation by the timely interposition of Congress, must so cripple the revenues of the department as either to destroy its usefulness, or throw it as a burden upon the general Treasury. This cause is the dissatisfaction felt generally throughout the country, but most strongly in the densely peopled sections, with the rates of postage now established by law, and the consequent resort to various means of evading its payment, leading first to the clandestine employment of private expresses, and more recently to the unblushing violation and open defiance of the laws. Your committee would be far from recommending any concessions whatever to those who have shown themselves to be destitute of all patriotic or moral principles, and are engaged in the daily perpetration of such flagrant outrages; but it forms no part of their duty to deal with them now ; they leave them, therefore, to the care of the executive, and judicial officers of the government, and turn to lament countenance such flagitious conduct. Much as they deprecate the loss of the fair and proper revenues of the department, deeply and sincerely as they should regret any material abridgment of the advantages and utility of the Post Office establishment, both sink into insignificance when weighed with the fatal effects of a loss of reverence for the laws, or an alienation from government of the affections of large bodies of its citizens."

"We have seen that dissatisfaction with the existing regulations of the Post Office Department prevails with a large number of the people of the country; that the consequences of that discontent have been a heavy diminution of its revenues during the past year, and a disregard in several striking instances of the laws enacted for its protection, with the apparent sanctions or at least connivance, of large numbers of the people. Let us, then, carefully inquire whether this discontent does not arise from some such discordant action of that department as is above alluded to, and whether it be not in the power, and consequently the duty, of Congress, promptly to correct this evil, and, by restoring the harmonious action of the department, bring to its support the good feelings of the public."

'We come now to consider the still more important provisions of the bill, (reported by the committee,) which propose an average reduction of the existing rates of postage by about one half."

"Enough has been said to show the opinion of your committee to be, that the rates of' postage should be reduced as much as possible, consistently with the preservation of the usefulness and efficiency of the Post Office Department, and the support of that department by contributions levied equally upon all who are served by it, according to the amount of service rendered. Can the reduction proposed by the bill be made, consistently with these views? We have seen in the outset that something must be done; that the revenues of the department are rapidly falling off, and a remedy must in some way be found for this alarming evil, or the very consequences dreaded by some, from the reduction of rates proposed, will inevitably ensue, namely, a great curtailment of the service, or a heavy charge upon the national Treasury for its necessary expenses. It is believed that, in consequence of the disfavor with which the present rates and other regulations of this department are viewed, and the open violations of the laws before adverted to, not more than, if as much as, one-half the correspondence of the country passes through the mails ; the greater part being carried by private hands, or forwarded by means of the recently established private expresses, who perform the same service, at much less cost to the writers and recipients of letters than the National Post Office."

"The question then recurs, can the reduction of the rates of postage proposed by the bill be made, consistently with the purposes to continue the present amount of mail service, and provide for the expenditures of the Post Office Department by its own revenue?

"The committee think it can. And further, they are persuaded that it is the only certain means of effecting those very desirable objects!"

"The public will be satisfied and pleased, the committee think, with the reduction proposed by the bill."

DEBATES IN CONGRESS IN 1844, AND 1845.
(Extracted from the National Intelligencer and Congressional Globe.)

In the Senate.

March 22d, 1844.

" MR. SIMMONS offered an amendment increasing the distance from one hundred to two hundred and fifty miles for the lowest Tate of postage," proposed by the bill, (5 cents.)

"The object, (he said,) was to ensure the transmission of their letters by mail instead of the express. Gentlemen would see, by looking at the distance between Albany and Boston, Boston and New York, and other routes on which expresses were established, that they exceeded a hundred miles. But the private expresses carried letters on those routes at six and a quarter cents. If we put the postage at ten cents, it would not have the effect to bring all that matter into the mail. The lowest rate of postage was five cents under this bill, and he was of the opinion that it ought to extend to distances not exceeding two hundred and fifty miles. If not, the provision would not have the intended effect."

