The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-01 00:00:00

IRE FRANKING PRIVILEGE.

The first objection that presents itself is, that it is a
special privilege granted to a favoured class at the ex-
pense of the many. To this it is no sufficient answer to
say that it is exercised solely in the interest of Govern-
ment. Government has no right to appropriate to itself,
in part or in whole, the benefits of a trust the administra•
tion of which has been committed to it for the advantage
of others : and, to show that 1 am not singular iu this
opinion, I introduce the following from tho admirable
report, dated December 3, 1859, of_my distinguished pre
decessor, the Hon. Joseph Holt :
" There is no more reason why the Post office Depart-
ment, through its contractors, should perform this service
(the conveyance of Government correspondence) gratui-
tously for the Government, than there is that the steam-
boats and railroad companies of the country should trans-
port its troops, munitions of war, and stores without com-
pensation. What shall be the character and amount of
written or printed documents forwarded on behalf of the
Government, and under what safeguards against abuse,
are questions whose solution belongs exclusively to Con-
gress, and which it is not my purpose at present to dis-
cuss. I desire to maintain only the general proposition that
whether the written and printed matter be great or small,
if it be despatChed in the name and in the interest of
the Government, and by its agents accredited foi
the purpose, it should be charged with precisely the same
rates of postage to which it would have been subjected had

.
it been forwarded by private citizens. The franking pri-
vilege, as accorded to various officers of the Government.
was from the beginning, and still is, an anomaly in the
postal system, and in direct conflict with the true theory
of its creation. Had this department, like the others, keen
placed as a charge upon the Treasury, and were it essen-
tially a political instrumentality, and the property cf the
nation, it would be as incongruous for it to demand remu-
neration for its services to the Governtneat as it would be
for the army and navy to do so ; but this is not, and never
has been, its actual or theoretical status. Beyond its po-
litical authority in establishing the department and its
revisory power over its administration the relations of
the Government to it are precisely those of the private
citizen. This has been distinctly recognised in the seve-
ral arts permanently appropriating $700,000 per annum
for the transportation of 'free matter.' This is not, in the
language or spirit of tho Act of 1836, a provision made
for the support of the department from its own revenues,
but is an appropriation from the public Treasury, and is,
in its terms, a specific compensation for the transmission
of the correspondence and documents connected with the
administration of tho Government."

But much more can be eaid in favour of extirpating
;his evil. The cost of " free matter" has been increasing

from year to year until at last it weighs down 'he de
pertinent into continuous insolvency. The additional
expense to which it subjects the service is counted by
millions, while there is provided to meet it only the .stand-
ing annual appropriation or $700,000. It was stated ten
years ago that the department actually expended, at
that time, in the performance of the duties which tilt
franking privilege imposed, little, if anything, short of
$1,000,000. Siuco that time the expense has largely in-
creased, and I am convinced that it now exceeds the
enormous sum of $5,000,000, of which about ono-half is
paid on fraudulent matter. That this is not an•exaggera-
[ion will appear from an examination of the weight of
mail malts sent and received at the Washington City
Post-office from the 11th to the 31st January, 1869, as

officially reported to the department. By this return it
appears that the weight of free letters sent was 15,385
pounds. acid of free letters received 16,995 pounds, tnaking
for 20 days 32,380 pounds. Hence au estimate for one
month is 48,570 pounds, and an aggregate for one year
582,840 pounds. It appears further that the weight of
public documents for 20 days was 207,891 pounds, making
for ono month 311,837 pounds, and an aggregate tor one
year of 3,742,041 pounds. if, therefore, the postage value
of this free matter he computed at the miaimum estimates
of $1 25 per pound fur letters and 16 cents per pound for
docutneuts, we have a postage value for freo letters of
$73,c,550, and for public documents $598,727, being an
aggregate of $1,337,277, as indicated by the returns
made at a period when the mails were almost entirely
relieved of the burden of the heavy departmental re-
ports. Ail this from the Washington City Post-office
alone.

There is no sound reason for believing that, estimating
by weight, the present basis of the postage raos, the
proportion of free matter is really less than 30 per con-
turn, as ascertained by the careful investigations of a
Committee. of the British Parliament ; but, even if v.,.

