New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-12-03
ABUSE or. THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE.

PosT OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Nov. l6, 1889.
SIR am in receipt Of yours OF the hh instant, IN
which after expressing your appreciation OF recent
decision Of this Department, determining tha' tue
Thanking privilege is personal and cannot be exercised
bV deputy you add There is one other practice con-
nected with the Thanking privilege which ought 70 20
broken up if possble-and that is the borrowing u
the frank of members for the private use OF other per
Sons" 81 have reason to believe that TINS abuse 10
practced TO very considerable extent by the clerks IN
The various Departments and other employees OF the
Government about Washington City. Many OF them,
am assured, regularly bring punches OF envelopes 70
members of Congress to be franked for future use ana
for member to decline 10 thus loan his frank Is often
regarded discOurtesy, at least and IN some cases
az a casus 6eiE, to be repealed by hoslIties. IT.
therefore the several heads of Departments would
adopt some stringent regulation against clerks ana
other employees using the frank OF members ana cause
such regulation to be generally known 70 them, am
sure it would have good effect at least it would re-
Heye members from being imp0runed for the use OF
their franks for doubtful or improper purposes.
You have my thanks for the candOr with which you
have brought this evil TO my notice, and TOT the earn
est desire manifested for its suppressiou The Act OF
1895 comforting the frankng privilege on members Oh
Congress and others, declares:
That apy person shall frank any letters other than
Office he hs % conviction thereof pay fine Of ten dollars
and shall be he especial duty OF PostmaeTs 70 o
said ofense."
This clause has never been repealed nor modified
The act of which it is part gave the Thanking prVr
lepe however to members only " during their actual
attendance in any session OF Congress, ana Sixty days
before and after such session. Inc ACT OF hiaroh D
1915 authorized members OF Congress TO recere 1et-
fers not exceeding two ounces in weight during me
recess Of Congress" Then came the Act OF Narch L
I8i7 which enacts that members OF Congress shall
have the power to receive as wei as 10 seno All eers
and packages not weighing over two ounces, free OF
postage, up 10 the first Monday in December following
The expiration of their term of Office"
These several laws being in pan naferid, must, up
on well-settled principle OF Interpretation, De con-
strued together They do not in terms repeal each
other and can be held TO do 30 by implication only so
far as their provisions clearly in conflict The Act
of 1925 having limited the privilege to the session OF
Congress and sixty days before and after was the
object of the statutes of 1915 and lS simply to ex-
tend the time within which such privilege might be en-
loved Ii now by virtue of their provisions, continues
not only while the members are in Office but up to the
first Monday in December after the expiration OF the
term But there has been no enlargement Oh the SUD
iect-matter OF the ranking prvllege-no addition to
the material which it may properly protect. Inc ACT
of 1926 is still in force, and declares, as heretofore
that although the member may now frank throughout
the year. be can only frank his own correspondence
and sucb public documents as the law enumerates.
construction not made in the presence OF the Act oil
1895 and which would relieve the words, all letters
and packages" of the limitation which that act I'M
poses upon them, would assert, IN effect, that the
ranking privilege belongs not to the member, but 10
the whole community, provided they can prevail on
such member TO allow their correspondence 10 pass
of ts enactment always furnishes safe II not an ms
fable guide Certainly the reason for beStowlng the
franking privilege would not embrace the correspond
ence of any, save the party by whom such prvheges
exercised. -,
II is undeniabe therefore, that the practice to which
YOU refer is O violation of the letter and spirit OF the
statute of 1926 which is the existing law OF the land;
and this Department has reason TO believe that lts
nrevalence extends much beyond the corps of en-
poyees of the Government in this city, who perhaps
are not specially implicated. Such practice, no mat
ter where or under what circumstances 1t may Obtain
involves guilty breach of high oihclal trust ana
a direct fraud upon the postal revenues. Should II
come to my knowledge that any employee IN the postal
service had become party to such an abuse, by bor
rowing and using for private purposes ine frank OF
Government official, should regard INN as merltihg
dismissal as certainly for any oher gross legal or
moral DELINQUENCY. While, however, i would not
hesitate thus to treat him rs P0rtieePs er'mln's,
should feel that he was far less oupable than the ON
Ger whose frank he had borrowed.
II NAV be safely stated that no amount of vigilance
exercised by the Government, and no regulation OF
this Department, however stringent, can arrest TINS
widespread and humiiating abuse 40 long as pubic
officers dread the dispeasure OF systematic pecuators
more than they love the law, of which they are the
apnointed guardians The process of publication, to
be effective, must be applied rather to the fountain
than 10 the stream. When member endorses bis frank
ON the envelope of letter he thereby declares on MS
official honor that il covers only his correspond
ence-a declaration which would be necessarily false
were the frank loaned TO be used by another When
nubc functiOnaries shall realize this and shall spurn
from them those who thus seek to involve them in dis
honor. then and not until then, will they find pro-
lection from that importantly of which you complain,
far more direct and complete than any which can pos
sbly be afforded by the Threads of the Departments"
Men who are easy and yielding in matters Of con-
science and of duty viii be thus beset and to
shield such from this annoyance would require the re-
generation of our race and the reformation OF the
world. Ii is apparent that the "relief which is
sought is very near at hand and should the effort to
obtain il provoke the consequences which you men
ton. il would argue truly deplorabie condition OF me
pnbic morals Beyond al question, the request made
of a member Of Congress, or other Government iunc-
onary to lend his frank for purposes OF private cor
respondence is simply and markedly solicitation to
falsebood 20 fraud and to the betrayal OF solemn
public trust and if it has come 10 be considered dis
courteous" or "casus beih,' 10 decline compliance
with so insoent and prohigate proposal as this,
then of a truth, we have fallen upon evil times.
Very respectfully your Obedient servant