March 22d, 1844. MR. BUCHANAN said,

"That the Senator from Rhode Island, (Mr. Simmons,) had stated, that if the rate of postage were not reduced, according to his proposed amendment, private expresses would continue to carry the greater part of the letters between the principal cities. Mr. B. said be could not recognize the existence of such expresses as an argument in favor of the amendment. They were plainly and palpably in violation of the constitution of the Unit6d States. That instrument granted to Congress the power, and, as a necessary consequence of this grant of power, imposed upon them the duty, 'to establish post offices and post roads.' This was a sovereign power, and if individuals could establish private expresses, or opposition lines to rival the public mails, we might as well at once surrender the important powers of government. This grant of power was exclusive in its nature, and neither states nor individuals could impair or arrest its exercise. Constitutionally speaking, as (well) might individuals establish a mint, and undertake to coin money, as to establish these private expresses. In point of principle, both were equally destitute of foundation. These private expresses must be put down ; and if the present laws were not sufficiently severe for the purpose, new laws must be enacted. It concerned both the interest and honor of the country, that Congress should not suffer the exercise of its unquestionable constitutional powers to be impaired or defeated by the lawless action of individuals. And well was it for the country that we did possess the power. What would become of the mail facilities, which the people now enjoyed in the thinly settled portions of our country, if all the leading routes were rendered profitless to the government by these private expresses !"

March 29th,1844. MR.MERRICK, (Chairman of the P.O. Committee,) said, -

"In what condition did the Committee find the Post Office Department when they took up this subject! He would ask the Senate to look at that condition, and then say whether they were to fold their arms and do nothing. The Post Office laws had become odious and unpopular, and were therefore evaded by the people everywhere. The system was everywhere and universally contemned and despised, and considered as grievously unjust to the body of the people. This state of things held out a pernicious example to the country. An habitual trampling upon the laws was injurious to public morals, and to the stability of free government. Apart from other considerations, this alone ought to prompt us to render the laws worthy of support."

"The principal cause (of the decrease of revenue,) is stated to be the number of private posts, called express mails, established on all the leading steamboat and railroad routes through the country. The Post Office establishment must become a burden on the public Treasury, unless you adopt a new system. * * * * You must do something, or appeal to the national treasury for the support of the establishment. It was out of the question, when the revenues were so rapidly decreasing, to attempt to defray the expenses of the unprofitable routes. Something should be done that would prevent evasions of the law by satisfying public opinion. We could not stand still where we are."

"As to the private expresses, every guard was resorted to for the purpose of arresting them. But the committee bad thought it impossible, in the present state of feeling in regard to the system, to enforce the laws against the conveyance of letters out of the mail."

April 1st, 1844. MR. PHELPS said,

"As to putting down private expresses, it was idle to talk of doing it by any other legislation than that which would carry public opinion along with it. The public must be shown that the Post Office Department will transport mail matters as cheap as private expresses, and as expeditiously, or all laws to put down private expresses will become nugatory." * * "He was opposed to the principle of enforcing a law by penalties, against the general feelinas of the community."

April 1st, 1844. MR. SIMMONS said,

"The operation of private expresses was considered by the Department the chief cause of its embarrassment. To this, therefore, the Senate should look as the first thing to be remedied." * * * He "entered into various calculations to show that a small reduction on the express routes would not put down the competition which interfered with the income of the Department."

April 17th, 1844. MR. MERRICK said,

"He wished to impress upon the minds of Senators that the Department was in such a condition that it was impossible to stand still. Something must be done for its relief Some legislation must take place, or the Department must become a charge upon the treasury." * *

"He adverted to recent decisions of the judiciary against the Department and in favor of the private expresses, and quoted various newspaper paragraphs to show the excitement got up against the General Post Office, and in favor of those expresses."

April 17th, 1844. MR. BREESE advocated "a uniform rate of postage of five cents per half ounce for all distances." * * "He felt satisfied that, by going at once to the root of the disease, such a reform could be accomplished as would effectually resuscitate the revenues of the Department, and give universal satisfaction to the people. Any thing short of this would be wholly inadequate to effect such a reform as the public expected." * * "He believed that a reduction ought to be made to two cents, and that it would be a more productive rate than any other that could be adopted."

April 17th, 1844. MR. HANNEGAN said he "had been assailed for his opposition to the illegal expresses. He should, nevertheless, do all he could to put them down as violations of law. He was certain that the plan of the committee would not remedy the evil. But if we reduced the rates further, it would be attended with an increase of the number of letters mailed."

