400 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



UXIOX OF THE TELEGEAPII AIS^D POSTAL SEEYICE. 



By ALDEN B. IIUET. 



THE recent consolidation of competing lines of telegraph into one 

 gigantic corporation, and the consequent agitation of the ques- 

 tion of Government control by the public press, Boards of Trade, and 

 in Congress, make an inquiry into the subject of postal telegraphs, 

 at the present time, of unusual interest. 



In determining the question as to whether the United States 

 should constitute this means of communication a part of the general 

 postal system, the lirst important consideration is, whether such action 

 is authorized by the Constitution ; secondly, whether such control has 

 j^roved a success in the several countries where it is thus organized ; 

 and, finally, whether a beneficial result is likely to follow from similar 

 action in this country. 



As to the first proposition, there can be no doubt. That clause of 

 the Constitution wherein this authority is granted is found in section 

 8 of Article I, in this language : " Congress shall have power ... to 

 establish post-offices and post-roads." By this comprehensive and ex- 

 plicit declaration, the framers of the Constitution, without doubt, in- 

 tended to lodge with the General Government the exclusive privilege 

 of regulating and conducting the transmission of intelligence among 

 its citizens in other words, the intent was to give to the General Gov- 

 ernment the exclusive monopoly of the postal service, by which Avas 

 meant the interchange of intelligence, not only by the methods then 

 in use, but also by the use of improved methods thereafter devised 

 and adopted. This opinion is sustained by the decision of the Su- 

 preme Court in the case of The Pensacola Telegraph Company vs. The 

 Western Union Telegraph Company (6 Otto), in which the Court says : 

 "Post-offices and post-roads are established to facilitate the transmis- 

 sion of intelligence. Both commerce and the postal service are placed 

 within the power of Congress, because, being national in their opera- 

 tion, they should be under the protecting care of the national Govern- 

 ment." That these views are sound is too plain to be doubted. Con- 

 tinuing, however, the Court touches upon the very point in question 

 the telegraph : " The powers thus granted are not confined to the 

 instrumentalities of commerce, or of the postal service, known or in 

 use when the Constitution was adopted ; but they keep pace with the 

 l)rogress of the country, and adapt themselves to the new develop- 

 ments of time and circumstances. They extend from the horse with its 

 rider to the stage-coach, from the sailing-vessel to the steamboat, from 

 the coach and steamboat to the railroad, and from the railroad to the 

 telegraph, as these new agencies are successively brought into use to 

 meet the demands of increasing population and wealth. They were 



