The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1896-04-16

mens and In the course o, his remarks
aid:
-BiIls similar To this one have bcrn
before nearly every Congress since
1885. In all mere than 20 bills have
been introduced to provide for easip-
ping the postal service with the mod
een facilities of electric mails by the
use Of the telephone and the telegraph
Com mitsees Of the House and the sen
ate have made Is reports on these va
rious bilis- az these Is reports. only
two have been adverse, while L. al
them have strongly favored the pro
visions Of . postal telegraph
lie then TOOK up the constitutional
phase OF this question, and showed
that he had given IL much investiga-
ton and study. lie cited AZ some
length the highest authorities To show
that the bill is constitutional, and
furt her that IL is plainly and positive
~ unconstitutional for Congress not
TO provide for the use Of the telegraph
and telephone IS agencies OF our postal
system under the management of the
post Office department..
In doing this he quoted from Con-
gressional reports, from the Constito-
ton itself, the Supreme court, Prof.
i
Johnson, who was Postmaster Gener-
al un.,-r Jas X. Polk }, ex-Posfmas,-r-
General Matchmaker. Associate jus
tic- Brown, of the L. :. Supreme court,
Aua ,art"u, mh-ss. Among the eta
tiou, which viii be- OF interest To North
Carolina people is an expression OF
JudS- Walter Clark of the n. &. SUI
prcm- court, which is rs follows:
Many who admit the great adyAnt-
ages, nay, the necessity Of the tele-
graph and the telephone being opera
ted as part of the postal system are
deferred by the inquiry. us II consti-
tutional?" In truth IL is unconstitu-
tional for this essential branch OF the
postal system to be operated by pri-
vate monopoly or in any other manner
than by the government. When the
Constitution placed the post-oiiices in
the hands Of the government il confer
red its exclusive operation upon the
government, and with it all means of
operating it to the best advantage.
The bestOwal OF exclusive right and
duty to operate pOst-ofiices carried
| with it beyond question the exclusive
| right and duty to use all the agencies
that would make the post-oilice most
highly efficient as such agencies, from
time to time, should be improved or
invented. On this principle the first
telegraph line was built by Congress
siOnal appropriation under an admin
istratiOn which, by that period in
its history, had become a strict-con-
structive administration (Tyler's }, and
the telegraph belonged to and was OPP
Grated by the government from 1874 70
1916, in Folks administration"
Mr.. BUTLER further said: Judge
Clark in addition has prepared very
clear, yet short and concise statement
as to the ccnstitutiOnality Of a pos
tai telegraph, showing it uncon-
stitutional for the Government not to
take charge of the telegraph and tele-
phone as instruments Of the postal
system, which was published in the
American Law Review few month.
ago. For the convenience of the Senate
and especially the Committee on Post.
Offices and POst-Roads, in considering
this bill. | ask that it be placed in tn,
same Senate document with the sum
mary of the hearings of the committe,
by Professor Parsons"
The day was a carnival day in tn,
pension business in the Senate. Abou
seventy-tive pension bills were passed
IL iA'S ihihuteS, oplouS tuch the IOl
lowing:
Increasing to $50 monthly the pen
sions to the widows of Lieut.. Com
mander Rhodes, of the navy: Col
Black, Maj. Gen. NJ. +. Leggett, ant
, Maj. Bernard (of the Mexican war
Chief Engineer George Sewell, L. 5
A., and Lieut.. Col. SlOcum; grantin.
$75 per month to Gen. o. L. Gooding
now an inmate of st. Eiizabeth's In
! sane Asylum, Washington, ID. c., an,
SIS to the widow of Maj. Gen. Stone
man increasing the pension of Mai
, Gen. julius Stahl to 500; increasin,
| the pension of the widow of Admira
, Leroy to 800; granting $75 MONTH,
to the widow of Rear Admiral Fyfe
and granting pension to Gen. Coope
, of 500 monthly.
Fifteen pension bills introduced.
|; FRIDAY, APRIL 10TH-sENATE.
Nine pension bills introduced.
Appropriation bills were discussed
during the day.
. EOuse,
Fifteen pension bills introduced an,
, large number passed.
SATURDAY, APRIL 18TH.
The Senate was not in session.
Twelve pension bills introduced il
the House.