H. OF R.] Compensation to R. P. Letcher-Post Office Reports. in this article, that State will also have a right to appropriate three fifths of this five per cent. fund to the objects mentioned in the compact or act of admission, and to demand that the residue of two fifths should be appropriated by Congress in good faith to the Government of Mississippi. These rights on the part of Mississippi did not originate in the treaty with the Chickasaws, nor are they derived from any act of Congress since the admission of Mississippi into the Union; but they were granted to, or more appropriately reserved to, the Government of that State by the compact formed between her and the United States on her admission into the Union, in consideration of her relinquishing a portion of her inherent and sovereign rights to the general Government. Every compact or agreement between sovereign States is a treaty. The right of soil and taxation, which Mississippi yielded to the general Government, are admitted to be rights of sovereignty. These rights, which existed prior to the treaty with the Chickasaws and the survey of the lands, lay dormant in the State of Mississippi, and could not, according to a construction put on the compact by universal consent, be exercised by her until after the relinquishment of the possessory right of the Indians to the United States. The right of the State to the sixteenth section for the use of the inhabitants of each township becomes active, and may be exercised, as soon as the country is surveyed; and the right to the five per cent. accrues as soon as the land is sold. The third article of the treaty provides for the payment of all the money arising from the sale of those lands over to the Chickasaw nation, after deducting the amount of the necessary expenses. None of the lands have yet been sold by the general Government, nor have they all been surveyed. I will not be understood as intimating that it is not the intention of the general Government to comply strictly, in good faith, with every part of her agreement with Mississippi, either express or implied, made on the admission of that State into the federal Union. Inasmuch, however, as there is no express reservation made in the treaty of Pontatock, of the sixteenth section from sale, nor provision for the payment over to the State of the per cent. claimed by Mississippi, I feel it my duty, for the purpose of preventing any collision hereafter between that State and the general Government, to assert at this time her rights. Another reason for moving thus early in the matter, is the information I have received, from an authentic source, | of the intention of the authorities of the Chickasaw nation to claim from the general Government a specific performance of the contract with them—that is, a sale of all the lands, without reservation of the sixteenth section, and the payment over to them of the whole of the nett proceeds of the sales, without regard to the rights of Mississippi. If the Chickasaws were ignorant of the existing rights of Mississippi, at the time they made the treaty, and understood that the whole of the ceded ter ritory was to be sold, and all the proceeds paid over to them, the faith of the Government is pledged to give them an indemnity. If a question should arise before the judicial tribunals of the country as to the validity of the two instruments, (I mean the compact with the people of Mississippi and the treaty with the Indians,) the decision must necessarily be in favor of the State. If it should be admitted, for the sake of argument, that the Chickasaw tribe of Indians were vested with treaty-making powers; that is, they were a sovereign and independent nation, which is necessary to authorize them to make a treaty, it could not be contended that either they, or the general Government, or both together, had the power to annul or change a treaty made with a sovereign State, so as to abridge, or in any manner affect, her sovereign rights, or the individual rights of her citizens. It is desirable, on [FEB. 14, 1835. the part of Mississippi, that she should know what course COMPENSATION TO R. P. LETCHER. Resolved, That Robert P. Letcher, having been returned as the rightful member of the House of Repre sentatives of the United States from the fifth congressional district of Kentucky, is entitled to compensation as a member of the last and present session. Mr. HARDIN said the House knew very well that, last session, he entertained and expressed the opinion that Mr. Letcher was elected as a Representative in Congress from the State of Kentucky. But the House had determined that the proof was so complicated and obscure, they could not come to any conclusion on the subject; and they therefore referred the matter back to the people, not to examine the records as to the fact, but to make a new election. Both of the candidates were brought here, and detained here, by order of the House, although the House finally determined that they could not tell which of them was elected. His own opinion was, under all the circumstances, that both of the candidates ought to be paid, or neither of them. Some delicacy, on their part, prevented them, last session, from accepting any pay; but now, unless the House paid both, as he thought they ought to do, he would not agree to pay either. He therefore moved to embrace within the terms of the resolution Thomas P. Moore. Mr. R. M. JOHNSON