April 18th, 1844. MR. ATHERTON said be "hoped the motion to strike out the rate of 3 cents for distances less than 30 miles would not prevail. This reduction he conceived to be, perhaps, the most important of any that had been proposed. It would be found particularly so at the North, where towns of considerable size were frequently near each other. And it was also important, considered in relation to its operation on the private expresses, of which so much had been said."

In the House.

June 12th, 1844. MR. HALE said,

"The Committee recommend vigorous legislation, pains and penalties, as if they could afford a sovereign remedy. "Now, Mr. Chairman, I undertake to say that if the action proposed by the Post Office Committee be adopted by this House, and the relief asked for be withheld, instead Of putting down, you will increase the private expresses; and ten will spring up where there now is only one. The difficulty lies deeper than some gentlemen imagine. It is in this. The system, as at present conducted, with its present high rates of postage, does not commend itself to the favorable consideration of the people. Instead of looking upon it as intended for their benefit and accommodation, they look upon it with jealousy and distrust, and regard it as a monopoly. * * * It is to counteract this state of things, and present this Department to the country in a position commending itself to their judgments and their hearts, that we should now exert ourselves. Will penal enactments effect this? No, Sir, no. Far different from this must be our course, if we would attain the object which all profess to desire."

June 12th, 1844. MR. PATTERSON thought "if this bill, (a bill for putting down the private expresses), should be passed without a bill reducing the rates of postage, that such was the feeling throughout the country, that it would be impossible to carry it out."

June 12th, 1844. MR. THOMPSON said, "It had struck him as something strange that members should be found willing to justify the setting at naught the Post Office laws - for such he understood to be the tenor of the remarks of some who had spoken on the subject."

A bill passed the Senate at this session, (April 29th, 1844,) reducing the rates to

3 cents for 30 miles-for a single letter.
5 cents for 100 miles
10 cents for 300 miles
15 cents fo all over 300 miles

This bill was sent to the House, referred to the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, and by that Committee "reported to the House without amendment," June 12th, 1844. But as Congress adjourned but five days afterwards, (June 17th,) the House had not time to act upon the bill, and it was lost.

In the Senate.

January 16th, 1845. Mr. NILES said,

"The law is openly violated, and private expresses are established between all the important commercial cities, which convey a large portion of the letters which would otherwise be conveyed in the mail."

"The people see and appreciate the immense advantages of a system of low postage. They have had a foretaste of these advantages, through the private expresses, and they will not relinquish them." * * * "Reduce the postage to a reasonable rate, so as to satisfy the public mind, and the violations of the law will cease."

January 27th, 1845. MR. MERRICK [6] said,

"Private competitors for the performance, and, of course, for the profits of the service, are springing up upon all the important and valuable routes, and, under the public countenance, are superseding the mails of tile United States, to the great detriment of the service, to the injury of the public morale, to the great real disadvantage of the very public by whom they are countenanced and encouraged, and, if not checked, to the certain ultimate prostration of the whole Post office system. These are grave and alarming evils, and demand the most serious and grave consideration."

"Private enterprise is successfully competing with the government in the performance of the service on all the important and valuable routes, and deprive it of the income necessary to support the existing Post Office establishment."

" Sustained by public opinion, these private competitors are daily extending their operations, and unless the power and authority of Congress is wisely, and prudently, and promptly interposed, they must soon prostrate the Department."

"Others again advance the opinion that extreme reduction of rates is the only means of putting down this private competition, and advise a reliance solely upon underbidding by the Government as the means of securing to it the whole business, and repudiate the idea of deriving any aid from penal enactments."

"The conclusion to which I have come is, that we should first reform all the evils complained of, so far as they have any real existence, and by this means satisfy and propitiate an enlightened public. Remove all just causes for dissatisfaction, and the dissatisfaction will soon cease ; and that public, which is now in some quarters willing to see your Post Office establishment go down, nay, are even ready to aid in its destruction, will soon begin to look upon it with very different feelings."

"Some have ridiculed the idea of resorting at all to the use of penal enactments, as being, under any circumstances, unavailing and incapable of execution."

January 27th, 1845. "MR. WOODBURY was in favor of reducing the postage to three cents upon letters conveyed not more than thirty miles. If you keep up the rates for short distances, you have no chance of breaking up the expresses running from the great cities. He supposed that the increase of letters by cheap postage would fully keep up the revenue, and by low rates you will break up the great evil now complained of, and which we were aiming to reach - the expresses."

