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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journal of the Confederate Congress --THURSDAY, January 26, 1865.
OPEN SESSION.
A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. Dalton:
Mr. President: The House of Representatives have passed the bill of the Senate (S. 134) to increase the maximum rates of compensation allowed to railroad companies for the transportation of the mails of the Confederate States.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives having signed sundry enrolled bills, I am directed to bring them to the Senate for the signature of their President.
The President laid before the Senate a communication from J. N. Bethune, of the State of Georgia, in relation to the finances; which was referred to the Committee on Finance.
The President laid before the Senate a communication from the Secretary of the Treasury, asking an appropriation of one million of dollars for the exchange or redemption of mutilated Treasury notes of the new issue; which was read.
Ordered, That it be referred to the Committee on Finance.
The President laid before the Senate the annual report of the Commissioner of Patents; which was referred to the Committee on Patents.
Mr. Caperton presented a series of resolutions passed at a meeting of the Fourteenth Regiment of Virginia Infantry, in relation to the condition of the country and the conduct of the war; which were read.
Ordered, That they he upon the table and be printed.
Mr. Hill presented a communication addressed to the members of
Congress from the State of Georgia by the adjutants of certain regiments and battalions from that State, in relation to their rank and pay; which were referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
Mr. Sparrow, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the joint resolution (H. R. 21) of thanks to Brig. Gen. John S. Williams and the officers and men under his command for their victory over the enemy at Saltville, Va., on the 2d day of October, 1864, reported it without amendment.
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The Senate proceeded, as in Committee of the Whole, to the consideration of the bill (S. 120) to grant commutation and allowances to naval storekeepers.
On motion by Mr. Maxwell, to amend the bill by striking out all after the enacting clause and inserting:
That the compensation allowed to naval storekeepers shall be increased to three thousand five hundred dollars for one year from the passage of this act,
It was determined in the affirmative.
No further amendment being proposed, the bill was reported to the Senate and the amendment was concurred in.
Ordered, That the bill be engrossed and read a third time.
The said bill was read the third time and the title was amended.
Resolved, That it pass, and that the title thereof be "An act to increase the compensation of naval storekeepers for a limited period."
Ordered, That the Secretary request the concurrence of the House of Representatives therein.
The Senate resumed, as in Committee of the Whole, the consideration of the bill (H. R. 242) to provide for sequestrating the property; of persons liable to military service who have departed, or shall depart, from the Confederate States without permission; and
On motion by Mr. Walker,
Ordered, That the further consideration thereof be postponed until Monday next.
The bill (S. 163) to authorize the appointment of additional officers in the Engineer Corps was read the second time and considered as in Committee of the Whole; and no amendment being proposed, it was reported to the Senate.
Ordered, That it be engrossed and read a third time.
The said bill was read the third time.
Resolved, That it pass, and that the title thereof be as aforesaid.
Ordered, That the Secretary request the concurrence of the House of Representatives therein.
The bill (S. 166) to amend an act entitled "An act to provide and organize a general staff for armies in the field, to serve during the war," approved June 14, 1864, was read the second time and considered as in Committee of the Whole.
On motion by Mr. Wigfall, that the bill be recommitted to the Committee on Military Affairs,
It was determined in the negative.
The bill having been amended on the motion of Mr. Semmes, it was reported to the Senate, and the amendment was concurred in.
Ordered, That the bill be engrossed and read a third time.
The said bill was read the third time.
Resolved, That it pass, and that the title thereof be as aforesaid.
Ordered, That the Secretary request the concurrence of the House of Representatives therein.
Mr. Burnett, from the Committee on Military Affairs, reported
A bill (S. 169) to abolish the office of certain quartermasters and commissaries, and to provide for the appointment of bonded agents in said departments;
which was read and passed to a second reading.
Ordered, That it be printed.
The bill (S. 168) to authorize the appointment of a commissary general, with the rank of a brigadier-general, was read the second
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time and considered as in Committee of the Whole; and no amendment being proposed, it was reported to the Senate.
Ordered, That it be engrossed and read a third time.
The said bill was read the third time.
Resolved, That it pass, and that the title thereof be as aforesaid.
Ordered, That the Secretary request the concurrence of the House of Representatives therein.
The following message was received from the President of the Confederate States, by Mr. B. N. Harrison, his Secretary:
To the Senate of the Confederate States of America:
I return to your honorable body, without my approval, an act which originated in the Senate, entitled "An act to authorize newspapers to be mailed to soldiers free of postage."
The act provides "that all newspapers directed to any officer, musician, or private engaged in the actual service of the Confederate States may be transmitted through the mails free of postage."
