As there is no ground in the Constitution for this pretension, so is there none in reason. Of all existing departments, the Post-Office is most entitled to consideration, for it is most universal in its beneficence. That public welfare which is the declared object of all the departments appears here in its most attractive form. There is nothing which is not helped by the Post-Office. Is business in question? The Post-Office is at hand with invaluable aid, quickening and multiplying all its activities. Is it charity? The Post-Office is the good Samaritan, omnipresent on all the highways of the land. Is it the precious intercourse of family or friends? The Post-Office is carrier, interpreter, and handmaid. Is it education? The Post-Office is schoolmaster, with school for all and with scholars counted by the million. Is it the service of Government? The Post-Office lends itself so completely to this essential work, that the national will is conveyed without noise or effort to the most remote corners, and the Republic becomes one and indivisible. Without the Post-Office where would be that national unity, with irresistible guaranty of Equal Rights to All, which is now the glory of the Republic? Impossible! absolutely impossible! Therefore, in the name of all these, do I insist that now, in these days of equality, the Post-Office shall be admitted to equality with all other departments of Government, so that it may discharge its own peculiar and many-sided duties, without being compelled to find in itself the means of support. It has enough to do without taking thought of the morrow. On every side and in every direction it is the beneficent helper. To the Army it is a staff; to the Navy it is a tender; to the Treasury it is a support; to the Judiciary it is a police; to President and Congress it is an adjunct; and to all else, public or private, whatever the interest, aspiration, or sentiment, it is an incomparable ally. Better than two blades of grass are two letters where was only one before; and when the precious product is measured by millions, you see the vastness of the beneficence.
OUR POST-OFFICE MUST BE THE BEST IN THE WORLD: PRESENT DUTY.
Such is the Post-Office; and nothing is clearer than that here in the United States it should be of the highest type. Ours should be the best in the world,—not second to any. So long as Slave-Masters bore sway, this could not be; for they set their faces against this minister of Civilization. One of the first legislative acts of the Rebel Government at Montgomery was to raise the rates.[110] But this hostile obstruction is now overcome, and we are at last free to act for the good of all. It is for the welfare of the people that our Republic is founded, and therefore it should omit nothing by which their condition is improved and elevated. Other Governments may seek to augment the revenue. Our aim should be to augment the sum of human happiness, making it the crown of our whole people; and just in proportion as we fail in this duty is the Republic a failure. But the best Post-Office is where letters at the smallest charge are faithfully carried to every door, thus combining cheapness and efficiency. That ours may fulfil this condition there must be a change.
Our duty is simple. It is to relieve the Post-Office of present burdens, including especially the franking system and the expense of unproductive routes, while at the same time we establish a uniform rate of one cent. To these cardinal objects may be added others named in the bill introduced by me, especially the requirement of payment always by stamps, so as to simplify the accounts and to make peculation impossible; but the fundamental change is in the rate of postage.
Could my desires prevail, the Post-Office should be like the Common School, open to all, with this only condition, that the rate should be sufficient to guard against abuse. But this is accomplished by that now proposed.
Let the uniform rate be one cent and you will witness a transformation. The power to frank, which is now confined to a few, will practically belong to all, and letters will be multiplied in proportion,—opening to the people an inexhaustible source of all good influences, whether of education, wealth, virtue, or happiness, while the Republic rises in the scale of civilization. Such a rate will be better than a mine of gold in every State,—better than a band of iron for the Union,—better than a fortress scowling on uncounted hilltops; for it will be an angelic power.
And could this rate be extended to international postage, its least service would be to our commercial relations. Beyond this would be an inconceivable influence on that immigration to our country which is a constant fountain of life, while it carried into the homes of the Old World the most seductive invitations to take part with us in our great destinies. Republican ideas would be diffused, and the Rights of Man gain new authority. Every letter from glowing firesides among us, when read at colder firesides abroad, would be a perpetual proclamation of the Republic.
More than ever this change is needed now. It is essential in the work of Reconstruction, which can be maintained only through the national unity. The very extent of our country, which is superficially urged as the apology for a high rate, is to my mind an all-sufficient reason for the proposed reform. Because our country is broad and spacious, therefore must distant parts be brought into communication and woven together by daily recurring ties. Because our people are various in origin and language, therefore must they be enabled to commingle and become homogeneous. And, lastly, because fellow-citizens have suffered and been separated by terrible war, therefore must the Post-Office become a good angel to quicken industry, to remove ignorance, to soothe prejudice, and to promote harmony. Blessed are the peace-makers; and in this company the Post-Office, properly reformed, will take an illustrious place.