said he hoped the amendment would prevail. The gentleman who had just sat down had fully spoken his sentiments on the subject. Mr. WILDE asked the yeas and nays on the motion, and they were ordered. Mr. CLAY, of Alabama, suggested to the gentleman who had moved the amendment, that it would be best to leave each case to rest on its own merits. He thought both of the gentlemen ought to be paid, but he was not willing to embarrass either claim by connecting them together. Mr. McKIM here renewed the motion which he had suspended for the orders of the day, and the motion was agreed to. POST OFFICE REPORTS. Mr. BRIGGS asked the consent of the House to take up the motion which he had offered yesterday, to print 25,000 extra copies of the reports of the majority and minority of the Post Office investigation committee, together with the accompanying documents. Objections being made, Mr. BRIGGS moved the suspension of the rule; which motion was agreed to, 114 to 18. The question being on the adoption of the resolution, Mr. SPEIGHT, who had yesterday moved to print 10,000, said he was not aware when he made that motion that the documents were so voluminous as they in fact were. He was satisfied that they could not be printed within any reasonable time, and that they must be divided into different parts. When it was considered that the newspapers would publish such parts as they chose of the reports and documents, and that in that way they would obtain a general circulation, he thought a much less number of copies than that which he had proposed would be deemed sufficient. He moved 5,000 copies. Mr. BBIGGS said, if he varied his motion at all, it FEB. 14, 1835.] Post Office Reports. [H. of R. bers did not take the trouble to send out. If we were going to put a stop to the extravagant expenses of the Government, let us, he said, set the example in this House. Here there was more extravagance in the use of public money than in any of the executive departments, and it frequently met with the support of those who were most clamorous about the expenditures of the Government. The American people did not look wholly to this House to be enlightened by the documents pro. out the country, from which the people could obtain the information. It was true that gentlemen could furnish their friends with the documents; but the number thus distributed would not be more than a drop in the bucket, in comparison with the actual demands of the community. Gentlemen thought there was no way to inform the people but to send the documents to their doors. But we could not attempt to do that to any extent. All that it was proposed to do was to print a certain number, even which number, he would venture to say, would never be distributed among the people. Did we not, he said, constantly see the little boys that attend us, picking up from the floor and removing large numbers of those useless documents printed by order of the House? No one would be benefited by the printing of a large number of the documents but the printers to the House. He should vote for the smallest number named. would be for the purpose of increasing the number first proposed by him. The gentleman said that the news papers would print as much of these reports as would answer their purposes; but, in this way, the whole matter of this interesting subject could not be laid before the people of the United States. For several years past, no subject had obtained more interest among the people than this. The people of the United States still viewed it with intense interest. The documents related to one of the Departments of the general Gov-ceeding from it; for there were public presses throughernment; one which reached every town and country in the Union; a Department which had been charged with gross mismanagement of its affairs, and with having expended the people's money for wrong purposes. This House had appointed a select committee to investigate the subject, and the gentleman who was placed at its head was the chairman of the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, a decided friend to the administration. This committee commenced their duties in September last; had prosecuted the investigation with great patience and labor, and had now laid before the House the results to which they had arrived. How was the country to avail itself of these results? Was it to be done in any other way than by printing the reports and documents? The gentleman from North Carolina said that the documents were voluminous. But what did they contain? They contained the whole history of the operations of this Department. And was the expense of printing to be an objection to Jaying them before the public? The committee had come to results which would fill with regret the people, and the whole people, of this country. The people of all parts of the country looked to this House for information, and full information, on the subject. He, himself, he said, had had more calls for these documents than for any which had been printed this session. He would repeat, then, that, if he were to vary his motion at all, it would be for the purpose of increasing the number moved by him. Unless we printed a large number, the people never would get the information they contained. As to the newspapers, they would do what the gentleman had said they would do, publish such parts of the reports and documents as suited their purposes. A Mr. E. WHITTLESEY