Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-06-23

densely -peopled East, as of the sparsely-peopled
West;-as much, for instance, in favor of the New
| England as the Nebraska brother. II will be said
that il the Nebraska brother pays but three cents
on the letter he receives from his New England
brother, the New England brother, in turn, has TO
pay but three cents the letter he receives from
his Nebraska brother IL is true, that II his only
correspondence were with his Nebraska brothe-,
| the New. England brother would not be so much
wronged by uniform rates OF postage. But, as
general thing more than three-ourths of the cor
respondence of a New England man is with per-
sons of New England and, hence, the charges on
the great mass of his letters should be regulated
not by what it may cost to carry letters through
| the wilderness, and upon the bad roads of Ne
| braska, but upon the good roads OF cultivated
New England
Is il honest to compel one man to pay another
mans postage2 Is it honest to compel one State
| to pay another States postage The Northern
States do to great extent, pay the postage Of
| the Southern States. Slavery is said TO be the
cause OF this wrong. am aware that slavery is
fruitful of wrongs. Perhaps, this is one of them
| will pass no opinion on this point, just now.
will leave each one TO make up his own opinion
upon it, in the light of the facts of the case. In
deed there il especial reason why it does not
become me to be finding fault with slavery. For,
| if we may believe the newspapers, land we all
know, that newspaper is only another name for
| truth, am now pro-slayery man. My going
| to bed, as calm as usual, that night, when the
| final vote on the Nebraska bill was to be STAYED
off by ceaseless round Of cunningly devised yeas
| and nays, was fatal to all my Abolition fame.
NY former hOnors are now worn by others--by
others, who kept awake for liberty, during all the
| long and weary hours of that memorable night
Surely surely, if ] have, as the newspapers say,
become "a good national" and am on the eve OF
embarking in "the purchase of negroes" ought
to be chary of my words against slavery. Laugh
teri Very unseemly, very unnatural, would i be
for a young convert to speak reproachfuly of the
idol Of his new faith. But, to return from this
depression. was saying that the Northern States
have to pay much of the postage of the Southern.
While in the free portion of the nation the post
age exceeds the expenditure, in the slave portion
| the expenditure exceeds the postage; and that,
| too, by the great sum of ST ,3l1907.*
Most heartily Mr. Chairman, do rejoice, that
our post Office ship has run ashore. AS my
| amendment shows, | am willing to have it so far
patched up, that it may be kept at sea q couple
of years longer whilst other and fit craft is made
ready to take its place. After that, let the poor
| broken thing be left to lie on shore-a wreck to
admonish the people, SO long as it shall lie rottng
there, of the folly of permitting Government to
| be the carrier of their letsors and papers Now
| is the time for the people to determine to take
| their own letters and papers. Am asked how
| by what means--the people can do this work
| answer that is none of our business. 1t is no
more our business-the business OF Government
| to make this inquiry than it would be to inquire
how the people could build their roads and canals
and manage their schools and churches, without
| the Intervention of Government. Government is
to leave the people to do their own work, in their
| own way--be that way the best or the worst.
That the peoples way for carrying their own let
! tiers and papers would, however good or bad, be
| far better than the way, in which medding,
usurping Government has done it, there is not the
| least reason to doubt
| Perhaps, shall be told, that the people will
not consent to pay, in any cases, higher rates of
| postage than they now pay-no, not even if they
are recompensed fourfold for it by less rates OF
| postage in the great majority of cases. Perhaps,
shall be told that, rather than have the rates of
postage different for different distances, for any
other cause, the people will prefer to have the
| Government continue to be the mail-carrier, and
| that too, even though the Post Office Department
shall continue to sink deeper and deeper in debt.
! But the people are not SO blind to their own in
terests not to see, that the losses of the Post
| Office Department are the losses of the Treasury
and that the losses of the Treasury the losses
Of themselves. Nor are the people SO perverse
and suicidal as to array themselves, deliberately
and perseveringly against their known interests.
| Thrice welcome to my whole heart would be
| the breaking up of the Post Office Department |!
/ Not merely, however, nor even mainly, however,
| because desire reform in the Government at
| that point. II is true, that ] do deeply desire
| this particular reform, for its own sake Never
theess, my deep desire for it is chiefly because it
| would lead the way to numerous wise, and wide,
and radical reforms in the theories and practices
of civil government; and, thereby, do much
toward bringing forward the day, when civil gov
4 eminent shall be confined to its sole, legitimate
| province of protecting persons and property.
The Post Office Department broken up-and
there would, then, be no ranking privilege. In
this wise, the people would be saved much more
than million of dollars a year. According to
| some estimates, more than even two millions, a
i year. 1t may be well for me to say here that,
/ even were the mail taken out of the hands OF
Government, would still be willing to have Gov
eminent go to the expense of sending limited
amount Of printed matter, at the hands of mem
bers Of Congress OF course, it could not, in that
| event, be done in the way suggested at the be-
| ginning of my remarks. But what the Thanking
| privilege costs would not be the whole amount,
that the people would save by the breaking up
of the Post Office Department Including what
was paid to ocean mail steamers, the Post Office
Department cost the people, for the year ending
last June, nearly S3,000,000. The cost, for the
year ending the present June, will exceed the
sum of So 100000; and il is estimated, that the