Show Be chers echers protest against letter writers r 1 the more cowardly enemies and opponents of henry Vard ward Beecher having annoyed bim him with ous oua and arld offensive postal cards to a degree beyond which endurance was DO no longer a virtue the famous pastor of plymouth tn tm church fied filed a pretest with the postmaster gen eral of the united states against these indignities the protest was waa referred to general J W marshall first assistant postmaster Ue general genera nera who gave the matter his immedi ate attention laying the fore judge spence fi pence U 8 S assistant attorney general for the post office and soon after aften elicited the following opinion in jn compliance with your request to be advised as to the propriety of excluding from the under the provisions of 0 the 3 section of the revised statute statutes a postal card addressed to brother henry ward beecher cher of brothers shearman tracy rac cos coa plymouth pay mouth church Brooklyn 01 yn and on the back of which was wa s written thou shall not beat false witness ss against thy neighbor the city of churches once stood here but god and moral law it did not rear fear its moi mol was Beech deecher bec Dec cher erg ita its lt ruler a rink ring that virtue and vico vice together did fling it flourished flourish pd apace and nod greavy greatly did grow then down la ia the dust descended fali fall tv ow gono gone to join sodom an ana Go gomorrah morah ill tl will reply that the purpose of the law referred to is obvious but cannot be reached by a strict construction st bt of its ere ete fore foro such hueh a construction should be given to its terms as will attain the object intended the object was to protect the abuse of the mails malls by giving publicity to offensive sive expressions press pres lons ions and allegations calculated and intended to wound the feelings of the person to whom the mall avie aVle matter is addressed or prejudice hiim in in his business moral or social standing such I 1 consider is the character of the writing and of the printed attached to the postal card submitted to me and that its ts exclusion from the tho malis mails for that cause pauso would be proper the question in turn arises how Is the Broo brooklyn itly lLly n postmaster to know kilow if mhd cards are scurrilous unless he reads them and how can he be read them without disobeying a previous ruling rifling ar the post rost office Department that pot office officials must not acquaint themie themselves with the he contents oft of a postal batal card any more mord than with r the eon coa contents tents of or a sealed scaled letter jetter washington letter in W V Y rj nou nov 10 |