THE DAlljf EVENING TELEGRAPH PHILADELPHIA; TUESDAY, AUGUST 4 13G8. SPIRIT OF THE PRESS. BDITORIAIi OMIHOHB 0? TH1 Hirilltfl JOUBHAM TON CCRBBNT TOUCH COMFlLaD BVBBT BAT FOB TBI ITKXINi? TitLBIRArU. , The National Expenditures. JVotn V9 N. Y. Tribtme. For many tuoutb, tun mo?t atrooloaa false hoods with regard to th oiirrt-tit expensus of the Federal Uoverumwut have bnn the princi pal stock in trade o( tlit eniuie of human liberty. The assertions of Horatio Seymour In hia Bridgeport apwh that, in the flnoal year then current, hut sinoo closed, it was costing more than $150,000,000 per annum to maintain an army to kf ep the people of the South in subjection" that "More than $300, 000,000 a year have ben wasted in order to uphold this policy of reconstruction" that "Now, $400,000,000 are raised, aud out of it the public creditor gets only $100,000,000" are fair specimens of the gigantic, villainous lies that have bneu put forth as facts in Cop perhead harangues and editorials for the last eight or ten months. The lion. William B. Allison, of Iowa, was moved to solicit of the Hon. David A. Wells, Special Commissioner of Uvenue, an exhibit ot the actual Income aud expenditure of the Federal Government for the lineal year which closed barely one mouth ago. lie made hia inquiry on the 0th of July; but the accounts Were not yet made np, so that he did not an ewer till the 10th which is earlier, we be lieve, than the accounts of a fiscal year closiDg with the preceding month were ever laid be fore the public Of courne, tbey may possibly require subsequent correction as to the petty details; but that they are substantially accu rate, and within a fraotion of the exact figures Do one doubts. Let us see, then, how the official facts compare with Governor Seymour's assertions: Governor Seymour guessed the income for the then current fiscal year at $100,000,000; and it was actually $400,300,000 (very nearly); Bo that it is proved that he cn make very good guesses when no political capital is to accrue from making bad ones. Row look at the other side of the account: lie asserts that the cost of maintaining an army to subjugate the South for the fiscal year 1867-'G8 was -'more than $150,000,000;" and that "more than $300,000,000 a year have been Wasted in order to uphold this policy of recon struction." Mr. Wells' report shows that the entire cost of maintaining our army, support ing the Freedmen's liureau, and defraying the expenses of reconstruction at the South, amounted in the aggregate to $G2,727,GSO; though this includes the outgoes of a wasteful Indiau war on the Plains, and $1,000,000 ap propriated to feeding Indians whom we had ceased to fight. Very much of the $5,000,000 Bpent by the Freedmen's Bureau went to feed the helpless widows and orphans of white rebels left destitute by the eollapse of the Con federacy; nearly all the residue was paid for registering voters and holding elections in States where the Freedmen's Bureau is now being closed out, while military rule is already abolished. Governor Seymour asserted that of the $400,000,000 of revenue tor the then current year, the pubho creditor gets but $100,000,000. Mr. Wells' report shows that no less than $141,035,551 were paid in that year for interest on the public debt much of it being the back interest on the compound inter-Bt notes, which were paid off in that year with the three years' compound interest due on them so that the Interest on the national debt henceforth is but 1126,000,000 per annum. After paying this current interest and back interest, there were $34,749,747 left wherewith to reduce the prin cipal of the debt. Thus the year's revenue yielded for the payment of interest and princi pal of the debt no less than $17G,3S5, 21)8, being 70,335,293 more than Seymour asserted. Governor Seymour asserted that "More than $300,000,000 a year have been wasted in order to uphold this policy of Reconstruction." Mr. Wells' report shows that the payments from the Treasury for every purpose except pay ment of principal or interest of the National Debt were less than Two hundred aud thirty millions (precisely, $229,914,674); and that of this amount, besides many millions for Tensions, there were paid For Bounties to our Volunteers S.'JS.OOD.OOO For Reimbursing WarUlatuis 10,830,184 Payments for properly lost Jn tlie Military Service of the U ulted Stales 5,11 1.800 These three items together $53,441,4S8 are payment of public debt as much as though they had bought np and canceled so many Five-twenties. . They are so much of the oost of putting down the Rebellion paid off, and ex tinguished, once for all; so that really the amount of our national debt was reduced during the fiscal year just closed, including the payment of back interest on the compouud interest notes, by little less than one hundred millions of dollars. And instead of the entire current expense of the Federal Government, except for the payment of principal and inter est of the public debt, being "mere than $300, 000,000," it was considerable less than $200, 000,000. IIow do Seymour's pettifoggers meet this