said he wished to remark, in reply to the gentleman from North Carolina, that the documents accompanying the reports would not be so voluminous as the gentleman seemed to suppose. sub-committee had been appointed to examine the papers and select such as it might be thought proper to print. That sub-committee had not yet reported, but he had no hesitation in saying that there was a great mass of documents which it would be unnecessary to publish. In relation to the extent of the documents which it might be found necessary to print, he could not speak with certainty; but the main fact was conceded, that, in both reports, the facts which were necessary to their proper understanding were referred to. He expressed a hope that this debate would not prematurely lead the House into a discussion of the affairs of the Post Office Depart Mr. CONNOR did not rise, he said, to enter into the general debate. He expressed his regret that some of the concluding remarks of the report of the majority of the committee were published in one of the papers this morning. The House, he hoped, would look to the whole of the facis and suggestions of the committee, before they formed an opinion as to the character of the conclusions to which the committee had arrived. As to the size of the documents, there might be, he said, and doubtless would be, many lopped off, but still a great number must come in. Both reports referred to papers, and it was proper that the grounds on which their opinions were formed should be printed. The great and the sole object of the committee had been, he said, to arrive at, and faithfully to present, the truth in regard to the subject of their investigation. Mr. BRIGGS here modified his motion, proposing to print twenty thousand extra copies of the report without the documents, and five thousand with the documents. Mr. BEARDSLEY said, if the question was simply on printing the report of the majority and minority of the committee, he should say nothing. But the question upon printing the documents accompanying the reports was a distinct one, and one in which pecuniary considerations were involved to some extent. It might not be proper to say much in regard to the expenses of the House, but he thought the House should reserve to itself some part of the counsel which it dealt out to others. It was certain that the reports and documents would form two or three large volumes. His own opinion was that the sub-committee would take out but a small portion of them; that they would form nearly three volumes of the ordinary size of Congress documents; and that Mr. BYNUM would feel, he said, that he was unfaith-five thousand copies would cost from 25 to $30,000. ful to his duty, should he attempt to exclude from the people any portion of the information which was necessary for them; but it was notorious that this House had made most profuse and extravagant expenditures in printing what was unnecessary. On divers occasions he had opposed the printing of documents not more than one half of which were ever, as he was well satisfied, sent from the Capitol. In his opinion, not more than one half or two thirds of the documents now proposed to be printed would ever be sent off. Go, said he, into your folding rooms, and into almost every shop, and you will there find many of these public documents which mem ment. The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. BRIGGS] was of the opinion that these documents should be so widely disseminated that every man might learn, from the documents themselves, the same information which, ordinarily, they obtain from public newspapers. If so, we should print not five thousand, but five hundred thousand copies. The number proposed would furnish a few, but not the great mass of the people who wanted information on the subject. This was no argu ment against printing more than the ordinary number. There should be copies enough for the public press, for each member, and for some of their constituents. As to the number of the reports themselves he would say nothing. But as to the documents accompanying them, all the essential objects, by sending out two thousand copies, would be as effectually gained as by a larger number. If the motion to print five thousand copies should fail, he would, he said, move two thousand. [FEB. 14, 1835. those acquainted with the business of the Department, in two of its most important divisions, it is well known that an energetic and accurate system has been applied, that, under proper legal provisions, will enable the Postmaster General to place the Department on that high ground suited to its importance. Enable the people to make these discriminations. The friends of the Postmaster General, the supporters of the administration, are those most interested in the wide circulation of this report. Shall it be said that a democratic majority, whose Mr. BURGES said it seemed to be admitted that this was an important report, and it was admitted that the people were deeply interested in it. The question was, in what manner the people should get the information. If it was left to the public press to communicate it, the peo-leading principles are the correction of abuses, the simple would never get it fully and impartially: the newspapers would select such parts for publication as they chose, and the people would never be able to understand the subject. If we wish, said Mr. B., to let the