NP, SAN 4/4/1865

From the San Antonio (Tex.) News
 
April 4, 1865
 
Passports
   Of all the greatest humbugs of the present day is the passport system, as established in the State of Texas. A traveler when he sets out on a journey on any of the railroads has to go before the Provost Marshal and obtain a pass.  No matter who he may be, whether he be a San Jacinto soldier or member of the Legislature, he has to suffer this annoyance.  At the depot he finds able-bodied soldiers, with bayoneted muskets, who demand his pass.  The soldier reads it, and knows as little of the genuineness of the signature as we do of the "man in the moon," and the traveler takes his seat in the cars.  Soon another chap comes along during the trip, and demands the pass again, you show it, and O.K. is the response.  Well, reader, do you suppose that a Yankee spy would take the trouble to go to the office of the Provost Marshal?  No, he has only to mount his horse and will not be again molested until he has matured all his schemes and is safe under the Yankee flag.  We have traveled over three-fourths of the State, a few months past, and was never asked to show our pass only when we left Houston — this was at the depot.  Now, what is the use of the system unless it be to trip up Yankee spies.  We expose this for the public good, and respectfully call the attention of Generals Kirby Smith and Walker to the error.  We are posted and know what we say.  We cry, reform, reform!
Freeman's Champion

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