National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1885-12-05

Senate the better for all concerned.
The Postmaster General and the For
eign Mails.
For the first time In the history Of the
country q Cabinet minister has to appear
in his first report to Congress as an In
dieted party pleading in his own defense
for the violation of law. That the con-
dition Of Postmaster General Villas.
The NATIONAL REPUBLICAN, by the pub-
LEGATION of the map of the steamship routes
on the Pacific, and its plain exposition OF
the law and the facts forced the Postmaster
General to attempt in advance of the meet
ing of Congress a defense of his action,
which defense was in the nature of plea
in avoidance, but which, like his report
lacks both truth and strength.
Mr. Villas in his report twice refers, on
pages 1S and 80, to the "foreign mail SER
vice" In his first reference he very dis
ingenuously attempts to show that more
money was paid out for foreign mail SER
vice than was received from that source. 1t
is only necessary to read pages 10 and 20 Of
the report to see through what an exceed
ingly small hole Mr. Villas attempts to
crawl and how utterly he fails in his efforts
to defend himself.
On page 81 Mr.. Villas treats of the act
appropriatng four hundred thousand dol
lars for carrying mails on American steam
ships. Mr.. Villas first assumes that be-
cause the word "authorized" is used in the
act he was not "directedn to make this
expenditure But il he had referred to
precedents made by some Of his Democratic
predecessors he would have found that an
act similarly worded was decided by Caleb
Cushing, when Attorney General Of the
United States in the administration of Presl-
dent Pierce, to be mandatory on the Post
master General, and as Mr.. Cushing's
opinion In that case has not been reversed
by any succeeding Attorney General or the
Supreme Court of the United States, 1t is
binding upon Mr.. Villas.
Mr. Villas next assumes that when con-
tracts are to be let to the lowest bidder,
there must be more than one bid to make
the act valid. By what process Of reason
ing Mr.. Villas arrived at this conclusion it
is impossible for an ordinary man to con-
ceive. And Mr. Villas misstates the law on
the same page where ne quotes 1t in full.
He says, "The act requires n letting to the
lowest responsible bidder after legal adver-
tisement to invite competition" The last
three words in this sentence can not be
found either in the letter or the spirit of the
law, and are simply an amendment made
to it by Mr.. Villas to try and excuse his
failure to obey plain precept.
Again Mr.. Villas excuses himself for not
using the four hundred thousand dollars
appropriated by Congress to pay American
ships for carrying American mails, sat g
rate not exceeding so cents nautical mile
on the trip each way actually Travelled be-
tween terminal points," because American
ships Travelled 2,050,000 miles, and to pay
all Of them so cents mile would require
| $1,025, COO. Mr.. Villas seems TO consider the
law mandatory" as to paying 80 cents pei
mile, and that he could pay no less thar
that, when the law plainly says he shall
"not exceed" that rate. And he fails to re
port that the owners Of the American steam
ship lines agreed to carry the mails at {
rate per mile which would bring the ex
penditurc within the appropriation.
But the most remarkable part of this very
remarkable report is that in which Mr.
Villas defends his refusal to obey the Law
upon the ground that freights are carries
by steamships at rates cheaper than 1t wa
proposed to pay for carrying the mails.
In the very report which contains thi
defense Ppm is shown that the ayeragepay
ment per mile for carrying the mails on rail
ways is one hundred 4nd twenty-one dollars
and that one company is paid over fourtce
hundred dollars per mile, while 1t is fair t
presume that Mr.. Villas knows these road
carry passengers at two cents per mile an,
freight at less than one cent per mile pc
ton. Yet steamships ought not, accordin
to Mr.. Villas, to be paid more than freigh
rates,
Mr.. Villas says, in speaking OF the ger
eral law:
The statute authorizes the entire sea and II
land postage to be paid to American steam
ships, although but sea postage may be Above
to foreign vcssels-a proof of the leglslatiy
judgment that the latter rate Is sufficient
rcmuneratIye to command the service, as III
fact is.
So far from It being ''the legislative iudl
ment" that this rate was Sufficiently n
munerative," Mr. Villas had before him
law which "directedn him to pay more tina
that rate.
Mr.. Villas sets himself up as above Coz
gress, and authorized to determine what
intended to do or not to do, In eXcuslu
his failure to obey the law, he says;
But the policy of subsidizlng America
steamship companies, or any Of them, is N
involved In the decision arrived at That pc
tains to Congress instead Of the department
and, therefore, the department. eau only awdl
just compensation and then stop.
To every mind but the obtusc one Of d
Postmaster General II Is very evident tn
Congress did intend to "subsidizen Anne
lean steamships to the amount of fol
hundred thousand dollars, by paying the
that sum for carrying the mails. If Il
Postmaster General had read the debates
Congress upon this subject, he would hay
readily seen that this was but the begl
ming Of all attempt TO rebuild the America
merchant marine, and though tho sum W,
small, and the appropriation only for OF
YEAR, rs Mr. Villas says, yet IL the ide'
which ruled when this law was passed al