people know the truth, we must print and widely distribute the report. He agreed to the motion to print 30,000 copies of the report, which, he said, would cost not more than 10 cents apiece. It was not for the paltry consideration of a few dollars that this House should withhold light from the people on a subject in which they were so much interested as in this. Mr. LANE said that, believing as he did that the report was interesting and important, the result of a laborious investigation by a committee of this House-a result to which the people looked with solicitude-he felt bound to vote for printing the largest number named by the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. BRIGGS.] It had been said by several honorable gentlemen that the newspapers would publish all that the people were interested in knowing, and therefore any extra number of copies would be a useless expense of public money. It was well known that the newspapers would publish such extracts as would suit their own views, and the result would be to confuse, not to inform, the public. Justice to the people and to the Department requires that the entire report should be exhibited. He wished that it was possible to place it in the hands of every individual, that each might examine and decide for himself. It had been said that the people would not read the report, if placed before them. The people are not so indifferent about the administration of any depart ment of the Government; much less so as to the administration of the General Post Office, which addresses itself more immediately and more universally than any other to their feelings and interests. They will read it with care, and they can best judge of its course who see its operations and feel its benefits. Shall the important conclusions of this committee go forth in the newspapers unaccompanied by the facts which indicate the origin, the progress, and the extent, of the evils that are mentioned? Shall the responsibility of these evils be thus unjustly cast upon the persons administering the Department, instead of the true cause-the defects in the organization originally prescribed by law? The same errors have existed from the origin of the Department. The immense increase of mail routes, called for by the rapid improvement of our country, and incessantly urged by members of this House, have developed their injurious practical operation. The distinguished individual who directs that Department has merely followed in the footsteps of his predecessors in office. Anxious to administer the Department so as to extend its benefits to every part of our country, the defective legal organization has prevented him from keeping the immense business of the Department under his own eyes. It should be clearly understood and carefully remembered that these errors have been confined mainly to a subdivision, to the fiscal branch of the Department. Whenever errors have been made obvious, I understand that they have been remedied, as far as was possible, under the present laws. During the last two years, most of the errors admitting correction have ceased to exist; and to plification of public business, and its full exhibition to the people, object to the publication of this report? He trusted not. The inquiry had been made by direction of a democratic majority of this House; the report had been made by the democratic majority of that committee: it exhibited abuses which had existed under every administration. On that report it was our duty to Let the report go to our constituents, that they may judge whether our conduct in reference to these abuses keeps pace with the professions by which we are pledged to reform them. act. Mr. CROCKETT said it had already cost more than twenty-five thousand dollars to get this report; and of what use would it be, he asked, unless it was sent out to the people? Some time ago he had preferred charges against the Post Office Department, and then he was almost hissed at for doing it; but now he found that his charges were more than sustained by the report of the majority of the committee. The people, he said, trusted to this House, and to that factions body, as it was called, the Senate, for information. They wanted information from their own Representatives. What had been charged against the Department was more than verified by the majority report, and he hoped fifty thousand copies of both of the reports would be printed. What were fifty thousand copies? They would only give us two hundred and fifty copies each for distribution. He did not care about the accompanying documents, but moved the printing of fifty thousand copies of the reports. Mr. H. EVERETT expressed his surprise at the estimate made by the gentleman from Tennessee, of the expense of obtaining the report. Instead of twentyfive thousand dollars, it was probably about two thousand five hundred dollars. Mr. STODDERT did not, he said, rise to object to the number of copies proposed to be printed. He was never opposed to the diffusion of light among the people. It had never, he remarked, occurred before, that a committee constituted as this was, of different political parties, and formed at a time of high party excitement, had so generally concurred in facts, and harmonized in results. He conceived that the reports contained the evidence of the facts in an intelligible form; and one of the most arduous duties of the committee was to collect