crushing exposure of their master's falsehoods and calumnies r I. The World characterizes our eluoldatlou Of the actual financial situation as a "dis- graoetul business." It sees nothing disgrace ful in beymour'a falsehoods it is their expo sure and annihilation that moves it to vitupe ration, come people have queer tastes. II. It assumes that Mr. Allison was ignorant of the facts set iorth in Mr. Wells' report. Thia is mere reckless assertion. Mr. Allison may have been perfectly familiar with the facts, yet prefer that they should be set forth ly an officer of the Treasury whose position and duties constrain him to understand them perfectly, aud whose statements no one will venture to dispute. III. The World wonders why these facts were not set forth at an earlier day. As the fiscal year closed less than fire weeks ago, and as it is somewhat difficult to state the outgoes of a year till after that year has expired, we neea say nounng on this head. IV. The World tries to be og the expense of the Freedmen's Bureau, and to put Mr. Wells' aooounts into coulliot with those of General Howard. But General Howard had Smashed this juggle beforehaud by stating mat the aggregate payments from the Trea sury expressly on aocount of the Freedmen's Bureau, from Jan uarv 1. 1865. to January 1. lbliB, were $5,1)55,688; but that certain Com missary ana other stores had been furnished to the order of that Burean from the depots of the regular army, while certain military officers, who were administering or serving the Bureau, were paid with their respective com mands, as though employed in the regular military eerviue. ii iu uureau M charged with these stores and the pay of these olhoera, as It fairly may be, then its total oost from the outset, to Jan uary 1, 1863, including millions of rations dealt out to famishing white Rebels, is $9,954,- 370; otherwise, it ia less than six millions, as aforesaid. Mr. Wells, of course, takes these aooounts as they stand on the Treasury books, having no alternative. The Freedmen's Bureau lnieht fairly be chareed with more: Imt every penrjy added to tbia muat la sub tract! horn the ocat of daiutaialcg the aruy; hence we have added them together above, so I a to leave no room for oavil. The oost of I maintaining the army, inoluding that of the Indian war on the 1'lains, supporting tue Freedmen's Bureau and enforcing the Recon struction acta aggregated, waa less than sixty three millions, as is shown above. V. The World wonders why we have to pay $38,000,000 for military bounties in 1867-8. A nuuYr. This money waa long ago due to oar volunteers for helping to put down the Demo cratic Rebellion of 1864-65. It ought to have been paid before; but the scrutinizing of so many claims and aocounts has required much time. Suppose the money was honestly due in I860, but unpaid: is there any reason for not paying it since f VI. The World asserta that the British Pen sion list is far less, with an army of 136,139 men, than ours with an army of 50,000. Bat our Tension List is not for an army of 50,000 men, but for the several armies of over two millions, first and last, of volunteers who put down the Slaveholders' Rebellion; doing more solid fighting In four years than all the British armies have done within the last century. VII. The World contrasts the cost of the Britibh engineer servioe with ours, and wonders how our Engineer Bureau spent over $6,000,000 last year. Answer. It spent nine-tenths of it in constructing a steamboat canal around the lower falls of the Mississippi at Keokuk, and other works of internal improvement which have nothing to do with military affairs, ex cept that they are prosecuted under the charge of the Engineer Bureau, in order that the work may be well done and the public money not stolen. Why thus expose your ignorance in vain attempts to gratify your malice ? Friends of Grant and Colfax t try to have Wells' report on the finances read by all your neighbors 1 Working or the Reconstructed Govern ments From the if. Y. Times. The pro-Rebel crusade against Reconstruc tion would be more plausible and more just if it were less directly at variance with facta revealed by the working of the new Govern meuta. If their organisation rested upon sweeping and permanent measurea of pro scription, or if in their operation they were found making war upon particular classes, upon property, or upon the enterprise and industry on which the prosperity of the South must be rebuilt, it would be easy to extenuate, and perhaps to iustify. the course of the South ern leaders. Their policy might not admit of defense, but the causes of their action would be apparent, and a certain reasonableness would be conceded to it. What then, gene rally, are the facts in regard to the seven States which have been restored to the Union under the Reconbtruolion a ts f The new Governments are at work in all of them. Tbey bave been organized under great difficulties. Circumstances have In many instances favored the pretensions of in ferior men, and have lent importance to mat ters and influences which it is not desirable to perpetuate