January 28th, 1845. MR. MILLER "objected that five cents for 100 miles would not meet the, competition of private expresses, nor ten cents for greater distances. * * To compete with them the reduction should be to 5 cents. Besides, unless for short distances the reduction was to 3 cents, none of the correspondence carried by private hands or private expresses, would come into the mail."

January 28th, 1845. MR. MERRICK said,

"First make a reasonable reduction of postage to meet the expectation of the public, and then trust to restringent laws to protect the monopoly of the Department. That was the only practicable way of putting down the private competition of these expresses, so injurious to the Post Office revenue."

January 28th, 1845. "MR. WOODBURY considered the proposition of three cents for short distances, and so on ratably for greater distances to ten cents, likely to effect both objects - that of putting down the expresses and increasing the revenue."

January 29th, 1845. "MR. MILLER felt assured that the rates and distances proposed in the original bill would fail of meeting public expectation, or of remedying the grievances complained of by the Department in relation to the interference of private or public expresses."

January 29th, 1845. MR. SIMMONS said, "What was the object in view in the passage of this bill 1 To prevent the interference of expresses, and to preclude the carrying of letters by private hands." * * It was manifest, then, that the reduction proposed by the Senator from Maryland would not have the slightest influence upon this private interference."

January 29th, 1845. MR. BREESE said, The present high rates have brought the Department and the a stem into disrepute, and means are sought by which to be relieved from its oppressions. Penal laws cannot effect the object. It is in vain to resort to them. Your law must be in accordance with public sentiment, or it will be evaded." * *

"Mr. B. repeated that he did not believe any such measure as the one now proposed would gratify the public. * * They (the people) will see that letters are carried more than one hundred miles for five or six cents, (by the private mails), and they will demand that the government shall carry them for the same, or they will abandon the use of the mails and patronize private enterprise. This is natural : and all the penal laws you can enact will not prevent it."

January 30th, 1845. MR. PHELPS said,

"In spite of all the penal enactments that could be devised, so long as private expresses would carry single letters for 5 cents while the government charged 10, penal laws would be disregarded, and the expresses would flourish and be sustained by public sentiment."

February 3d, 1845. MR. MERRICK said,

"The point in which the whole success of the measure depended, was the protection of the Department from the competition of the private expresses."

February 6th, 1845. MP. SIMMONS said,

"One question presented is, whether or not the reduction to ten cents for distances over one hundred miles will remove one of the difficulties in our way, which is the interference of private mails or expresses in the business of letter carrying, and the consequent reduction of our receipts."

"I have no faith in the sentiment that you can prevent the people of this country from employing such of their own citizens as will do their work the cheapest, by a system of prosecutions such as this bill contemplates ; and I should have no favor for it if I thought it would produce that result.

"I believe the right and the only practicable way to command business sufficient to support the Post Office Department is to do it better and cheaper than individuals can. This the government can afford to do, and is, in my judgment, bound to do. The power to establish a mail was conferred on the government in this expectation, and for this purpose. It was not given to enable the government to make exorbitant charges for service, much less to enable it to enforce a compliance with them, if made. I think the existing charges for letter-carrying are of this character; and I am not disposed to denounce all who afford or employ other means of communication than the United States mail."

"If further reduction is refused, the people will, in greater numbers than at present, leave your mail, and seek other modes of conveyance. They may regret this, but they will submit to 'the necessity that impels them to the separation.' No man can expect any thing else who knows the history, or can appreciate the character of this people."

"The Post Office Department is at present without adequate means, because it has not the public opinion in its favor. This will continue as long as the cause of it is allowed to remain, and after the passage of this bill, as well as now, unless our postage is as low as that of individual carriers. Our object should be to gain the good opinion and business of the public."

"A prudent course demands an effectual reduction - one that will secure the business to our mail. Can we hope to do this by reducing our charge for letter-carrying from threefold, as it now is, to double the rates charged by our competitors, as he proposes? Individuals have not succeeded in taking the business from the mail by such a course; they underbid to get business, and do the same to regain it when lost. It is a new idea that this may be easier done by a prosecution for penalties, as this bill contemplates. Nobody should expect to succeed in getting custom for the mail by prosecuting or persecuting the people whose support it wants. There are obvious reasons against trying such an experiment."

