The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1891-06-05
The Action.

The action OF the postmaster OIL III
PasO in refusing to allow the El Paso
ITMss to he transmitted through the
mail simply because it contained as
news an Associated Press dispatch CIV
ing a synopsis of the opinion OF the
Supreme Court of Louisiana compelling
the Secretary of State to submit at the
next election q constitutional amend
ment passed by the last general as
sembly extending the charter of the
Louisiana State Lottery twenty-five
years, is deserving of the serverest CON
domination and censure, not only be
cause of the injustice of such an arbi-
trarY proeeadingi but upon grounds OF
PUBLIC policy. 7Hhe bHsIHess manager
of the Times very praperly has this
name of Smith, arrested for unlawfully
OBTAINING mail matter, and he was
bound over to appear before a comm =
sioner for trial, but the punishment
whatever it will be, even if ever melted
out after many months of delay, wi
not fit the crime. Nothing short of alb
| solute and immediate official decapita-
ton, with whatever other punishment
the law provides, would he proper for
mails. II the United STATED mail is to
be subjected ia SUCH scrutiny and eX-
| clusioa by the postmaster at Ell laso,
| the postmasters at the various other
cities, towns, villages, hamlets and
| crossroads in the State and throughout
the United States have the same right,
power and authority, and are of course
at liberty to do Just as tho Hnqtiaaster az
81 EAso has Hone, II the 4 1stmaSter
can stop the tfansfnlSsion or news.
paper because II has in 1t the decision of
| a court in regard to the Louisiana lot
terry, he can also stop it BECAUSE it men.
tions the name of the lottery Iii 1t, ana Il
he can dn this ha can stop the k'9St, ne
cause it Incidentally mentions the
name of the Louisiana Lottery Cnn=
pany in critiGising His otncial conduct.
If no can do this, however: he can over
ride the strnl gest hulwar k of the liber=
ties of the people and violate one OF the
plainest provisions in the constitution
of the United States, thereby complete
ly thrOttling the press.
Upon grounds of public policy the
United States government should not
plerate such tampering with the mail.
1t throws open the doors to fraIt and,
if permitted, will tend to make the SER =
ice inefficient and unreliable. WhV not
detain a letter suspected Of containing
4 lottery advertisements, ana why MOI
open IL IL ascertain it the detention IS
legal? If its contents are legal why
then of course it might be permitted to
continue on its journey.
The great wrong done newspaper
publishers, however, is to allow a post
master to authoritatively detain mail
matter which in hia Qniniun is liies a.
He ought not to be permitted TO do this
| If the publisher has committed any
wrong he can be held responsible and
ba made to suffer the penalty; but 3
postmaster NAV deLain an entire edition
If a newspaper, entailing heavy loss
upon the publisher, and vet when the
matter comes to a hual trial the court
may decide that the papers are mail
able. The damage has then been done
the publisher, and there ae6ms 10 bo nc
adequate remedy for him, suppose the
politics of newspaper are objection,
able to the postmaSters generally, and
throughout the State they choose tC
hold paper because in their opinion II
is not mailable, it would thus put il
within the power of the postal dep art
ment to stop the circulation Of a news
paper and bankrupt it, leaving the
publisher with 2 let sf suits aSains
pOstmgsIeEs as Rssats. such state o
affairs leaves newspaper publishers
without adequate remedy, and to allo"
such arbitrary conduct on the part O
officIous postmastera Is contrary 10 tbs
institutions or this government, and
violation al the legal MAXIM that eact
wrong has it's adequate remedy. Hou>
ton CCeX.) Post, May 10.