. .
Wdopt th© results of the impel feet information attainable
in this country, and assume 25 per cent. of the ordinary
annual expenditures as the just equivalent for the un-
paid services of the Post-office Department, it will
appear that the Government is bound in honour and
justice to appropriate $5,000,000, instead of $700,000, for
this service.
But the most potential reason of all for the abolition of
the franking privilege is found in the incurable abuses
and frauds which poem to be inseparable from its exercise.
When the number of perscns who are clothed with the
franking privilege, and of judges who are expected to pass
upon the genuineness of franks, is considered, the oppor-
tunity for boundless frauds will appear to be almost in-
finite. The following statement, made up from official
sources, will show how far the privilege is extended under
existing laws :
STATEMENT OF OFFICIALS EXERCISING THE FRANKING
PRIVILEGE.
•
"'resident of the United States and his Secretary... 2

Vice-President

Members of the Cabinet
United States Senators
Members of CongreSs
Delegates in Congress.....
Secretary of Senate and Clerk of House of Repre-
sentatives
Assistant-Secretaries, Chief Clerk, &c., State De-
partment
Assistant Attorney-General and Chief Clerk
Assistant Secretary, Commissioners, Chief Clerk,
&c., Interior Department .
Chiefs of Bureaus, Chief Clerk, &c., of Navy De-
partment
Chiefs of Bureaus, Chief Clerk, &c., of War De-
partment
Assistant Secretaries, Chief Clerks, &c., of the
Treasury Department
Assistant Postmasters-General, Supetin.endents of
Foreign Mails and Money Order System, and
Chief Clerks Post-office Department

241

Add Internal Revenue Officers (Assessors and As-
sistant-Collectors and Deputies)
Postmasters on Ist November, 1869 27,378

Total 31,933

In this statement alone is an army of 31,933, who gene-
rally speaking, loaf the mails at will with whatever
matter they please. Soma of them, to be snre, are granted
only a limited privilege, yet, practically, the restrictions
are no longer operative. To these should be added the
countless host who address communications to members
of Co egress, delegates, the Clerk of the House
of of Repre-
sentatives, the Secretary of the Senate, headsdepart-
ments,possible
heads of bureaus, chief clerks, and all others
authorized to frank official matter. How is it
that any checks whatever can be imposed and enforced
against a privilege so widely extended ?
But the difficulties increase when it is further consi-
dered that the judges who decide upon the genuineness
of franks are the entire corps of 27,378 postmasters,
scattered all over the country, none of whom, with the
utmost diligence, can hope to acquire a tolerable famili-
arityt signatures of more than a few of -the
e largest offices, where one hour is the
tlhne
h
privdewgietdh.
longest time that can be allowed for making up the mails,
and where it is necessary to receive and manipulate thou-
sands of letters daily, it is impossible, even if the genuine
signatures were known, to make a systematic attempt to
exelude matter improperly franked. What is the result?
Boundless frauds, of course, without a possibility of de-
tecting them, or even a hope of preventing their further
increase. Iu fact, every frank, counterfeit or genuine,
is equally effective, and the extent of the evil is limited
only by the wants of those who desire to impose upon the
service.

--- • ----
The objection that Congress may desire to print and
disseminate public documents should not avail against
the appeal of the department for deliverance from the
frauds that are fast overwhelming it. If the privilege
be abolished, official publications may still be forwarded
in the mails. It is only asked that they, like all private
matter, may be chargeable with postage. If it be ur3ed
that this would prevent or impede the diffusion of the
knowledge of public affairs among the people, then
it
may be said, in reply, that if it be the purpose of Con-
gress to give information to the people a far more telling
expedient may be resorted to. An unburdened press,
managed and directed by private enterprise, cin do more
than Congress to enlighten the masses. Better far that
the franking privilege shoidd be abolished, and that all
newspapers sent to regular and tom fide subscribers
from a known office of publication sl,culdbecarainif:idif,rue-tet:
without regard to weight, throughout the United States,
as now throughout the county whereie printed
lished. The receipts of the depirtment for the last -year
from "newspapers and pamphlets" amounted to 5778 eV
:10. This portion of its receipts the departnient can fore-
go, provided it can be protected against tle frauds, more
than three tunes in amount, inseparable frcia the franking
privilege.
It is not proposed or desired that Government officials
should be personally taxed for the transmission of their
public correspondence. It is asked, on the other hand,
that every department, every member of Congress, and
every other public officer, shall have a liberal allowance
of stionns for postages, subjected to a proper aceounta-
bility, and that the sun; necessary therefor shall be appro-
priated out of the general Treasury.
Should Congress conform to my recommendations in
this respect, I confidently predict that millions will be
saved annually to the Government, that the Department
will be at once redeemed from its present condition of
6rettio bankruptcy, and that the postal service will

.--,,,~,

speedily become the potent coadjutor of the people ill
developing and adorning our great country.

POSTAL TELEGRAPH.
My predecessor addressed to the Speaker of the House of
Representatives a letter, under date of 9th of January
last, in relation to the postal telegraph, inclosing an ela-
borate communication on the same subject from Gardiner
G. Hubbard, Esq., of Boston. This is a subject of great
importance, and deserves the most careful consi,leratior.
Several European nations have adopted the system with
apparent success. I shall defer making any recommen-
dation concerning it until a greater degree of efficiency
can be attained in the service as at present constituted.