from the mass of facts the kernel, and throw away the husk. Whatever number of reports might be printed, it was therefore useless to print more than the usual number of documents. In any argument on the subject, the reports, and not the documents, would be referred to for facts; for there was no discrepancy be tween the statements of the two reports. Mr. BARRINGER said he would agree that it was not important that a great number of the documents should be printed; but it was certainly proper, for the purpose of sustaining the statements of the reports, to print a sufficient number of the documents to supply a number of persons in each congressional district. The number of documents which was proposed to be printed (five thousand) would afford but twenty copies to each member. In some districts, this number would allow but one copy for each five hundred voters, and in other districts it would not supply the publishers of newspapers. A less number than five thousand would, therefore, he thought, be totally inadequate and useless. The number suggested by the gentleman from New York (two thousand) would afford less than ten copies to each district, and, where a district was composed of several counties, would not be more than sufficient for one county. He would desire to circumscribe the number within reasonable limits; but he thought the House had better print none of the documents at all, than a less number than five thousand. Mr. H. EVERETT rose, he said, to make a statement of the expenses of the investigation which resulted in these reports, not having been understood when he was up before. Each member of the select committee received five hundred and sixty dollars, and their aggre gate pay amounted to four thousand nine hundred and twenty dollars. The whole expense of the investigation was about seven thousand dollars. Mr. HAMER said: If there was any business which ought to be done by human beings in the dark, it was not the business of legislation. Those who undertake to prescribe rules for the action of themselves and others, ought at least to have some light upon the subjects with regard to which they propose to legislate. [H. oF R. partment. Thus passing a sentence of condemnation upon it without an examination of the reports of their committee, or hearing one word in defence. Thus declaring that the whole Department is so rotten and cor. rupt that reformation is impossible; and it must, therefore, be thrown into the mill and ground over anew. The passage of the bill is claimed by the party press of this city, and understood by the country, to be such a condemnation. Are we to follow this example? Is this the system to be established in this country? Sir, said he, I have the most perfect respect for the members of the committee who made these reports; but I will not legislate upon the report of any committee without hearing the other side. Have they not examined witnesses against the Department, without the persons implicated having an opportunity to cross-examine? May not many things, seemingly wrong, be satisfactorily explained by cross-examination, or by further testimony? Let us hear before we strike. Whoever heard of a great Department of the Government being reorganized, without consulting the head of that Department? If there be defects in its organization, who so competent to point them out, and suggest improvements, as the man whose experience has brought them repeatedly before him? shall not. Do we not know that the reports ordered to be printed by the Senate, at the last session, were travelling through the country during the whole summer? They had to be sent first to the members, and then taken up, franked, and sent off by mail again to different portions of the country; thus aiding to burden and break down the very Department which they assailed. It will be an immense expense incurred, for no real substantial benefit to the country. It had become a very common thing to traduce the Post Office Department. It was fashionable to condemn Does any one believe that, if we order 50,000 copies it. There seemed to be a general inclination to bear it of these reports to be printed, we shall receive them dudown. For one, he was not disposed to join in the gen-ring the present session? Every man here knows we eral "hue and cry" against the Department. He concurred entirely with his honorable friend from Kentucky [Mr. JOHNSON] in the observations he let fall the other day. He had known the Postmaster General long, and known him well. He had the most implicit confidence in his honor and integrity, both as a public man and private citizen. Entertaining this opinion of him, he would not condemn him until he had the most unquestionable evidence of the impropriety of his conduct. He said he did not know, and therefore would not say, but there We are all aware that abstracts of these reports will might have been subordinate officers in the Department be circulated in the newspapers every where, for the who were not honest. He would not say, for he did information of the people. Now, there ought to be a not know, but these subordinates might have presented sufficient number of the reports through the several disstatements to the Postmaster General, which had de-tricts of country to enable any one to correct errors or ceived him, and upon which he might have made orders that were detrimental to the public interest. But it is time enough to