The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 19, July 1915 - April, 1916 Page: 233
452 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Problems of Confederate Postoffice Department
prior to October 15, 1861, the date on which the first stamps were
delivered, and when treasury notes became acceptable for postage
stamps.2 To Memminger's excuse that postal funds had not been
kept separate, the postmaster-general replied that they should have
been; and he said that if the money were not forthcoming, he
would report the treasurer to the President for removal, as having
violated the law requiring him to keep the funds separate. When
he finally 'did have to refer the matter to the President, Mr.
Reagan concluded his statement of the case by saying:
The Secretary of the Treasury has on other occasions embar-
rassed the operations of this Department by what seems to. me
an improper interference in questions relating to its connections
with the accounting and disbursing officers; . . . it is im-
portant for me to know whether the funds of the Post Office
Department are under his or my control.3
"Attorney-General Watts, to whom President Davis referred the
papers, in returning them to the President, said in his report that
the brief paragraphs at the end of the letter of the Postmaster-
General so aptly stated the law that he copied them in his
opinion."4 The attorney-general plainly said that the postmaster-
general had as full power over the funds belonging to the post
office department as the secretary of the treasury had over other
public moneys; and that his power to make and enforce all neces-
sary regulations for the collection, safe-keeping, and disbursement
of the funds of the post office department, embracing within the
scope of such regulations the treasurer and auditor for the post
office department, was as full and complete as that of the secre-
tary of the treasury in relation to other public moneys.
Proposing to renew the correspondence, Memminger wrote that
he agreed with the attorney-general, but answered Reagan's claims
by saying that the amounts deposited in the treasury were not
kept separate, and that he could not tell what money had been
paid in coin. As for paying creditors in specie, he said the
holders of the twenty million dollar loan were then entitled to
21eport, Feb. 28, 1862, p. 10.
BLetter Book, I, 719-720, 721-722.
'Quoted from Reagan's Memoirs, 158. The full opinion is quoted in
Letter Book, I, 739-743.233
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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/m1/254/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.