"Do you expect to induce people to patronize your mail by commencing prosecutions against them 1 If any individual were to propose to do any such thing, he would be thought a fit subject for a mad-house."

February 6th, 1845. "MR. PHELPS said the bill would be ineffectual, and you would never get rid of these expresses until you carry as cheap as they do. There is only one course to be taken, and that is to come down in your prices and satisfy the public that you carry letters as cheap for them as any one else will do."

February 7th, 1845. MR. ATHERTON "urged the necessity and great importance" of an amendment to the effect that the postage of letters not exceeding 50 miles be 3 cents; saying " it was on short distances that competition had to be put down, which could only be done by a reduction to 3 cents."

In the House.

February 25th, 1845. MR. DANA said,

"The condition of the Post Office Department itself requires some change in the system. The Department is running down-its revenues and its accommodations are diminishing." * *

"Your high rates of postage have driven the letters from the mails, and they have found cheaper channels of transportation. On nearly every important mail route expresses have been established. They carry letters at one third or one fourth of the regular postage, and deliver them personally as soon, if not earlier, than the mailed letters are ready for delivery at the Post Office. The people find them a great convenience. They don't know how to dispense with them, unless you will so modify your Post Office system as to provide a substitute."

" What is the remedy for the diversion of the letters from the mails? Some of our friends suggest that it is to be found in penal enactments. * * But your penal laws against the expresses will remain a dead letter upon your statute book. Public opinion is against them-they cannot be executed. * * Nothing can be more absurd than to attempt to fetter the great mass of the people, contrary to their will, by penal laws. * * Such laws cannot be executed here. If it is as easy, as some suggest, to suppress the expresses by prosecutions, why has it not been done ? They are in constant, open, and avowed operation."

" The Department is here openly braved. If it be so easy to put down the expresses, why has it not been done? "

"What then is the remedy? Reduction-make your conveyance the cheapest and best. To do this you must reduce the rates of postage radically, and at once. Bring them down below competition, and do it now. Wait for another Congress to assemble and it may be too late. As yet the people have not taken a decided stand against you-they are waiting for your action. Reform your system, cheapen postages, expedite transportation, and the people will go with you, and sustain you. They will clear the expresses and all other impediments from your path. Adjourn without doing any thing, and when you assemble here again you will find the Department bankrupt, new and extended facilities provided to dispense with mail accommodations, and a large majority of the people disposed to encourage and patronise them. A reduction that would have been satisfactory at the last session would be unavailing now ; one which would be gladly accepted at this session would be contemned at the next. The longer you delay, the greater must be the concession. A .5 cent uniform rate of postage now will bring all letters into the mail. A 2 or 3 cent rate will be required for that purpose when you meet again. Come down, then, at once, with a good grace, to 5 cents, and agitation will cease. Delay, and the demand will continue to increase, and agitation become more violent. The ultra reductionists hope there will be no action at this Congress; they think us behind the spirit of the age, and are willing to endure the infliction of high postage another year, in the expectation of a greater reduction than can now be had. Sir, their calculations are correct - the consequences they anticipate will surely come. But I hope that this question may not be thrown over; that we shall act promptly and liberally -respond to the just demands of the people, and quiet this agitation. The Post Office will thus regain its lost popularity."

"The first object is to get rid of the expresses and private mails. Any reform short of this is futile and useless. A cheap and dear system of postage cannot long continue in operation together. Cheapen your system, or the expresses will drive you off the road."

March 1st, 1845. MR. PATTERSON said, "There appears to be no difference of opinion, from one end of the land to the other, that the present rates of postage are inequitable and grievously burdensome, rendering the Post Office Department so unpopular with the people as to make it impossible to prevent its revenues from being infringed upon by private enterprise in a thousand ways, in bold and open violation of the laws. As deplorable and demoralizing as this state of things is, it will continue so long as the people have before them daily evidence of the great injustice of the rates of postage, in the fact that private enterprise will perform the service for one third the money."

A bill passed the Senate at this session, fixing a uniform rate of postage of five cents, for a half ounce, for all distances. This bill was sent to the House, and there changed so as to fix the rates at five cents, for three hundred miles, and ten cents for any greater distance. In this form it was agreed to by the Senate, and became a law.

