The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-12-03

ton by the government of lines which it will
operate in competition with existing companies.
3. The creation Of a company by which lines of
telegraph are to be supplied to the capital of
each State, and other places having q given
number of Inhabitants, or where stations are
now maintained, or the business of the country
may hereafter require them. The company, IN
consideration of the special powers conferred by
Congress-, Is, at certain reduced rates to be pre-
paid III stamps, to transmit messages at q com
pensatiOn to be paid by the United States not TO
exceed 10 per centun upon It's authorized CAPT
tai stock over and above operating expenses.
The government is obliged TO furnish at eacn
station the requisite accommodations for the Of
hcers employed in the transaction OF business,
and TO assume the duty of receiving messages.
and delivering by mail or otherwise SUCH as are
transmitted.
merely state in the most general form the
leading features of each of these plans. 1t will
be perceived that they are essentially different.
The first two that the government
shall own and operate the lines. including all the
necessary apparatus; and the third that a COM
pany shall be employed to perform the required
service at a stipulated compensation. + r
From the best consideration. which I have been
enabied to bestow upon the subject, have
reached the conclusion that Congress has the
constitutional power in providing for the postal
service of the country to avail itself of all the
facilities devised by the inventive genius of
modern times for transmitting messages and in
telllgence, and that it has full authority to
adopt either of the first Two plans which have
The establishment of a postal telegraph as a
mono oily, or in competition with private eoni-
panIeS, would, 1t Is insisted, reduce rates which
are now eXorhitant and protect the public
against the abuses and evils deemed TO be in
separable from the service as it exists. In either
event an enormous expense must be incurred.
But without dwelling upon that consideration,
it is clear that an efficient execution of either
plan will necessarily involve the employment of
a multitude of operators, messengers, mechan-
les and laoOrers, and th2s largely ada 70 the pa
tronage of the government. An increase of that
patronage beyond what Is indispensable 60 the
public service is to he deprecated ard avoided,
and it is one of the dangers which threaten the
purity and duration of our institutions. In Si-
rope the telegraph is under the control of the
public authorities. With us, the administration
Is the government in action, and may, for the
time being and for all practical purposes,
In seasons of political excitement,
and, to some extent at other times, is there not
ground for serious apprehension that the tele-
graph, under the exclusive control of the dom
inant party, might be abused to promote parti-
san purposes and perpetuate the power of the
Administration? But, if it could be kept entirely
free from such influence, L should hesitate to
sanction a measure providing that the United
States shall become the proprietor of telegraph
lines and operate them by its officers and
agents.
The incorporation of a company with a charter
having the essential features Co which / have adj
verted finds in some quarters advocates, and
has been heretofore considered by Congress-. Its
employment for the purpose in question is not
subject to some of the objections justly urged
against the other plans, and by many is pre-
ferred to either of them. A reduction of rates
will, IL is believed, be thereby secured, The
duty of receiving and delivering kilograms will
be discharged by the officers of this department.
That the adoption of this plan would result in a
considerable increase of officials and employees
is undeniable. Coneeding that Congress has au-
thority to incorporate a company and clothe it
with the power necessary for the ~effectual ac-
cOmplisnment of the purpose in view, such a
measure will inaugurate a new policy, the adop-
ton of which / do not feel at liberty to recon-
mend.
If Congress can create such a company, it
may Incorporate railway and other companies,
and contract with them for the carriage of the
mails; and If this may be done it will not be de-
MED that the government NAV build railways
and other roads, and construct aud equip YES
sells for postal purposes. The POstmaster-gen-
eral in 1900 established, at the expense of the
United States, a line Of stages for the convey
ance OF the mails between Baltimore and Phila-
delphia, and although the contract system now
prevails, Congress may unquestiOnably direct
it's abandonment and the substitution of its own
vehicles in lieu Of those furnished by the con-
tractors. Congress, by such legislation, wOuld
thus enter upon a new sphere of action which
there is reason to fear would be the first step in
a dangerous direction. The patronage of the
general government would be- enormously IN
creased. and it's jurisdiction extended to mat
tiers heretofore confined to State legislation or
private enterprise. The injurious tendency of
such legislation cannot web be overestimated.
As to telegraphic service wholly within the
several States, unless the power to establish
postotices and post-roads be successfully In
Voked. the existing rates are beyond govern
mental control. The opinion has been advanced
that inasmuch as Congress has authority to take
charge of the telegraph as a part OF the postal
system. it may do nothing in that direction and
yet prohibit citizens and private companies
from engaging in the business unless they com
ply with prescribed terms and conditions. 1t is
said that the greater pOweP necessarily includes
the less, or In other words, that the absolute
power to prohibit includes the limited power to
regulate. This doctrine has evidently
no application. 1t is only by ex-
eIcising its power in some of the modes
already discussed, or in some Rher appropriate
way, that the government can prescribe terms
upon which competition will be permitted, or
prohibit it altogether. When a line is neither
owned, controlled nor operated by the govern
ment, nor in its behalf, q telegraph company, liz
the transaction of so much OF its business as is
confined within the limits of a State, is beyond
the reach OF Congress.
have endeavOred to maintain the authority
of Congress to assume control OF the telegraph
because it has been, and still is, seriously dis
puted. The existing companies operate their
lines solely for the purpose of making money,
and, while it is doubtless true that their rates,
as a whole, are unreasonable, yet in view of
what has already been said, I do not think the
evils complained of are so grievous as to call for
congressional intervention.