in their present shape. There is a lack of experience n many directions, and there are in all sources of embarrassment and difficulty which no candid observer will Ignore. Very large allowance should, in tact, be made, as well for the men composing the new Governments as for their proceedings. And yet their most malignant assailants confine their attacks to general denunciation of the nature ot the linvemments and the autho rity which called them into existence, wuu the exception of North Carolina, where a dis position to tread in the footsteps of urowniow is attributed, not altogether without reason, to Governor Holdeu, we look in vain for spa- cifio allegations of harshness or wrong. Even there, judging from experience elsewhere, it id fair to set down something to partisan exag geration, and to the circumstances which nar row the Governor's choio of procedure. Be sides, supposing his spirit to be bitter, it does not appear to have impregnated the Legisla ture, and it certainly has neither warrant nor aid in the labors of the State Convention. The provisions of the local Constitution are eminently wise; and there is an evident appro elation, both by the Legislature and the lixeou tive, of the eduoational and material needs of the State. In Louisiana, again, the course of events ia not so smooth as the friends of the south de sire it to be. The operation of the Govern ment is impeded, and current references to the probable necessity of Federal interference betoken a feebler oivil authority than is re quired when dealing with organized and nn scrupulous enemies. This condition of things, however, implies nothing discreditable to the new Government. It is not charged with an abuse of power, or with neeleot of duty, or with aught prejudicial to the industry and credit of the State. If its embarrassments are more serious than those of any other State, it is because in Louisiana the spirit of hos tility to all loyal authority is more defiant, and practically more formidable than in the other six states. A fact which does not re fleet unfavorably on reconstruction, but rather vindicates the stringency of some of its mea sures. Nor has the abusive ridicule with which the new Government of South Carolina has been assailed, provoked ita legislators to depart from the sensible course marked out by the Constitutional Convention. Unfortunate jealousies have shown themselves, and prac tical measures are retarded by questions of patronage. But we trace no sign of the ex treme measures which disaffected whites pro fess to dread. The "negro legislature," as it is called, is in truth more moderate, and withal more Just than its assailants. And the opening message of the new Governor gave proof of the sagacity aud good feeling with which the authority of the Executive will be exercised. Alabama has advanced further, and in some respects more satisfactorily. The Common Carrier bill, providing for the unrestrained and equal access of whites and blacks to rail road cars and steamboats creates excitement but ita significance is infinitely lesa than the favor with which efforts for the removal of all disabilities are regarded by the Republicans "The native Republicans generally favor it,' a despatch from Montgomery reports, and the time is not distant, we trust, when it will be successful. The worst obstacles to this and every other measure tending to reproduoe harmony id the fierce opposition of those Whom it is proposed to benefit. The position of affairs in the Georgia Legia lature is not less creditable. More appears to have leen done there than in any other State towards the blending of moderate elementa, irrespective of partisanship, and the Legisla ture is evidently riper aud under more saga cious leadership. Were it not for the wild harangues of Toombs and Cobb and Ben. Hill, Georgia might be supposed to be reconstructed in heart as well aa in form. We don't know that their folly should be held to prove other wise, but it displays the nature of the opposi tion to be enoountered. Judging of the Rebel orators by their speeches, and the recon structed Government by ita aotion, it is safe to conclude that the latter has much the stronger claim upon the respeot of the State. Its worst enemies are tbey who in its name seek to reopen questions which reconstruction haa righteous ud, as we hellere, effectual 'y BctU&i. 