The North-Carolina standard., 1849-03-07
REMARKS OF MR.. YENABLE.,'
OF NORTH CAROLINA,
Delivered in the House of Representatives, OF

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/ Mr.. SPEAKER: / would not at this time trespas
upon the patience of the House, but for the grav
importance of some of the provisions of this bill
i which have passed unnoticed in the previous discus
sion. 1t is of great consequence that this measur
be perfected and made acceptable to the country, VIII
can have deeper interest in any other. 1t address
itself to every individual in all extended
try, and will be intensely felt in the most remote an
rural, as well as the most populous regions III
conveniences of the pestIofice department have be
come so completely identified with all the comfort
of life, that the people will feel with instantaneou
Impulse any arrangement which will either enlarge
or curtail the privileges heretofore enjoyed. Witt
this view, regard the amendment of the gentleman
from Massachusetts exceedingly Objectionable Ii
| several particulars. The first would suggest, il
the discontinuanee of the privilege accorded
newspapers, to issue their publications to subscribers
within thirty miles free of postage.
My friend at the head of the Post Office Commit
I tee Mr.. Goggin1 says that he sees no reason fo
such an exemption; that there is inequality, and
course injustice, in such provision. Sir, dlte
with him altogether 1t is by this provision that the
editors of country newspapers enabled to main
tain competition with those edited and printed In
the cities. Do gentlemen forget that the true con.
servatsm of country is to be found in rural life
that great cities great and corrodng ulcers the
body polite ?-great generators of moral nuisance to
pollute and corrupt with their foul contagion all the
avenues of moral and political communication Do
they forget that newspapers cheap in proportion
to the employment of capital, the power of machiA
nery and the consequent numbers which can be is
sued in a given timie2 Every country press must
fall before such enactment Phe city papers will
absorb and destroy every country newspaper, and
leave the whole population to derive their current
news from the cities, where dense population and
corr1pting influences originate all the destructive
hereses in the moral and religious, as well as the
political world.
Sir protest against measure which is to abstract
the healthful influence ofa country population from
the formatien.of public opinion. And would here
remark, that there can evil befall to be
deplored, than that which many gentlemen seem to
desre-a dense popHlation and with 1t the accumu-
Iaton of human wants and human miseries, together
with the long array of detestable vices which uni
formly attend it. The agonizfng cries of starving
Ireland, the cenVusive threes which disturb all Eu-
rope. the omlnous presages OF the eruption OF voca-
mic fires over the face of the Old World, grow from
the destituton, the suffering, and the wants of a
crowded plethora which must either find
its cure IN atrophy or revolution. No, slr desire
to- be compelled to hear the barking of the dogs
or the Growing of thecocks of my peighbors. There
is sweetness and freshness in air which blows
from the fields and forests of country whose popu-
ation is just dense enough for social intercourse, and
sparse enough to prevent the accumulation OF human
Suffering, which is delightful and refreshing.
And when gentlemen mourn over the emigration
from the plantation States would remind them that
it is wealth which causes emigration from them,
whilst it is poverty and distress which causes the
population of manufacturing and commercial districts
to leave the scenes of their early associations; and
seek homes not invested with the horrors of want and
privaon. desire to no proud cities rear their
Seepes display their palaces in the rural State la
which in part represent. I desire not to see her
stricken down by heart diseaSe-to see her pure,
moral, and excellent country population subsidized
and controlled by the force of concentrated wealth
and population in few overgrown cities.
There those who emigrate from my own dis
trict either in pursuit of extended field for
the employment of the wealth accumulated there,
others whose increasing families invite them to the
enterprise and advantages of-a country. Whilst
1 Darf Nrifhu rJoffh u-ifh them
God speed in their journey. see no evidence of
decline, but demonstration of energy and enterprise.
In such spirit. am far from admitting that dense
population is the favorite for showing out the
high points of human character There IS fresh
ness and vigor in the purity of rural life, which gives
to society perpetual YOUTH the highest moral and
cial development, unsurpassed by the worthless ac-
compartments which grow up in artificial society.
The country newspaper press, with Its limited
number of subscribers, cannot stand before the cheap
ness Of those city publications, and they must of
cessity disappear under the additional advantage
which the latter would acquire under this amend
nent.. can never consent to see the primitive and
heathfu purity of rural people assafied and des
royed by the pesti1entaf influences of city press
press which caters to the worst passions, Pervert
ing COED taste, and introducing a low standard of
morals and of thought. No, sir; we need our coun-
try newspapers 4or local news, advertisements and,
above ALL for the discussion of matters relating to
our State policy and our state institutions. They
should be foStered and not destroyed. To the popu
dtIon OF the country WenuSL look LOT LnaL HedILny
restorative which will sustain our institutions, and
preserve our purity. This may be matter Of taste,
but prefer nosegay, the bright and fragrant flower
the ornament of the forest the field, which has
only been shone upon by the sun, and kissed by the
dew drop-to the gaadiest bouquet which ever
gathered from city garden.
Gentlemen. tell ns-and regret TO say it, gen
tleman from Virginia, Mr.: Gogginl-that Virginia
and North Carolina and the old plantation States
the benefciaries of the Government-terally on the
parish for post-ofice privileges that they receive
greatly more from the treasury for this acconmoda-
ton than they pay. He speaks Of New York, and Of
New Orleans, and other great commercial depots,
as the points which sustain the expenditures of the
departments, and the intermediate States as the pau
pers who feed on public bounty. How exceedingly
fair! Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Georgia the great thoroughfares over which the
northern and southern mails pass daily to their desti
nation, bearing the material out of which these con-
tributIons made. The contractors salaries and
other expenses over these States charged the
the proceeds. AS well might he charge the ocean
with the expense of naHgation and credit the cities
on each side with the ghts and the profits. Did
you, sir, the tolls paid the middle of the
bridge? Fhe toll-gates are on either side of the
stream. know, sir, that the mail routes from the
most remote parts of these States bring in their scat
tered communications to the great line of communi-
cations and that in going and returning, the postage
and the profits Concentrated at either end of the
line. great convex: mirror condenseS the rays off
light burning focus; and the superficial observer
does not remember that those rays, whose heat was
scarcely fet by this process produce the fire which
glows before him. the attraction at either end of
elements of revenue and profit, and the sources of
accumulation pass unobserved The letters and mail
able matter which leave the agricultural States pay
nothing where they start, but paid at the north