George Sutherland

“ What is to be transported is not mere weight, bulk or freight, but the 'mails,' and the act must be construed to give effect to its purpose.' We fairly may assume, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, that, in fixing the allowance to be paid to the land grant roads at 80 per cent. of the fair and reasonable compensation to be paid railroads generally, Congress has given due weight to all the circumstances-not only to the kind and character of the service, but to the fact that the companies are required to furnish all facilities incidental thereto. ”

“ The power of the Post Office Department to direct the transportation is of the same quality as the power of Congress to fix the price, and includes not only the authority to say when the transportation shall take place and between what points, but to impose such conditions as are necessarily incident to the transportation, having regard to the peculiar nature of the things to be transported. We fully agree with the court below that the land grant acts are not to be so narrowly construed as to render their operation impracticable. ”

“ The provision reaches into the future, and, while its meaning does not change, its application may well embrace new conditions and new instrumentalities which come within the scope of the terms employed. This is in accordance with the universal law of language. In a sense, words do not change their meaning; but the application of words grows and expands with the growth and expansion of society. ”