'Democracy Means Revolution." From the N. Y. World. This startling heading, from the Tribunn, is folk wed by these opening paragraphs of a long article in the same strain: "if Democraoy doe not mean revolution. What dot It mcHi? All efforts to cloud the o Hi- vans bv introducing new issues have failed. Tne lines of demarcation are drawn with won derful dlHllnci ue. Financial qU'.'Hilous, lacta tion, una taring, roreiKii huh uoiueittio economy, are HubsUtlury. There will be uo serious trouole about paylug the debt., when the time com."S to pay ll. We can trust the common sense of the country for that. Tariffs' aud taxation will riKUi luemseives in ooeuieiice in wie imiutuame laws of Kupply and demand. The Issue Mitt transcends and absorbs all these is simply this: HIimII we have a revolution? A cm-lain policy hits beeu adopted. Whatever may bo said about reconstruction; whatever may be its merits or demerits, it is now the supreme law of the land. The fourteenth- Article placet tne whole question or reconstruction aoove the reHcli ol any political party. Even Rive tne Democracy the fullest triumph. Huppune It elects Mr. Seymour anil a majority oi the nouse, ineaenat is raoicai anu strong enougu to veto any attempt to ame nd or destroy toe work of Congress. The whole power of the Democratic parly could not take the bar from a single Rebel, or place a b-ir upon a single negro. Nay, even In the small matter of the dispensation ot office, a Democratic President wou u be powerless, lie could not louon a radlcrxl postmaster without the consent of a radical (senate. He would be merely ibe mlu lster of laws which he disapproved, and the servant of a Henale that did not trust bltu. How then could the election of Havmotir con duce to the advantage of the Democratic party? now coma me new numinitttratioa cirry out the wl-heg of lis constituents? UIludIv by revolution. "The Democratic party understands this, and to gain power is prepared to take the responsi bility til revolution, even unto war. Kernem ber the defiance of Kimifc Klalr, whieu K ivo him the unanimous vote of the Democratic Convention," The idea with which the Tribune sets out is perfectly correct, namely, that the chief issue presented in this canvass is, whether the negro reconstruction shall staud. The Tribune is in error, however, when it says that "the four teenth amendment places the whole question of reconstruction beyond the reach of auy po litical party." The so-called fourteenth amend ment leaves the regulation of the suffrage to the States, but deprives them of a portion of their representatives In the lower brauch of Congress if they exclude the negroes. Waiving the question whether this amendment has been properly ratified, it does not interfere with the upsetting of all that haa been done by Congress in the Southern States since it was firbt proposed. The Southern States may displace the negro governments aud still retain their equal representation in the Senate far more important to them than a full represen tation in the House. By replaoing suffrage on the white basis, tbey will take security against being misrepresented in either branch ot Congress, aud will regaiu all the advantages ot domestic eelt-government. Having shown that the tribune s referenoe to the fourteenth amend ineut is not pertinent, we quite agree with it as to which is the mam issue in the ensuing election. Ia negro "re construction unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void 1" If Governor Seymour is eleoted, the people decide this question in the affirma tive; if General Grant, in the negative. So far, if we understand eur contemporary, the World and the J ribune agree. But the Tribune raises the question whether the decision of the people, thus rendered, shall be respected. The tenor of its article is, that if the Republican party succeeds, it shall; but if the Democratic, it shall not. But why la not one party just aa much bound by the Will Of the maturity m tU other ? What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Even the Tribune does not profess any fears that the Democratic party will undertake a "revolution," unless it succeeds in electing its candidates. That great bugaboo, ueuerai Blair's first letter, does not contain a sentence nor a syl lable from which it oan be inferred that the bogua negro Legislatures and carpet-bag gov ernments are to be sent budging, except by the election of a Democratio President. If General Grant is fairly elected, the new policy will have on its side both the machinery of the Government and a preponderance of the physi cal strength of the conntry. JNot a word haa been uttered by any responsible Democrat in dicating a purpose to disturb it if it should be indorsed by a majority of the people. But if a majority of the people reprobate it and oondemn it, aa they will if they eleot Sey mour and liiair, the J. ribune insists that it shall nevertheless stand, though at the cost of a civil war l Unless the Tribune holds this anti-republi can, thia atrocious and diabolioal dootrine, the cry of revolution and bloodshed which it Taises against the Demooratlo party ia arrant nonsense and absurdity. The Tribune tells ns that if beymour is eleoted, the radical Senate will stand out against the decision of the country; that the radical party will take up arms to sustain it in thua resisting the majo rity or tne people, it is only by such a re fusal to accept the result of the election, only by resistance to the declared will of the majo rity, that a new civil war is possible. The radical organs and orators are all threatening war if the Democratio party succeeds. It ia a threat against the aovere'n majority of the people, it is treason against the very princi pie of republican government the right of the majority to rnie. The people have never yet had an opportu