No Considerable debate was had in the House at either session. In 1845, debate was cut off by the "previous question."

THE ACTION OF CONGRESS IN 1843, CONTRASTED WITH THAT IN 1844 AND 1845.

To see more distinctly the effect produced upon the minds of Congress, by the establishment of private mails, and the denial of the power of Congress to prohibit them, we have but to contrast the action of Congress immediately before those events, with their action immediately afterwards - as follows:

February 28th, 1843, the Senate passed a bill, fixing the rates of postage for a "single sheet,"

At 5 cents for 30 miles,
at 10 cents fo 100 miles
at 15 cents fo 220 miles
at 20 cents for 400 miles
at 25 cents for all over 400 miles.
And double and triple those rates for double and triple letters. This bill was sent to the House, and on the 2d of March, 1843, amended so as to fix the rates of postage, at
5 cents under 50 miles, and
10 cents over 50 miles
for quarter ounce letters; and double and triple those rates for the second and third additional quarter ounce.

This amendment could hardly be considered a reduction, except on the condition of the people's stinting themselves to quarter ounce letters. Under this amendment, letters weighing over a quarter of an ounce, would pay 10 cents for all distances under 50 miles, and 20 cents for all distances over 50 miles.

As regards letters weighing over a quarter of an ounce, this would probably have been a positive increase on the old rates of postage.

On the same day, (March 2d, 1843,) the Senate "disagreed " to this amendment of the House, without a division. On the 3d of March, 1843, the House insisted on its amendment, and asked a conference. On the same day, the Senate insisted on their disagreement, and granted a conference. But the conference made no report, and it being the last day of the session, the bill was lost.

This was the condition in which the postage reform stood, in both branches of Congress, on the 3d of March, 1843, the last day of the session previous to the publication of my argument, and the establishment of the private mails. The Senate proposed nothing that deserved the name of reduction. The House proposed no reduction, except on the petty and vexatious condition of restricting the people to quarter ounce letters.

On the 29th of April, 1844, (about three months after the establishment of my mails,) the Senate passed a bill, fixing the rates of postage, for a single letter,
At 3 cents for 30 miles
at 5 cents for 100 miles,
at 10 cents for 300 miles,
at 15 cents for all over 300 miles
This bill was not agreed to by the House, and the matter went over to the next session.

February 8th, 1845. The Senate, by a vote of 38 to 12, passed a bill, fixing a uniform rate of postage, of 5 cents, for a half ounce, for all distances. This bill was amended in the House, so as to make the postage
5 cents for 300 miles, and
10 cents for over 300 miles,
for a half ounce. This amendment was agreed to by the Senate, March 1st, 1845; and this was the bill that became a law.

What was it that produced, in the minds of Congress, the reamkeable changes evinced by these several bills, between the 3d of March, 1843, and the lst of March, 1845? There can be but one answer to this question.

THE EXAMPLE OF ENGLISH POSTAGE.

Some persons have supposed that the example of cheap postage in England had much to do in bringing about the reduction of postage here.

It undoubtedly did something to increase, among the people, the desire - (an unavailing desire of long standing) - for cheap postage. But it had but little effect upon Congress.

The English system went into operation January 10th, 1840; yet on January 10th, 1844, (four years after,) no change had been made in this country; and, so far as I am aware, no radical change had ever been proposed, or had many friends, in Congress. The reason was this. The diminished receipts, and the increased expenses, under the cheap system in England, caused a loss of about half their original revenue. This loss could be borne in England, because under their high rates their revenue had been about double their expenses. But in this country, the expenses had entirely consumed the revenue. And it was a fixed principle, with our government, that the department should support itself. This principle was adhered to by Congress with bigoted tenacity. The English example, therefore, really operated upon the minds of a large portion of Congress, to deter them from a reduction. It was quoted, along with other statistics, as proving that a reduction of rates would be attended with a reduction of revenue; and consequently that no reduction of rates could be made consistently with the principle of making the department sustain itself.

