Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1862-02-06


suppose that he believes that virtue is not
my special weakness. or else he would not
have called me in this paragraph. in his
sarcastic way. the virtuous CoLfAx." But
let this pass. He concludes:
alt is well enough as it is, now that the
franking privilege is abolished. There let
it remain.
! want the privilege Of the newspapers
to load down our mail trains free of pos
tage abolished. inst as | wanted and ad.
vocated the abolition of the franking priv
ilege of members. And that is all the
comment propose to make on that arti-
Gle.
There are other structures written with
better feeling. This bill is, as they con-
ceive. striking at their interest. / regret
ted to have to do it; but it is necessary. in
order to raise sufficient revenue. to legislate
unfavorably on q great many interests of
this country. which will be found out, /
fear, before we get through with this ses-
sion. 81
am not insensible to the condemnation
OF the press, although do not shrink. as
think my course proves, before it, and
those who profess to be indifferent to this
many tongued chronicle and critic. really
fear its censure more than do. value
its approval just as much as any member
Of Congress. Nor am I surprised at its
hostility to this bill, understanding as they
do that it effects their interest unfavorably.
But know. also, that the press is not in
fallible, and ! have right to this. being q
member of the profession myself. A few
years ago / voted in a small minority OF
twelve against bill which the leading
press of the country demanded that Con-
grcss should pass. 1t was bill compell-
ing witnesses to 60 before investigating
committees, and there to testify to their
own guilt, saying in the same bill that if
they did they should be exempted from the
responsibility of criminal trial therefor.
| voted against that bill-and l believe
that / am the only one Of the twelve now
remaining in Congress-because my con-
victions told me that it was wrong, unwise
and injudicious. For this l was assailed
by two New York papers, and attacked at
home, although fully sustained by my con-
stituents afterwards, as knew / should
be. 1t has been tested. Under it Floyd,
Russell. and number of others charged
with abstracting bonds. &C.. from the
Treasury. have been exempted from prose
cution, because they testified before inves-
tigating committees. and every peculator
now desires summons to testify for the
same reason. The result is Just what l
expected, and the universal belief now is,
that that bill does not carry out the object
intended. And the House the other day
by an unanimous vote struck out the
prominent features of that bill and substi-
tuted others, relieving it of those obnox-
ious and grossly unwise provisions.
A New York paper of great ability, and
one which read with much interest. es-
pecialIy when l agree with it. (the New
York Tribune. J in the same issue that con-
tains the condemnation of this bill has an
editorial on the franking privilege. 1
quote the paragraph:
1.-The Post Office, it is affirmed and be-
lieved, is heavy tax on the Federal
Treasury. because of the low rates of post
age Make everything pay ard let as seel
If this should not choke the deficit we shall
be willing to have postal facilities curtail-
ed or rates of postage raised so as to make
the Department self-supporting. But so
long as the Government loads the mails
with free matter it were absurd to complain
that the mails are not self-supporting.-
How conld they 5e?'
answer, $50 long as the newspapers
load the mail trains with free matter it
were absurd to complain that the mails
are not self-supporting."
The article goes on:
FINALLY these are the times which ina
peratively demand retrenchment Euery-
thing IN reason must be done to sweH tie re-
ceipss and diminish The outgoes of the FEEDER
al Treasury. The abolition of trankins is
one step in the rigM direction. Let there be
no mincfng or Aalving II, and let ii be thor
oagA and complete"
Mr.. Speaker, the abolition Of the frank
ing is one step in the right direction. l
agree with him in that. "Let there be no
mincing or halving it. and let it be thor
ough and complete" 1t is exactly what
we are trying to do.
But, sir. all this proves nothing if the
bill is not right; and wish to say to every
gentleman in the House. if he does not
conscientiously believe the bill is right.
will not ask him. out of any consideration
for our committee, to vote for it. and thus
expose himself to the same kind of unfa-
vorable criticism as that aimed at us.
/ would rather bear it alone.
come now TO to the next point in this
discussion. The Constitution authorizes
Congress to establish post offices and post
roads. We can ascertain with absolute
certainty what the original intention of the
trainers Of the Constitution was by the ex-
position which they gave it by their acts
during a long series OF years. For the
first fifty six years Of our national history,
from 1889 up to 1845. the universal rule.
and one which up to that time unquestion-
ed was that all mailable matter should go
through the mails. They prohibited from
going outside the mails, letters. newepa-
pers, pamphlets. and periodicals of any
kind, and they were properly transmitted
by the mails. g sassi
If we go back to early Congresses we
shall find that their intention was also to
make the Post Office Department. self-sus-
tanning. In 1892. the first Congress pass
ed an act. under the Constitution. estsb-
liebfno nocfal cvetoxn and In that Art