New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1849-03-09
The Late Session Of Congress.


To tls Etetors u the Yka Cong Dbta, " Yerss
FELLOW CIrIzEss Chosen by your favor 10
seat ia Congress through its brief Second &c zion,
have been an actor in or witness Of some doings
which may well seem to require farther explsna-
ton. 1t is not to be denied nor disguised that the
Session has been a failure, not only in view Of the
good it meditated, bu, judged solely with refer
ence to what 1t might have done. am aware
that 80 little is usually accomplished at a short
Session-especIally one preceding an Inaugural
tion--that the People have come TO expect little
or nothing OF such Session beyond the passage
OF the Annual Appropriation bills. This, how
ever, cannot excuse the wrong, though it may
soften the condemnation. There was no good ree-
son for the failure OF several important and bene-
hcent measures " hich were not matured into laws
at the late Session-no reason at all but the ineom
potency or unfaithlunen Of large portion OF
those clothed with the power and charged with
the duty Of enacting them. ! do not choose to
bear my equal portion Of the blame, for am con
fdent have not deserved it. Consider what
shall here, with all possible conciseness, submit
u you; measure and test II by what you already
know or may still CLEAN from other sources OF the
doings, nisdoings and non. dongs OF this Congress,
and render an impartial judgment ! shall, for
the sake OF clearness, glance at the principal TO
pics of the Session under their several heads-as
follows
4. POSTAGE REFORM
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 a. 40 per pound, for carrying
mailed matter on an unbrOken line Of railroad aud
steamboat communication from Portland Me or
Charleston, s. c. TO Washington, while another re-
ceives an unlimited number OF pounds by the same
mail on which nothing ia charged Is one OF the
most glazing Of any still subssting under our re-
publican rule. What | contend for is not strictly
cheap Postage any more than dear Postage-it Is
simply Just Postage. Make everything which
passes through the Mails pay its Just proportion of
the total expense of Mail service, aud charge the
lowest rates which will supply the aggregate re-
qured, and We shall have the best possible Mail
system. To talk Of reducing Postage without
abolishing the Frankng Privilege is like proposing
to double Expenditures yet diminish Taxation
That Franking Privilege Is an sristocratlc aud
blighling monopoly, which las for many years
subjected those who pay their own postage to I'M
Just and heavy burdens Many mercantile
house in this city has already been taxed thou
sands Of dollars 10 uphold this oppressive mono.
poly, and IL still paying hundreds yearly But
for tins, who could have imagined such
exorbitant charge as forty cents per quarter
ounce letter or at the rate OF s25 60 per TO-.
for conveying letters by sea from this port to San
Franci.cor And this is only one OF its oppres
.ions The Franking Privilege ought 10 be IN
d,ctcd aud punished for obstructng the transporta
tion Of the Mails-a fragrant offence under ou
laws On or before the LIST OF December the Mem
bers of Congress gather at Washington, finding
often large quantity OF documents printed, en-
vsloped and duly apportioned to each aud these
they Immediately commence ranking home to
their constituents, IN packages often weighing two
and even three pounds. These get started IN the
Mails just as the Rivers freezing up, and when
the roads throughout the greater part OF the Union
arc almost impossible. Tho consequence is that
at the termination of Railroad conveyance in al
most every direction from Washington, the over
loaded mail bags are IN good part thrown aside
from absolute inability ON the part Of the stage
coaches thence employed to carry them iorws ard TO
to their destination. Thus twenty-one hundred
pounds lay for some time last Winter at the tenn
porary terminus OF the Michigan Railroad at
Niles while additional mail-bsgs, which had
been started from Niles but brought to halt in
ono or another OF the athomess sloughs of Indiana
Illinois and Wisconsin, encountered the wayside
bar-rooms Thus the letters and newspapers
which paid postage and which were anxoasly
awaited by those entitled to receive them, were
kept back publishers debtors and correspondents
were execrsted fcr neglect and bad faith while
Members OF tho Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin
Legislatures leach having al. :. Senator to elect
were amply Piled with public documents-ono of
them receiving freaty.tre pounds OF them by
asingle Mail, on which he paid nothing. though II
you had sent the same amount of mailed matter,
the charge thereon would have been sl6o. lie
probably never read ten pages of them-they were
not sent to be read but 10 crafty his vanity and
secure his vote for Senstor.-lf those who pay for
carving the Mails are satisfied TO lot this so on
and grow worse from year to year--ss all abuses
naturally tend to-their taste must be peculiar In
deed. Iii were only to secure regularity in the
transmission and punctuaity in the reception OF
the Mails, would strenuousy insist on the aboli-
ton of the Frsnking Privilege Bat when see
that its existence also uphods and renders neces-
ssry Rates OF Postage twice as high at they other
wise need be, for the aggregate weight ofirsnked
documents aud letters must be fully equal 10 that
OF the letter mails on which postage is paid, while
the average distance over which they are con
veyed must be greater and while see that at
least One Hundred Thousand Dollars are annually
paid from the Treasury for printing and enveopins
extra copies of documents which would never be
ordered if those who received them were subject
ed to Postage am puzzled to account for
the election and reelection to Congress OF men who
uphold the Frsnking Privilege.
Il did all in my Powe to obtain action on this
subject. struggled for Cheap Postage, not by
MAILING Speeches but by reiraining thereirom, and
earnestly, snxiously pressing iorw ard the business
which bad precedence of this In view of this,
uniformly resisted early adjournments and adjourn
ments over. no matter on what specous preiext
rarely or never failed to rise IN support OF the
Previous Question, and always voted for the