The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-10-15
THE POSTAL SYSTEM
THE TELEGRAPH AND TELE-
PHONE SHOULD BE
PART OF 1T.
ITS LEGAL ASPECT DISCUSSED

An Inquiry Into the Constitutionaiitv
of the Government Ownership and
Operation of these Means of Commun
meteorological to the PROPOSE
ton Answered. Franchises of the
Telegraph Lines Already Belong to
the Government by Act of Congress.
From the American Law Review.
Many who admit the great advantages,
nay, the necessity of the telegraph and
telephone being operated as part of the
postal system, are deferred by the in
quiry, is it constitutional In truth it is
unconstitutional for this essential branch
of the postal system to be operated by a
private monopoly, or in any other man
ner than by the government.
When the constitution placed the post
Office in the hands of the government, it
conferred its exclusive operation, and
with it all means of operating it to the
best advantage, upon the government.
The same clause of the Constitution of
the United States cart. /, Sec. s. which
empowers Congress to declare war, raise
and support armies and navy, to coin
money, regulate commerce and borrow
money on the credit of the United States,
includes the provisions to establish
post offices and post roads" 1t the
power OF the government is exclusive as
to the other provisions it is SO also to the
post office for all these powers are con-
ferred by the same clause and by the
same words, in the same breath as it
were The numerous and decisions of
the United States Supreme Court hold
ing the power of Congress over the post
Office and the carrying of mails to be
exclusive renders unnecessary any discus
sion of an undisputed point. 1t is inter
esting to note, however, that in 1886,
Hon. John @. Calhoun, the leader of the
strictest constructionists who denied to
the general government all powers not
already granted, in report made by
him IS chairman of committee of the
United States Senate said sit must be
borne in mind that the power of Congress
over tie postoffice and the mail is an ex-
elusive power" These words have been
cited and approved by the Supreme
Court of the United States in the case of
exparte JACKSON SD recently as the SO
United States Reports on page 734.
The bestowal of the exclusive right and
duty TO operate the postoffice carried
with it the exclusive right and duty to
use all the agencies that would make the
postofice most highly efficient, as such
agencies, from time to time, should be
or invented. On this principle
the first telegraph line was built by
appropriation under
$ strict construction administration
(Polk's) and the telegraph belonged to
the government from 1914 to 1847, and
when under mistaken notions of economy
it was then turned over to private owner
ship, Henry Clay, the great leader, and
Gave Johnson, the Democratic Postmas
ter General, were among the public men
who went on record as earnestly
protesting against such step. In
deed, the Supreme Court of the United
States, in an unanimous opinion, has
held that the telegraph came within the
grant of power to establish the postoffice.
That opinion, delivered by Chief Justice
Waite, says:
1.-THE powers thus granted are not con-
fined to the instrumentalities of the pos
tai service, known or in use when the
constitution was adopted; but they keep
pace with the progress of the country
and adapt themselves to the new devel-
opments of time and circumstances.
They extend from the horse with its
rider to the stage coach; from the sail
ing vessel to the steamboat; from the
coach and steamboat to the railroad, and
from the railroad to the telegraph, as
these new agencies are successfully
brought into use to meet the demands OF
increasing population and wealth" Pen
sacola va. Tel. Co., 96 u. S., 1.
And Justice FL. B. Brown, who is re-
cognized as one of the ablest members
of the United States Supreme Court, in
the leading article in the August Forum
says: ''1f the government may be safely
intrusted with the transmission of our
letters and papers, see no reason why
it may not also be intrusted with the
transmission of our kilograms and par
GELS, as is almost universally the case in
Europe" Congress placed the same
construction on its powers, by chapter
$50, Acts 1865, which provides that all
telegraph lines thereafter built should be
constructed under the notice. and only
after the company signing a contract,
that the government may at any time
take over such telegraph lines upon pay
ing the value Of its material.
1t will be noted just here that, so far
az railroads are used for the transmits
sion of mail, they were promptly, and
from the beginning, adopted and used
exclusively by the postoffice. Whether,
in so far as railroads are used for the
entirely different purpose of carrying
passengers and freight, they shall be
taken over by the government, is an en-
tirely different question, standing on its
own basis, which has never affected the
undeniable right and duty of the govern
ment to use them exclusively, so far as
they are used for the carriage of mails.
But the telegraph and telephone $50 far
as used by the public for hire are, and.
can be, only used for the transmission of
mail, and unquestionably come within
the exclusive grant to the government of
operating the postoffice The telegraph
ord +aIarbnua ara cirn pIu tho aIoot vi n