It was only when opposition post offices were established, and the constitutional right of individuals to establish mails had begun to be the prevalent doctrine, and Congress saw that it was only at low rates that their mails could long get any considerable number of letters to carry, that they discovered that the principle of making the department support itself was about to operate differently from what it ever had done before, viz: in favor of low rates, rather than high ones. And it was for this reason, more than any other, that the act of 1845 was passed, as the debates show. The great argument in Congress, in favor of the reduction, was, not the blessings of cheap postage, but that, without a reduction, the department would inevitably be prostrated by competition.

HALE AND CO'S LETTER MAIL.

I have said before, in my letter to Mr. Phillips, that I was the first to establish mails in avowed defiance of the authority of Congress," - " on the principle that Congress had no Constitutional power to forbid the establishment of mails by the States, or by private individuals, in competition with the mails of the United States and "that I was the first to invite the government to test that question before the judicial tribunals."

This renders it necessary that I should make an exhiliration in regard to the mails of Hale & Co.

The clandestine transmission of letters through the Expresses established for the transportation of packages and merchandise, had doubtless been carried on for years previous to 1844, as appears by the Annual Reports of the P. M. General in 1841, (and document D. appended thereto,) 1842 and 1843.

A case of this kind was tried in New York, in November, 1843, before Judge Betts. On this trial, Judge Betts held that the statutes of Congress prohibiting the setting up of "any foot or horse post," and forbidding "any stage coach, or other vehicle, packet boat or other vessel," to carry letters, did not apply to passengers on board vessels and land carriages.

The omission to prohibit passenger posts was obviously accidental, occasioned by the fact that, at the time these statutes were passed, (1825 and l827,) there were no railroads, and comparatively few steamboats in the country, and the facilities for establishing passenger posts had not become such as to attract the attention of Congress.

Under cover of this decision, that the letter of the laws then in existence did not apply to passengers, Hale and Kimball, as appears by their advertisement, commenced carrying letters, between New York and Boston, December 21, 1843, thirty-two days before my mails were started, and about twenty days before the publication of my argument.

The point of distinction between Hale & Co. and myself is this:

They made no denial of the validity of the then existing laws of Congress, or of the Constitutional power of Congress to pass other laws prohibiting passenger posts; they only evaded the plain design of the law, by availing, themselves of an accidental omission in its letter, after the omission had been pointed out to them by Judge Betts. They acted within the letter of the law, although they violated its spirit. I denied and disproved, not only the validity of the then existing laws, but the Constitutional power of Congress to pass any other laws, prohibiting either passenger posts, or any other private posts, which individuals or the States might choose to set up on the highways of the nation. I established my mails avowedly on that principle, (as will appear from my advertisements, an extract from which is quoted on pages 24 and 25,) - published an argument in defence of it - sent copies of that argument to Congress, and publicly challenged,* and privately invited, the P.M. General to test that question (so far as my advertisement, before mentioned, was such a challenge).

There was nothing in the movement of Hale & Co. to threaten the security of the government monopoly, or to coerce the government into a reduction of postage. Congress had only to supply the omission in the letter of the law, (as they could do in three lines,) so as to make it apply to passenger posts, as well as to "horse," "foot," and other private posts, and their monopoly would then have been perfectly safe as against Hale & Co.[7] And the action of Congress in 1843, (as has already been exhibited,) sufficiently proves that Congress would have supplied this omission, without making any very important reduction in the postage, had not the Constitutional question been raised. But the want of Constitutional power, which I alleged and proved, on the part of Congress, to pass any prohibitory laws at all, was an omission, which Congress could not supply; and this it was that opened the door to the general establishment of private mails throughout the country, and compelled a reduction, as the only means left of sustaining the Department.

It was not the evasions, either of the intent or the letter, of the existing laws, that alarmed Congress for the safety of their monopoly; for those evasions had been going on for years, as Congress were particularly informed by the P. M. General, as early as 1841. But it was, (as the P. 0. Committee of the Senate said,) 11 the unblushing violation, and open defiance, of the laws, and, (as the P. 0. Committee of the House said,) "the impudent assumption that the government of the United States had no Constitutional power to restrain or punish " the establishment of private mails, - that created the first effervescence in Congress. And it was this same "unblushing violation," "open defiance," and "impudent assumption, sustained, as they chanced to be, by argument which could not be met, by several of the most influential presses in the country, by the opinions of large numbers of the bar, by the intimation of Judge Story, by the declaration of Senator Woodbury, and doubtless also by the opinions of many other members of Congress who did not think it wise to express them in advance of a decision by the Supreme Court, that compelled the general admission, on the part of Congress that their iniquitous usurpations over the free transmission of intelligence could not be maintained, and that the only means by which the Post Office Department could be saved from prostration, was a reduction of postage.

