UNIOX OF TELEGRAPH AND POSTAL SERVICE. 401 



intended for the Government business to which they relate, at all 

 times and under all circumstances." It was impossible for the men 

 who framed the Constitution to foresee the wonderful improvements in 

 the means of rapid intercommunication which have sin^e taken place. 

 At that time there were only a few post-roads in the United States, 

 and over these the mails were conveyed on horseback or in the stage- 

 coach, consuming a fortnight in the trip from Boston to Philadelphia, 

 that is now made by the fast mail in a few hours. In the progress of 

 events, the people demanded a quicker means of communication, and 

 the Government did not hesitate to place the mails upon the railroads 

 as fast as they were constructed. Now, in many instances, the rail- 

 roads are too slow to meet the demands of business communication, 

 and the telegraph is freely used in all important commercial transac- 

 tions. The business-man who does not use the telegraph each day for 

 information as to markets abroad, to make contracts with distant cus- 

 tomers, to transmit money, and in various other ways, is counted slow 

 indeed in this age of progress. From these facts, is there not the 

 more reason for making this wonderful and powerful agency subser- 

 vient to the general postal system of this great and growing country 

 than there was for providing for the carriage of the mails by steam ? 



Further, it is not only a constitutional privilege, but it is also a 

 constitutional duty ; and it is susceptible of the strongest proof that, 

 in neglecting to make the telegraph a part of the postal system, the 

 Government has failed of its constitutional duty toward its citizens. 

 Such powers as are granted to the General Government are granted 

 absolutely, and are lodged nowhere else. In the language of the 

 tenth amendment, " The powers not delegated to the United States by 

 the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the 

 States respectively, or to the people." It may not be improper to ob- 

 serve here that only such powers were granted to the General Govern- 

 ment as could not properly be exercised by the States. For instance, 

 the right to declare war was granted to the General Government, and 

 wisely, else New York might declare war against some foreign power, 

 while the remaining States might be strongly in favor of peace. It 

 is, therefore, fair to infer that such powers as were granted to the 

 General Government were not " reserved to the States respectively, or 

 to the people " ; and in this class, as we have seen, is the power to 

 regulate and control the transmission of intelligence. In the language 

 of Mr. Justice Field, in ex parte Jackson (6 Otto), "The power pos- 

 sessed by Congress embraces the regulation of the entire postal system 

 of the country." It extends to the telegraph as well as to the rail- 

 road, and the conveyance of letters and packets by regular trips over 

 railroads by private parties is prohibited by law (Revised Statutes, 

 sections 3,982, 3,983), yet we permit a private monopoly to convey our 

 messages the quicker way by telegraph. The Government enforces a 

 monopoly of the transmission of intelligence by the slower methods, 

 VOL. XIX. 26 



