THE POSTAL POWER OF CONGRESS

THE POSTAL POWER OF CONGRESS
A STUDY IN CONSTITUTIONAL EXPANSION

BY
LINDSAY ROGERS

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to the Board of University Studies of The Johns
Hopkins University in Conformity with the Requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
1915

Baltimore
1916

PRESS OF
THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY
LANCASTER, PA.

			Page
Preface			[vii]
Chapter	I.	Introductory: The Antecedents of the Power	[9]
Chapter	II.	The Power of Congress to Establish Postoffices	[26]
		Expansion of Facilities	[26]
		Collectivist Activities	[33]
		Postal Crimes	[36]
		Fraud Orders	[56]
Chapter	III.	The Power of Congress to Establish Postroads	[61]
		Legislative Action	[61]
		Judicial Determinations	[80]
Chapter	IV.	Limitations on the Postal Power	[97]
		Freedom of the Press	[98]
		Unreasonable Searches and Seizures	[123]
Chapter	V.	The Power of the States to Interfere with the Mails	[127]
Chapter	VI.	The Extension of Federal Control Over Postroads	[150]
		Federal Ownership of Railroads	[150]
		Postal Telegraphs and Telephones	[156]
Chapter	VII.	The Extension of Federal Control Through Exclusion From the Mails	[158]

PREFACE

The purpose of this essay is to trace the legislative and judicial history of the grant to Congress of the power “to establish postoffices and postroads,” and to discuss the constitutionality of the proposals that, under this clause, federal control may be extended to subjects over which Congress has no direct authority. The essay is thus one in constitutional expansion, and does not consider the history or efficiency of the postoffice as an administrative arm of the government. A treatment of this subject, which has as yet received scant notice, I may some day attempt.

Portions of Chapters IV and VII have appeared as articles on “Federal Interference with the Freedom of the Press,” and “The Extension of Federal Control through the Regulation of the Mails,” in the Yale Law Journal (May, 1914) and the Harvard Law Review (November, 1913) respectively. They have been thoroughly revised for publication in their present form. Chapter V appeared in substantially the same form in the Virginia Law Review (November, 1915).

I am under great obligations to Professor W. W. Willoughby, not only for much direct assistance in the preparation of this essay, but for the inspiration of his productive scholarship.

L. R.

THE POSTAL POWER OF CONGRESS

CONTENTS

PREFACE