nity to give their verdict on the Ktcomtruo tion aots. At the time of the last Congres sional elections those acta had not beeu hatched. In the State elections held last year, there was a more sudden and surprising reaction than was ever before witnessed iu this csuntry. The people will now be per mitted, tor the nrst time, to give their delibe rate judgments on those acts. The Republi c-ana confess that the issue is so boldly presented that it cannot be blinked. The Democratio Convention have made it iinpossi ble for any citizen to vote for 'Seymour and Blair without intending to oondemn the reoon struction policy of Congress. If they are elected, that polioy will have been explicitly repudiated by a majority of the people. The Tribune declares that the Republioan benate and the Kepublican party will not sub mit to such a decision, though made by the people; declares, In substance, that the Ue publicans will see the land again drenched with Dioou rather than give up their policy, even aiter tne sovereign people have condemned it There oan be no civil war in consequence of Mr. Seymour s election, unless the Republl cans eet at naught the solemn judgment of the people deliberately pronounced. But the Tribune informs us that the Republican Senate will thus defy the people; and that the Kepub lican minority will subtain such defiance by all the bayonets they cau muster. And the party that utters these threats has the effrontery to proclaim us opponents revolutionists I Depreciation of lloiuls and the Cause. From the (Jiioago Tribune, We are constantly reminded by the Copper head press and spouters that five-twenty bonds sold at one time during the war as low aa forty cents that is, the Government received in gold but MO for which it gave ltd obligation, at six per ceut., for if 100. But we must re mind them in return that forty per ceut. rep- sented the world's opinion of the chances of the Union surviving the assault made upon It by the PemocraUa party of the South, aided and abetted by a majority of the party in the jtorin. The rates at whioh our bonds soU daring tie war were an nnerring Indication of the banoes of the destruction or salvation of the Union, in the opinion of capitalists, in both Knrope and America. From the report of the United States Revenue Commissioner, we find that the Belling price Of 730 bonds for the first Quarter of 18(J2 was only tt Hi cents in gold value; for the second quarter of the same year, 11!) y 10; for the third quarter, 81); for the fourth quarter, 7l. These bonds were convertible into 6-20s. During the year 18(53 the cold price of our 7 '80s and 5-20s averaged (57, 71, 81, and for eaou quarter of that year, fn 1G4 the gold price of the bonds were b7. 158. i'i, and 51. This was the year the Democratio party officially declared "the war to be a failure," aud tried so deep irately to make it one. The lowest point our bonds ever reaohed was in the third quarter of 18(54, in which the Copperhead Chicago Convention was held. In the world's opinion the chances were largely sgainst the Union surviving the attack upon it, and men would give but forty to fifty dol lars for a bond. The defeat of the Copper head party for President caused the bonds to rise six cents in gold on the dollar. In the first quarter of 18G5, they were worth 54; in the second quarter, 71 2; in the third quarter, 74; and since then they have averaged about 75 cents. The constant clamor of the Western Copperheads to pay them in new issues of greenbacks, without making provision for the redemption of the latter, has kept down the value of our natioual securities to their pre sent pi ice. If the Democratio party of the North had worked as heartily and faithfully as the Re publican party to put down the rebellion the bonds would never have sold below ninety per cent., and the rebellion would have been crushed out a year and a half before it was. The debt would have been lesa than half what it is; our green backs would be equal to gold, and our bonds would bear a premium in the world's money markets. One half of the prin cipal of the debt and all the depreciation of the bonds and greenbacks must be charged to the account of the Democratio party. It was their unfaithful, their nnpatriolic, Copperhead conduct that created half the debt, and half the bloodshed; that caused our bonds to sell aa low as 40 cents on the dollar, and gold at one time to amount to 2S0, and all the nations of the earth but hopeful Germany, to give up the great American Republio aa lost. Aud yet these disloyal wretches who brought the Union to the brink of annihilation by their lack of patriotism are brawling for repudia tion, because, forsooth, the bonda did not re alize their full face in gold ! The Power of Congress to Regulate Hall way Commerce. From the N. Y. Walton. There is a continuous line of railway com munication between BoKton and Omaha. The companies which control this line owe their existence to the separate legislation of Massa churetts, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Indiaua, Illinois, and Iowa. rassengers aud goods may be