The Constitution, Article I, section 8, clause 7, gives power to Congress "To establish post-offices and post-routes; but the expenses of the Post-Office Department, after the first day of March, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-three, shall be paid out of its own revenues."
This provision that the Post-Office Department shall be self-sustaining was not contained in the Constitution of our former Government. It is important that its spirit and object should be correctly determined now, because many members of the present Congress were also members of the Provisional Congress which adopted this new clause, and legislation by them will be deemed hereafter to possess peculiar value as a precedent, and as a contemporaneous interpretation of the Constitution by those best acquainted with its meaning.
It was generally understood that the clause under consideration was intended by its framers to correct what were deemed to be two great vices that had been developed in the postal system of the United States. The first was the injustice of taxing the whole people for the expense of the mail facilities afforded to individuals, and the remedy devised was to limit the Government to the furnishing of the machinery for carrying the mails, and compelling those who might use the facilities thus furnished to pay the expense thereof.
The second evil against which this clause was intended as a safeguard was the wasteful extravagance which grew out of the franking privilege with its attendant abuses of large contracts for stationery, printing, binding, etc., and increased Government patronage with its train of corrupting influences.
With this knowledge of the purpose of the framers of the Constitution, and of the evils against which they intended to provide by the clause under consideration, I can not escape the conclusion that to authorize the transmission of any mail matter free of postage is to violate the true intent and meaning of the Constitution.
If the act now before me should become a law the Postmaster-General would be bound to pay railroads and other carriers for conveying newspapers to the armies without reimbursement from any source whatever. He could not be repaid out of the general Treasury without a violation of the letter of the Constitution; nor out of the other revenues of his Department without in effect imposing on those who pay for carrying their own correspondence an additional charge to defray the cost of conveying newspapers for others.
If it be competent for Congress under this clause to order newspapers to be carried free of postage, the power exists to order free transmission of any other mail matter. But we must ever remember that Congress can exercise no implied powers, certainly none not necessary to carry into effect the powers expressly granted; and where shall we find in the Constitution any power in the Confederate Government, express or implied, for dividing either the people or the public servants into classes unequally burthened with postal charges?
In that part of the Constitution which specially treats of the burthen of taxation, every precaution has been taken to secure uniformity and to guard against bounties or preferences of any kind, and although not directly applicable to the subject of postage, the spirit of the whole provision is so opposed to inequality in legislation that the passage may well serve for illustration. The first clause of Article I, section 8, gives to Congress power "To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, for revenue necessary to pay the debts provide for the common defense, and carry on the Government of the Confederate States; but no bounties shall be granted from
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the Treasury; nor shall any duties or taxes on importations from foreign nations be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry; and all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the Confederate States."
It is true that the payment of postage is not properly a tax, but compensation for service rendered; yet it would scarcely be ingenuous to deny that so to regulate the rates of postage as to produce an excess of receipts over the expenses of carrying mail matter for one class, and to use this excess in order to carry free of cost the mail matter of another class, would strongly conflict with the just equality of privileges and burthens which the above-cited clauses were designed to secure.
I regret to be compelled to object to a measure devised by congress for the benefit or relief of the Army; but, with my convictions on the subject, it is not possible to approve the act now before me.
JEFFERSON DAVIS.
Richmond, Va., January 25, 1865.
The message was read.
The Senate proceeded the reconsider the bill (S. 130) returned by the President with his objections; which bill is in the following words:
An act to authorize newspapers to be mailed to soldiers free of postage.
The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That all newspapers directed to any officer, musician, or private engaged in the actual service of the Confederate States may be transmitted through the mails free of postage: Provided, That in all such cases the address shall contain a description of the party to whom such newspapers shall be sent, stating his military title, if an officer, or the company and regiment to which he belongs, if a musician or private: And provided also, That this act shall not be construed to extend to newspapers transmitted by carriers or express companies, or received through them.
I certify that this act originated in the Senate.
JAMES H. NASH,
Secretary.
On motion by Mr. Semmes,
Ordered, That the further consideration of the bill be postponed to and made the special order of the day for Saturday next, at half past 12 o'clock.
On motion by Mr. Semmes,
The Senate resolved into secret legislative session.
The doors having been opened,
On motion by Mr. Garland,
The Senate adjourned.
SECRET SESSION.
A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. Dalton:
Mr. President: The House of Representatives have passed a bill (H. R. 357) making an appropriation for the redemption of one-fortieth of the three million pounds foreign loan, due March 1, 1864; in which they request the concurrence of the Senate.
The bill (H. R. 357) last mentioned was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Finance.
On motion by Mr. Garland,
The Senate resolved into open legislative session.
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