That the P. M. General considered the mail of Hale & Co., and the grounds on which they acted, as of little or no importance, is evidenced by the fact that in his report, before given, in part, (p. 28,) although he goes into particulars in regard to my mails, he does not so much as mention Hale & Co., although they commenced carrying letters thirty days before I did.

In short, their mails were only a new form of evasion, involving no principle, and based on no denial of the authority of Congress, and could therefore be of no practical importance as coercive of a reduction of postage.

BACK TO BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1]When it is considered that judges are always extremely reluctant to hold any legislation unconstitutional, and that the Supreme Court of the United States have never, except, I think, in one or two instances only, held a law of Congress unconstitutional, since the foundation of the governments I think those who knew Judge Story, will hardly suspect that he would thus have gone beyond the necessities of the case then before himi and thrown out so distinct an intimation against the power of the govemment, at a time too when his opinion would naturally have so much influence in encouraging the establishment of additional private mails, and in inducing the public to give them their support, to the prejudice of the revenues of the government, unless he were not only clear in his own mind on the question, but had also learned the opinions of his associates on the bench of the Supreme Court-(as he could hardly have failed to do-for that Court remained together at Washington some two or three months after the agitation of the question had commenced.)

[2] Were the question a new one." The Constitution is the same now, on this point, that it was when it was " new," and the constitutional question is, therefore, the same now that it would have been then.

[3] The Postmaster General here misrepresents my proposed admission, by leaving out the most important part of it. Before starting my mails, I informed him of my intention to start them, and added, "I shall be ready at any time to answer to any suit, which you may think it your duty to institute. "Until I know the course intended to be pursued by the Department, I can of course give no assurance as to the defence I shall choose to make. I will say, however, that if an amicable suit only should be instituted, it is not my present intention to put you to any trouble in proving facts, or to take advantage of any defects in the existing law; but to meet the constitutional question fully and distinctly." Previous to this time, Judge Betts had decided that there was a loop-hole in the law prohibiting private posts, which prevented its applying to passengers on board public conveyances. Judges Story, Sprague, and Conklin subsequently confirmed this opinion, while it was controverted by Judges Randall and Heath. It was this defect, (which was sufficient for my defence), that I proposed to take no advantage of, if an amicable suit only should be instituted. But it was no part of his purpose to try the constitutional question-but only to break me down by brute force, without having either the law or the constitution on his side-and hence my proposal was declined.

[4] In this report, the Postmaster General seeks to convey the impression that he considered my conduct plainly illegal. If he really did so consider it, it was his morn duty to have me prosecuted; and he would have committed perjury in neglecting to do so-for the law which he was sworn to execute, required him to "prosecute offences against the post office establishment." Yet, after my mails had been in operation some weeks, three or four, I think, an agentof the department called upon my counsel, Josiah Howe, Esq., of New York City, and proposed that if I would then desist from conveying letters, no prosecutions should be instituted on account of those that had been carried. And it was only when this proposition was promptly and peremptorily rejected, that the prosecutions were commenced.

[5] Undoubtedly "the law was the same in both (all) the States; "but the Judges in New York and Massachusetts, proved to be different from those in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The Postmaster General never obtained any verdicts in New York or Massachusetts. It is proper to say, however, that all the decisions were made upon the construction of the statute, and not upon the meaning of the constitution.

[6]See the full report of his speech in the Tri-weekly National Intelligencer of February 1, 1845.

[7]That Hale & Co. had no intention of contesting any principle, is evidenced not only by the fact that they made no denial of the power of Congress, when they commenced carrying letters, but also by the fact that the P. M. General, in his report, before given, (page 28,) makes no allusion to them, or to any one but myself, as having invited him to test the Constitutional question; and still further by the fact that, on the very day that the omission in the letter of the law was supplied, (so as to make it apply to passengers,) Hale & Co. abandoned their business - though their pockets were full of money-thus showing that they had no idea of spending any money in defence of any Constitutional principle, that was important to the public, or restrictive of the power of Congress.