carried from one of these points to the other without change of cara or transhipment, and are, of course, on their route, euooesfully brought under different and perhaps conlliot ing codes of local laws. May Congress apply to this line and to all others similarly situated a uniform rule in respect to all matters con nected with the business of transportation ? The answer which we must give to thia in. quiry, and the key to the whole disoussion, depend upon the answer to auother question: Is the transportation of passengers and geods upon railways to be called commerce, so that if the transportation be from one State to another there thenoe exists "commerce among the States T" If so, the power we are con sidering plainly exists, for the Constitution iu express terms authorizes Congress to "regulate commerce among the several States." The national Constitution is an enumeration of general legislative functions conferred upon the Government rather than a description and definition of the particular aots of law-making which CoDgressg may perform. Political par ties have to a great extent been divided upon the question, What specific powers are in cluded within these generio statements of the organio law, and, therefore, what measures are Congress permitted from time to time to adopt f The discussion which began at the very out set has continued to the present day, and has been participated in by the legislators, the judiciary, and the people. General principles of interpretation have been repeatedly as sumed by Congress in making a law, con firmed and established by the Supreme Court in declaring the law valid, and approved by the people in the choice of their representa tives. Yet it has constantly happened that when a new measure is proposed, although it is clearly within the general principles of con stitutional interpretation settled by the highest authority, and ia in all respecta analogous to others with which the people have long been familiar, it is opposed, the power of Congress to pass it is denied, simply because it is new, because the object to which it is directed has never before been brought within the soope of Congieesional legislation. The contest must be again waged from the beginning; first princi ples must again be appealed to, aa though the combined assent of legislators, judges, and people had determined nothing in respeot to our organio law. This statement ia most em phatically true in reference to the subject now under consideration. Congress haa again and sgain enacted laws in every respect analogous to the proposed measure, laws depending upon the same generio grant of power, and interfer ing in an equal degree with the State legisla tion. These laws bave often been subjected to the scrutiny of the Supreme Court, and aa often been upheld. The long line of spleudid judgments upon the power of Congress to regulate commerce, commeuoing with Gibbous vs. Ogden, in 1824, and ending during the current year, has completely settled every principle upon which the authority to control inter-btate railways depends. JNothing ianew except the particular object to whioh it ia now proposed to direct the regulative function. Vet we Bee two Demooratlo members of the Committee on Commerce dissenting peremp torily from the decision of the majority, and denying the existence of any power in Con gress to regulate railways. The Constitution declares that "CoojiresB shall have power to regulate commeroe with foreign nations, among the several Statea, and with the Indian tribes." it should be noticed that there is no diflerence whatever in the compulsive efficacy of these three grants; each one is as comprehensive as each of the others. To whatever extent CoDgress may regulate commerce with foreign nations, it may regulate commerce among the several States; the one function bears no badge of inferiority to the other. No one now questions or limits the rational authority over foreign oommerce; that over Inter-state commerce is equally broad, and if it has not been so fully exercised, thia has resulted simply from motives of polioy. Chief Justioe Marshall said, In Uibbons v. Og den: "The subject to be regulated is oommerce; and oar Constitution being, as was aptly said at the bar, one of enumeration and not of doll pition, to ascertain the extent of the power it becomes necessary to settle the meauing of the word, commerce undoubtedly is train?; but It id scpaethipg acre; It is Intercourse. Jt 213 & 220 S. FRONT ST. 4 OFFER TO THB TRADE, IN LOTS, FINE RYE AM) BOURBON WHISKIES, IY OfD Of 180B, lt!00, ltOT, nnd 1808. A1S0, HIE 'fire me and BOURBON 'WHISKIES, 2 Of GREAT AGE, ranging from 1SG4 to 184a. Liberal oon tracts will be entered Into for lota, in bond at Distillery, ot this years' mnnuf actnr. describes the commercial intercourse between j nations aud parts of nations in all ita branches, i a I'd ia regulated by prescribing rules for oar- j ryirg on that intercourse." In a subsequent j case the same great judge showa that com- j merce includes traffic as well as mere iutei- 1 course. In the celebrated "Passenger Cases' (lc4!) the