Democratic standard. [volume] (Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio) 1837-1850, 1845-02-11
NEW sNRIEs.-VoL. v. No g.
From the Ohio Statesman. :
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS- UB-
Lie DOCUMENTS.

|
Lie DOCUMENTS.
There isa great mis'ske existing in The
public mind, as 10 the number Of publ c
documents the members Of Congfess
have distributed TO them, by order Of
their respective Houses; and out Of which
clone, they can answer The calls Of their
constituents for documents Il Is but
justice 10 the Senators and members Of
Ihe House. that this matter should be
explained; OiherWi Use, they may be ex.
posed TO the ceRsure Of their constituents
and best friends al home, for not send>
ing them documents when in fact, il is Of
ten impossible for them TO send 10
one friend out of every hundred Of
those who write for documents during
The session. We will state how this mat
ter is; an for The sake of breVity we
shall speak only Of the Senate; but the
explanation will apply equally well to
both Houses.
The public dOcu menis are those that
emaDale from the several branches Of The
Government, and are printed by order OF
one or the other of the tAo Houses. OF
these, the most imp T;ant are the. annual
message Of the President, aud The re ports
Irom the several Departments accmopan
wing the message. These arc all print.
ed aud put up togelhsJ-abOdt fifteen
hundred copies are ordered by the Ssn-
ate, OF which part is retained for per
msnent use, ard the other part IistIibul-
ed equally among the Senators, 10 be sent
TO their constituents. Each Senator gets
about twenty FIVE, or thirty FIVE copies,
only. This number, it will be seen,
does not enable the Two Senators from
large Slate ss Ohio, for instance, TO send
one copy to each county in The State ;
nor does il enable them to seLd even one
copy to each editor, if they were to send
tOnO other person, as there are, in Ohio,
for instance, more Than three times that
number 0f newspapers. Nor can lheSen-
ators get any more copies, as there are
none printed for sale.
There are many other documents prin-
ted, Of which but one, two or three cop
les are given 10 each Senator.
Sometimes, but that is very seldom,
there is particular document ordered 10
be printed, in large numbers, so that each
Senator will get so, or hundred copies
and even then, the Senators can sup.
ply but Que or two persons, in each coun-
~.
II is The custom OF the members Of
both Houses, 10 send 10 their cOHstitu'
EMS, these documents as 500 as they
get them, and therefore, when the mem.
bers receive letters-and Of these they
receive a great many-asking for parlic-
uIar docu nents printed at former sessions
years before, il is not possible for them
10 comply; tor il often happens, that not
one copy Ofsuch documents, is to he ha d
in the city. a
Each member and Senator, buys them
out of his own funds, at the rate of, from
fifty cents to three or four dollars for
each huhdred copies, according 10 The
number Of pages.
But il oflen happes, tha; there is in
Congress no debate OF importance going
on, The speeches in which are Of any in.
,erest, and in that case. the members re-
ally have nothing to send their friends and
constituents.
II will be seen, therefore, that il is iml
possible for the Senators and members
Of the House, TO comply with the re-
quests cf the hundreds, and even thou
sands Of their constituents and friends,
who write 10 them for documents. |, is
often not in their power TO do Ii in one
islanee out Of fifty.
Gu: brelhern Of the press thrnughou
the State, will no doubt do their friends
iu Congress an act Of kindness, as we'll a
of justice, by giving this notice place il
their papers.