condemn him when we have heard the proof. It was time enough for him to condemn him when he had heard the evidence and heard the defence, and the commentary upon that evidence. When the whole subject shall be presented, the reports printed and laid on our tables; when we have had time to read and deliberate upon them, and have heard the Depart-mittee of investigation, a majority of whose number ment in reply, then we should be prepared to act. Whatsoever is wrong, said he, I shall be among the first to condemn. If any thing be wrong, but has circumstances connected with it which ought to be received as palliations, I shall insist upon those circumstances having due weight. But whatever is right, although alleged to be wrong, whether the charge be made by political enemies, or those who were political friends upon the surface, he would be prepared to defend to the last. misrepresentations that may creep into the abstracts. That is enough: all beyond that is unnecessary. I shall therefore vote for the smallest number proposed. Mr. REED, of Massachusetts, said he was in favor of the larger number proposed. He was surprised to hear the gentleman [Mr. HAMER] talk about "hearing before they should strike." What course would the gentleman have had the House take? Did it not appoint a com were known to be friends of the administration and friends to the Post Office Department? And was it not the report of such a committee, so constituted, which it was now proposed to print? Had not the committee been six months engaged in their task? Was not that time enough to look into the state of the Department? "Hear before you strike!" What blow had been struck, or was attempted to be struck? If the gentleman insisted upon "hearing" before "striking," let the country What are we about to do here? We are asked to "hear!" That was all he asked. The gentleman seemvote for the printing of fifty thousand of these reports, ed to think that the condemnation of the Postmaster without knowing one word of their contents. They General was aimed at; but what was the tenor of the have not been read. All we know of them is, that they reports made to the House? Did they not agree? Was are against the Department. Sir, I go against this sys- the gentleman going to dispute the facts they stated? tem. I will not thus legislate in the dark upon any Did he mean to say their statements were incorrect? question. What have we seen in another part of this Mr. R. considered it a peculiarly happy and auspicious Capitol? I speak of what I learn from the newspapers; circumstance that they did agree. It was too generally every body knows they are good authority. A report the case that persons of opposite parties never could was made there by a majority and a minority of a com- agree; but here were a majority and minority who armittee. Before they could be printed and laid upon rived at the same conclusion. The gentleman had their or our tables, a bill is passed, which has come down | eulogized the Postmaster General. Mr. R. did not conto this House, to reorganize the whole Post Office De-tradict what he had said. All he wanted was to give H. OF R.] Post Office Reports. [FEB. 14, 1835. lars per volume; for a smaller number, say six or seven hundred, which is the ordinary number, the cost per volume will be nearer five dollars. Take the number proposed, in all probability the price cannot be reduced to less than three dollars per volume, and here is at once a cost of $30,000. The gentleman further proposes to print twenty thousand extra copies of the two reports alone, without the documents. It has been said that even these will make a volume of from 150 to 200 pages; and if we estimate the cost at only a dollar a volume, you will have an addititional charge of $20,000, at the least, making an aggregate of $50,000 for the publication of one single report! the country the whole truth, whatever it might be. Let them see the report as a whole, and not a garbled extract. Give them all the facts, and then let them judge the Postmaster General. The gentleman was a little premature. Was any gentleman prepared to say the information in these reports was not to be relied upon Would the gentleman undertake to impugn it? And, if it was true, the country wanted to see it. It was information in which the whole country was interested: it came home to the business and bosom of every man. And let him tell the gentleman there were not a few in all parts of the Union who would examine it with care. If the Postmaster General had done well, let him have ample justice; the facts would, in that case, be his best justification. But, besides that officer, there were connected with the Department 10,000 postmasters. Mr. R. wanted every one of these men to have a copy of these reports in his hand. If abuses had been corrected, let them see and hear, and understand the whole. Why were gentlemen so exceedingly alarmed at the expense of printing these reports? If evils existed in the Department, let them be known and corrected. Let the Department be renovated-regenerated. As to the sug-you have expended your $50,000 in the publication of gestion that, if the reports should be printed, they would never be distributed, he had no fears on that subject. Gentlemen seemed to think that the documents printed for the House were never distributed, because gentlemen could not find time to direct them at their seats in the House; but