Supreme Court formally deoidtd that persona may be the objeots of commerce, and that the transportation of persona is a branch of commercial intercourse whioh may : be regulated by Congress. State laws inter- ' fering with the national regulations were pro nounced void. These principles lie at the basis of all the legislation of Congress, and of all the judgments of the Supreme Court, and have become a part of the established consti tutional law of the country. Commerce, therefore, contains two element?, transportation and traffic; each of these may be regulated, if they are carried on with for eign nations, or between two or more States. e are so geographically situated that by far the greater part of our commercial intercourse with foreign countries is conducted upon the ocean; and thus it necessarily happens that most of the laws regulating that intercourse are made applicable to water transportation. For a considerable period of our history moat of our inter-Bttte commerce was also trans aottd npon navigable waters, partly upon the ocean, partly npon the great chain of lakes which skirt the northern frontier, and partly upon the vast rivers whioh divide and separate many of the States; and it happens that most of the regulations which affect this intercourse have refererce to navigation or to navigable waters. Congress has, by virtue of ita general func tion, prescribed rules governing all this navi gation as special and minute, aud interfering as radically with State legislation, as any which oan ever be demanded and enaoted for the government of land transportation and traffic. In this class are found regulations for the ownership, transfer, and use of vessels sailing upon foreign voyages or from one State to another. Other statutes regulate the use and conduct of the vessels themselves, provide for the safety of crews and passengers by pre scribing rules concerning boilers, engines, medicines, bulk, ventilation, number of the crew, the form and nature of their contraot of hiring, their rights, powers, and duties. iNo one questions the validity of suoh laws as these. Not a steamer sails from New York to an adjacent port whioh is not under the control of United States statutes; not one plies on the great lakes, or on the Ohio or the Mississippi, which is not in like manner the object of national legislation. Many of these vessels are owned by corporations created under State authority, which are thua inter fered with in the same manner aa railway com panies would be if the measure nnder discus sion should ba adopted. But Congress haa gone much further in ita work of regulation. it nas invaded the common law of the states, and haa relieved the ownera of vessels from much of the liability as carriers of goods which that law oasts npon them. ' The Supreme Court has sustained the statute which makes this change, and has declared that it applies to the great lakes and navigable rivers as well as to the ocean. Again, Congress haa assumed 1 to authorize the construction of certain bridges over great rivers which run between several States. The Supreme Court, in the case of Pennsylvania vs. Bridge Company, 18 How ard's Rep., has directly sustained this ezeroise of power. In the very late case of Oilman vs. Philadelphia it was conceded by the same tri bunal that the national legislature may, by general or by special laws, provide for the erection of bridges over streams navigable from the ocean, whether lying entirely within a single State or not. These examples of the existing system of regulation might be indefinitely multiplied. But enough has been said to show that the principles npon which the whole question of power turni have been settled; that commeroe includes transit as well as traffio; that inter state commerce ia as much within the scope of the Congressional function as that which is foreign; and that the national legislature has, to a large extent, exercised its authority over the intercourse among the States oarried on in the natural water channels of intercom munication. The whole disoussion is, there fore, reduced to oue narrow point. Unless in tercourse by land, over the natural or artificial ways now in use, is not commeroe, Congress has ample authority to presoribe rulea govern ing the inter-state transportation of persons and merchandise by railways. It hardly needs an argument to show that the methods and instruments of the inter coursebridge or river, stage-coach or paok mule or railroad are not the essential facts; these change; new inventions banish the ob jects which were once familiar and to which the laws once applied, and the lawa must bs amended in ordr to adapt themselves to the altered circumstances. The Constitution con cerns itself only with the fact that persons and merchandise are transported from foreign countries to our own, or from one State to an other, and not with the particular methods which may be in use from time to time to effect this transit. The Supreme Court very properly said in Gilman vs. Philadelphia: "It must not be forgotten that bridges, whioh are connecting parta of