The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 19, July 1915 - April, 1916 Page: 139
452 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Problems of the Confederate Post Office Department 139
It should be clear by this time that the quarrel of the two
departments over conscription grew out of the war department's
failure to appreciate the value or the rights of the post office
department. It is evident that Congress and the people consid-
ered a postal service as almost indispensable, and certainly Con-
gress, by its laws showed its intention to. provide for its continu-
ance. It is also easy to see why the employment of contractors
for nominal considerations seemed to the military an outrageous
violation of the spirit of the exemption laws. But everything
considered, the postmaster-general was justified in taking the
course pursued. His department had to, be self-sustaining, and
its revenues in the depreciated currency were scarcely sufficient
before the conscription acts were passed. To keep up the service
then on full salaries could have been impracticable, owing to the
decreased number of bidders for contracts and the increased cost
of transportation; and, if the military showed a disposition to
make its own interpretation of the law and to disallow the ob-
vious intention of Congress to preserve the postal service, the
postal authorities felt themselves justified in taking advantage of
a technicality in opening the postal service to those desiring ex-
emption, especially when the conscription officers were constantly
causing interruptions of the service and other trouble by arrest-
ing men legally exempt. Finally, in consideration of the great
discontent prevailing in the armies toward the close of the war,
one must admit the force of Reagan's practical argument for the
continuation of the postal service; namely, that if postal com-
munication had been discontinued, more men would have deserted
in a short time than would have been required to conduct the
entire post office department.
Unfortunately, the two departments had still another matter
of difference arising from the use of departmental clerks in de-
fending the city of Richmond. The clerks and officers in the
local defense organization it had been supposed would be called
out only in great emergencies; but, in reality, after the spring of
1864 they composed a part of the army, being withdrawn from
their duties for months at a time. The post office department
could not legally appoint other clerks had it so desired, and much
of its business had to remain unattended to. Reagan was moved
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 19, July 1915 - April, 1916, periodical, 1916; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101067/m1/154/: accessed May 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.