The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-07-10

hese 10 DC found IN chapter u on the once OF dep
uy postmaster il is directed that the duties of his
office "must be performed by himself, personally or
by a sworn assistant or assistants whom he may
employ to aid him when necessary; for the care and
attention OF every one of whom, he will be himself
responsible to the department.
The law then gave TO the deputy postmaster
funds out Of which he received his own compensa-
uon, and betrayed the expenses of his Office From
the nature and extent of his duties, he required as.
slstants to enable him to perform Them These as
slsants he was authorized to select and compensate.
The mode Of compensation made il his interest to
consult economy, and judicious selection is in
sured by his responsibility for their conduct. To
perfect the system in this particular the law gave to
the General Post Office controlling power TO SUI
pervise the expenses as well for assistants as for
other objects, and authority to prevent unnecessary
expenditure, or the employment Of larger num-
Der OF assistants than was required for the proper
performance Of appropriate duties.
The act of July 2, 1886, changed the organization
of the Post Office Department, and provided more
eectualy for the settlement of the accounts thereof
1t required that the arising in that depart
ment, and all debts due TO the same, SHALL when col
eced, be paid, under the direction of the Postmaster
General, into the treasury of the United States;
that the Postmaster General shall submit to Con-
gress at each annual session, specific estimates of
the sums Of money expected to be required for the
service of the department in the subsequent year,
commencing on the first day of July, under several
specific heads-the first of which is, Compensation
to postmasters;'' and the third section requires
that the aggregate sum for the service of the Post
Office Department, in each year, shall be appropr-
ated by law, out of the revenue of the department.
and that all payments of the receipts Of the Post
Office Department into the treasury, shall be to the
credit Of the said appropriations These estimates
and appropriations have been annually made. The
admirable mode of compromising postmasers, and of
defrayng their expenses of office, prescribed by the
fourteenth section of the act Of 1925, has been adj
hered to, and made the basis Of estimates, and the
rule of expenditure.
The effect of this radical change in the fiscal af-
fairs of the department, was to bring into the treas
ury all its revenues, and to keep there separate
count, creding all its gross receipts, and charging
payments for its maintenance. By annual appro-
priations, provision has been made for the compen-
sation Of postmasters; and out of these appropra-
tons, the Office expenses, inclusive of the pay of
assistants, have been betrayed. The funds so APP
propriated and paid, were, by this act, expressly
declared to be the revenue of the Post Office Depart
ment, and as collected revenue, applied by appropri-
alton to these objects of expenditure.
In this state of the law, the act of Sd March,
lS45, was passed 1t is entitled San act to reduce
the rates Of postage, to limit the use and correct
the abuse of the rankng privilege, and for the pre-
vention of frauds the revenues of the Post Office
Department" 1t was manifest that this reduction
of the rate was very great and, although it was
ticpated that corresponding increase of mai-mat-
ter would be invited into the Offices, two sections
were introduced, to guard against the possible in
terruption of the post Office system, by reason Of
inadequate revenues BY the twcnty-frst section,
il is enacted, shat, for the purpose of guarding
against the possibility of any embarrassment in
the operation Of the Post Office Department, con-
sequent on any deficiency of the revenues of the
said department, which may be occasioned by the
reduction of the rates Of postage by this act made,
there be, and hereby is appropriated seven hundred
and fifty thousand dollars, to be paid out of any
money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated,
and to be placed to the credit Of the Post Office De-
partment in the treasury of the United States, to
be applied, under the direction of the Postmaster
General, to supplying any deficiency in the regular
revenues of the said department are now by law
applied"
the hostages collected from the rates of postage pre-
scribed, with the annual appropriation ofseven hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars shall prove insuffi-
cient to defray the expense of the mail serpice
throughout the United States, to extent equal TO
what is now enjoyed by the public, and also the ex-
pense of extending and enlarging the same, in due
proportion with the increase and expansion of the
population, particularly in the new States and Ter
ritories, the deficiency that may SO arise shall be
paid out of any moneys in the treasury not other
wise appropriated: provided the amount Of expendi-
ure for the Pos, Office Department. shall not in the
entire aggregate exceed the annual amount of four
million FIVE hundred thousand dollars, exclusive OF
the salaries of officers, clerks, and messengers OF
the General Post Office, and of the contingent fund
of the same.
These two sections must be construed together.
They are in pari aierid, and the is the context
of the other. The expenditure of the sum appro-
prated in the twcnty-frst, necessarily affects to its
full extent, the amount which the Postmaster Gene
raj may expend under the twenty-second section.
"In the exposition Of statute, the leading clew to
the construction to be made is the intention of the
legislature. As primary rule, 1t IS to be collected
from the words; it is to be gathered from the
sion and necessity of the aw-being the causes
which moved the legislature to enact it." "The
construction Of statute, like the operation Of de-
wise, depends upon the apparent intention OF
the maker, to be collected either from the
particular provisions, or the general context"
aWords and phrases, the meaning of which, in a
statute, has been ascertained are, when used in a
subsequent statute, to be understood in the same
sense" But where words have not been SO employ
ed and their construction established, learned judges
have felt themselves bound to construe them ac-
cording to their plain and popular meaning. The
application of these familiar rules to the laws this
subject appears to me to lead us to conclusions SO
plainly, that | cannot doubt as to their correct
ness.
The rates of postage established by law, at the
date of the passage Of the act of the Sd March, 1845
had produced a revenue sufficient to maintain the
post office establishment Its annual expenses, in all
its parts did not exceed four and half millions OF
dollars The declared intention Of Congress in that
act, u.s. that the public shall continue to enjoy the
same extent of mail service, whatever practical re-
suits on the receipts of the department might be
wrought by the reduced rates Of postage. This adj
vantage to the public was certainly to be secured
and the expenditures of the system, exclusive of
those of the General Post Office might 60 up to, but
could not exceed, four millions and half of dollars.
The primary fund is its own revenues; in aid Of
them, is given the appropriation of seven hundred
and fifty thousand dollarsin the twenty-frst section;
and, if defciency still exist, it may be made up by
drafts on the treasury to the maximum of four
millions and a half. The proviso excerpts the ex-
penses of the General Post Office; thus showing
that this division of the department would have
been included, but for the exception The rule
ercepfio unis erclisio aiteru applies in full force,
and justifes the conclusion that this appropriation
was intended to enable the Postmaster General to
carry on, efficiently, the other branches of the sys-
en,--the post offices, as well as the transportation
ofthe mail. This construction is strengthened by
the provisions of the twenty-frst section defcef1-