they were greatly mistaken; they were distributed. But the gentlemen, he fancied, would find their constituents asking for the report, and reading it with avidity. The people wanted to know the truth. Mr. R. was astonished that, after a document had been obtained at so great a cost of time, labor, and expense, gentlemen were not willing to print it! He was surprised to hear them advocate the propriety of sending the people garbled extracts through the newspapers. He was for no such party proceedings. Let the nation have the report as a whole; let them have the views given by both sides, and then let them form their own judgment. Mr. SMITH, of Maine, said: Mr. Speaker, I think it was well remarked that it became this House to look well to its own extravagant expenditures at the moment when they are about to impute to other Departments of the Government extravagances of an extraordinary character. Sir, I ask the gentlemen who propose to print the extra number of these documents proposed, whether they have counted the cost. Has any gentleman who has addressed the House in favor of so large a number made an estimate, satisfactory to his mind, of the amount of cost which he proposes to impose upon the country? I have made an estimate which, to my mind, is satisfactory against the printing of either number of documents proposed. I lay aside the number suggested by the gentleman from Tennessee, [Mr. CROCKETT,] as being wholly beyond the inclination, probably, of every other member of the House. I take the proposition of the gentleman from Massachusetts, and invite the House to consider for a moment whether it be not of an extravagant character. I understood the proposition to be to print five thousand extra copies of each report, and the several documents appended thereto. The House has already been informed, by one of the honorable members of the Post Office Committee, [Mr. BEARDSLEY,] that these reports and accompanying documents will certainly make two full-sized octavo volumes; consequently, this will make ten thousand volumes. Other gentlemen, however, have said that they will amount to three volumes; but I take the lowest estimate. Now, these ten thousand volumes will cost no less, upon an average, according to the best information I have been able to obtain, than three dol Sir, let me ask, are gentlemen prepared for this? Is the country prepared for this? Suppose you even go to the extent proposed, what good will be produced? Five thousand copies of the entire work, divided among the members of this House, will not nett to them, after reserving the necessary copies for the Capitol, more than ten sets to each member; and of the twenty thou sand reports, the nett amount of each member for his district will fall short of forty copies. Now, then, after this report, and you get forty copies of the report with out the documents, and ten copies with them, for each district, put the question home to the constituents of any gentleman, and ask them whether they approve of such an expenditure under the pretence of furnishing such limited means of information to their district? Whatever the motive may be, they will denounce it as an extravagant expenditure. But, say gentlemen, the information cannot be given through the newspaper organs. Why not? Does any gentleman doubt that all the material information in each of these reports will be furnished to the people through the newspapers? What is the objection? Why, forsooth, that they will garble, (to use the language of the gentleman from Massachusetts,) that they will garble the reports, and present only such extracts as will suit their own individual feelings or purposes. But the same gentleman has also told us that the report is of such an extraordinary character that it comes with the concurrence of both branches-the majority and the minority of the committee. Why, Mr. Speaker, if the report be the result of so much unanimity, where can be the danger or apprehension that garbled statements will be made, and the people misled? The very character of the report, as represented by those in favor of the larger number, precludes the possibility of the danger suggested as an argument in favor of printing that large number. But, again, sir; the report being in itself the result almost of unanimity in the committee, and it being agreed, on all sides, that all that is now necessary is legislation, where can be the great utility of multiplying copies of this report at such an extraordinary expense to the treasury? Let me submit this proposition to those gentlemen who are for printing so large a number, since it is acknowledged on all sides that legislation only is now necessary, whether it would not be better for this House to legislate and perform its own duty, and then distribute among the people the results of our own labors, rather than distribute among the people information as to the mode in which we have performed those duties? Let the gentlemen do this, and I will go with them heart and hand in multiplying copies to any extent. But, no; notwithstanding gentlemen are prepared to admit that there is a defect in the Post Office law; notwithstanding they are prepared to admit that legislation is what is necessary; notwithstanding all agree that legislation must be the next step upon this subject, instead of going to work and legislating, and supplying the needful for the best interest of the people, they |