turnpikes, streets, and railroads, are means of commercial transpor tation aa well as navigable rivers, and that the commerce whioh passes over a bridge may be much greater than would ever . be trans ported on the water which it obstructs." One consideration, however, ia absolutely cono'usive npon this point. If the power of Congress extends only to that inuer-State transit which is carried on through the natu ral water channels, and does not also embrace that carried on through the means of railways aud other artificial channels, then the same is true as to ita power ever foreign commeroe. Those who deny the authority of Cengress to regulate the railway traffio through the States must, of necessity, deny its power to regulate the railway or other land traffio with Canada or with Mexico. In fact, the opponents of the proposed measure are driven to the position that the Constitution waa only framed for the state of things, physical as well as political, which existed at the time of its adoption, and that it contains no quality of elasticity, no faculty of adaptation to the changes in the foims of conducting the activities of life, to the progress in the material arts. 218 & 220 S. FRONT ST. 4 CO C 11AMPA(JNE.-AN INVOICE OK "PLANT uor - uuBnipagne, imiiurwu buii ror n'a y .1 A U K.H CA U iTA 1 H, J ft.. 128 WALNU'l and 21 UKAiNITK Htreet, CHAMPAGNE. AN INVOICE OF "GOLD Jac" Ohaoi'Mnii. imporUM nrul lori by JAMKH CAUHTAIKS, XR., 12S WALNUT Dd ilUU&Mi'zWeM, CHAMPAGNE. AN INVOICE OF "GLO. rla" Uhunipague. lui ported ud tut aaiit bv An. I.'l. i . i..i 11 12 WALNUT and 21 ORANlVlfiMtieW. I A M l.'fc I A Llt-1- I . rjA?rJA!KS' .0L,7? OILAN INVOICI of the above, for nale l7 JaMKH CAKHTATRf?. JR., 126 WALK UT and tl O KAN II fi Street, WATCHES, JEWELRY, LTC. JEWELRY! JEWELRY! S. E. Comer TcufJi and Cliesnut, NEW STORE. NEW GOODS. WRICCINS & CO., (Formerly Wringing 4 Warden. Firth and Cheonntl Invite attention to their New Jewelry btore. 8. H. cor. ner TJLNTH and CHK8NUT Mtree'B. We are now prepared, with our Kxtenslve Stock, to Offer URKATlNljLXKMKNTS to buwrs, 1 WATCH HS ot tne most celebrated maker. JEW. ELKV, and HILVKR WAKK, always (he latest de slicns and best qual Itlen. Woods especially designed for BRIDAL PRESENTS. Particular attention given to the Repairing ot WATOHKd AN1 JKWKLKV. t l mwl WHIQGIN8 & OO., 8. E. Corner Tenth and Cbesnut Streets. Xeyus LADOMUS &Cq7 'DIAMOND DEALERS fc JEWELERS. WATCHES, JEM ELKV SILVER Win. .WATCHES and JEWELRY EEPAIEED. J02 Chestnut St., Phihv. Would invite particular attention to their larse and elegant assortment of LADIES' AND GENTS' WATCHES of American and Foreign Makers of thelflnf at qnalltr. In Oolcl and fcllver Cases. " A vsrleiy of Independent M Second, for horse timing. Ladled and Gents' CHAINS of latest styles, la 14 and is ku BTTTON AND EYELET STUDS lu great variety newest patterns. BOLID SILVERWARE tor Bridal presents; Flated-ware. eto. Hi-pairing doua In the bast manner, and war We keep always on hand an assortment of ;i 4ADIES' AND GENTS' "FINE WATCHES" Of the best American and Foreign Makers, all war. ranted to give complete satisfaction, and at GREATLY REDUCED PRICES. FAKR & BROTHER; Imt orters of Watches, Jewelry, Musical Boxes, etc., U Usmthjrp No. S24CHE9NTJT St., below Fourth. Especial attention given to repairing Watches and Mimical Boxes by Jt lRttT-CLASS workmen, 3 P fZCIAL NOTICE. UMIL SEPTEMBER 1, 1SG8, I WILL CLOSE DAILY AT 5 P. M. O.W.RUSSELL, Importer and Dealer in French .Clocks, Watches Fine Jewelry, and Bliver Ware, No. 22 North SIXTH Street, PHILADELPHIA. INSTRUCTION. , gTVEM8D ALB INSTITUTE, BOARDING SCHOOL FOB YOUNO L DITTO. Terms Board,.TuItlon , etc per scholastic year, 50t NO EXTRAS. Circulars at Meesrs. Fairbanks dk Swing's, no. 711 CHE8NTJT Street; also at Messrs. T. B. Peterson A Brothers', Mo. 80S CHESNOT Street. Address, personally or by note, N FOSTER BROWNE, Principal, 10 I thmtf ; South Am boy. sr. FURNISHING GOODS, SH1RTS,&0 Ha 8a Ka Ca Harris' Seamless Kid Gloves. KVEBl PAIB WARRANTED. EXCLUSIVE AGENTS FOR GENTS' GLOVES. J. W. SCOTT A CO., B27rp NO. 1 1 C-IIKSNVT STKKET. JDATENT SHOULDER-SEAM HIIIBT MANUFACTORY, AND GENTLEMEN'S FURNISHING STOBK. PFBFECT PITTING BHIRT8 AND DRAWERS made Iroio mraaurenaent at v-ry short notice. All other an Idea ol GENTLEMEN'S DRE43 OOOfcti la full variety. , WINCHESTER & CO., :i No. 7WCiiKriNUT Street. COAL. BMIDDLKTON & CO., DEALERS 'IN . HAKLKiuH LEHIGH and E-aULK VEIN COAL. Kept diynuder oover. Prepared eiprwsly tor family nse. Yard, No. 13 WAbHLNUTOS Avenna. Olfloa No. alt WALNUT Strati. ti A U R E N CONCENTRATED INDIGO, For the Lautdry. Free from Ox Alio Acid. See ChemlBt'a CertlBct A Patent Pocket Plnoimhlon or Emery Bag In eaoh , Twenty Cent Box. 7 27 mwftiu For sale by all respectable Grocers aud DrugtUi. COTTON AND FuAX. SAIL DUCK AND CANVAU, Of all numbers aud brands. Tent, Awning, Trunk, aud YVasou Cover JJuuk, A Iso rpT Manufacturers' Drlor FpIui from oue to Several tvet Wide; I'nnll' g. Prltlng (fall Twins, eto, N.o.iusjo&'jui' Auar. j FINE WATCHES. 1 1
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers