Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1849-03-24
j16sfdoe Reform.

The Hon. Horace GaEELY. who represents
Sd one of the Congressional Districts Of the
City ii New fotk in the late Congress, has
published an address to his constituents. On
The subject Of postage reform he says
The failure TO effect any revision of our
present Postage charges is one Of the great
wrongs Of the Session. The iniquity of
charging one man forty cents per ounce, or
SO 40 per pound for carrying mailed matter
on an unbroken line Of roalroad and steam
boat communication from Portland, Me-, or
Charleston, S. c. TO Washington, while anoth.
er receives an unlimited number Of pounds by
the same mail on which nothing is charged, is
one of the most glaring of any still subssting
under our republican rue What contend for
is notstrictly cheap Postage any more than
dear Postage-it lie simply just Postage. Make
everything which passes through the Mails
say its just proportion Of the total expense of
Nail service, and charge the lowest rates
which will supply the aggregate required,
and we shall have the best possible Mail sys-
ten. To talk of reducing Postage without
aboishing the Franking Privilege, is like
proposing to double Expenditures yet dimi.
tish Taxation. That Franking Privilege is
an arstocratic and blghting monopoly, which
has for many years subjected those who pay
their own postage 70 unjust and heavy bur-
dens. Many mercantile house in this city
has already been taxed thousands of dollats
70 uphold this oppressive monopoly, and is
still paying hundreds yearly. But for this,
who could have imagined sach an exorbitant
charge as forty cents pet quarter-ounce letter
or at the rate Of s26 so per ID, for conveying
letters by sea from this port to San Francisco!
And this is only one of its expressions. The
Franking Privilege ought to be indicted and
punished for obstruct!ng the transportation of
the Mails--a fragrant offence under our laws
On or before the lst Of of December the
Members of Congress gather at Washington,
finding often large quantity of documents
printed, enveloped and duly apportioned to
each, and these they Immediately commence
franking home 10 their constituents, in pack
ages often weighing two and even three
pounds. These get started in the Mails Just
as the Rivers are freezing up and when the
roads throughout the greater part ofthe Union
are almost impossible.
The consequence is that at the termination
OF Railroad conveyance in almost every di-
rection from Washington, the overload mail
bags are in good part thrown aside, from alb.
solute inability on the part of the -iage-coaches
thence employed to Garry them forward to
their destination. Thus twenty -one hundred
pounds lay for some time last Winter at the
temporary terminus Of the Michigan Railroad
at Niles while additional mail-bags, which
had been started from Niles but brought to
halt in one or another of the fathomless sloughs
of Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, cucumber.
ed the wayside bar-rooms The letters and
newspapers which paid postage and which
were anxiously awaited by those entitled to
receive them, were kept back publishers
debtors and correspondents were execrated
for neglect and bad faith, while Members of
the Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin Legisla-
ture leach having U. S. Senator to eect)
were amply piled with public documents
one of them receiving twenty-five pounds of
them by single Mail, on which he paid
nothing, though if you had sent the same a
mount of mailed matter, the charge thereon
would have been sl6O.-He probably never
read ten pages of them-they were not sent
to be read but to gratify his vanity and Sc
cure his vote for Senator. If those who pay
for carrying the Mails are satisfied to let this
go on and grow worse from year to year AS
all abuses naturally tend to-their taste must
be peculiar indeed. If it were only to se-
cure regularity in the transmission and pune
tuality in the reception of the Mails, would
strenuously insist on the abolition of the
Franking Privilege. But when see that its
existence also upholds and renders necessary
Rates of Postage twice as high as they other
wise need be, (for the aggregate weight of
franked documents and letters must be fully
equal to that letter-mails on which postage
is paid, while the average distance over
which they are conveyed must be greater)- -
and while I see that at least One Hundred
Thousand Dollars are annually paid from the
Treasury for printing and enveloping extra
copies of documents which would never be
ordered if those who received them were
subjected to Postage-l am puzzled to account
for the election and recollection TO Congress o.
men who uphold the Franking Privilege.
The ALBANY KNIcKERBoCKER says that il
one OF their cheap boarding houses, the fol
lowing regulations are pasted up in the
hall:
"Boarders are requested when they retire
late to take off their boots before getting, int,
bed.
"Making faces at the landlady not permit
ted.
"When gentleman has eaten sufficient,
he should leave the table without gluttonin,
'ntil he is obliged to unbutton his vest.
Whiting in the parlor prohibited when la
lies are present
"Any infraction Of the above rules vii