Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1862-01-30

few weeks ago, and which states, among
other things, as follows: that "franked en-
velopes are being sold by suffers and 9TH !
ers. at one and two cents apiece, to all
who will buy them;" that "such envelopes, !
bearing the frank in blank, are enclosed in
letters and directed to persons in various
parts of the United States. to be used by
such distant. persons to cover their own
correspondence in return" that "whole
packages of such envelopes have been
franked fraudulently by persons in this
city writing the name Of a member thereon,
and thus sent into the camps to be there
disposed Of" e,.ri, -, 4.
The third plan proposed is that suggest
ed by the the Committee in the bill before
the House. This is to allow all persons
who are now entitled to the franking priv
ilege-including heads of Departments.
heads of bureaus, members Of Congress,
and postmasters with salary Of less than
5000 year-to send letters as those of
soldiers are now allowed to be sent, with
out the prepayment of postage, leaving
that to be collected from the recipient. /
| may be pardoned for thinking and saying
that this is the best plan, although am
not welded to the details of the BILL In
the first place it does keep open the COM
munication between the Representative
and his constituents Members say to me,
1--WE shall feel in duty bound to prepay
our correspondence; it would look mean
and small not to do it." For my part /
should not do it. When the correspon-
dence is not my own business, but on the
business of my constituent, should ex
pect him TO pay the postage. especially as
the member does not receive anything for
his extra labor in attending to his constit-
uent's business. Where / should send
letters on my own private business. l
would then expect to prepay them; and
this rule every gentleman would adopt.
In the second place. the adoption of this
system woald swell the revenue of the Post
Office Depaitmen 1t was estimated by
the last Postmaster General that the abo-
lition of the franking privilege would save
to the Government s1.S00,000 in the d.
minished cost Of transportation and the
increased revenue of the Department.
do not concur in that estimate of the Post
master General, for / think it too high
But regard it as probable that 81 .000,-
600 might be realized il the franking priv
ilege were abolished; and it is worth while
for us to consider whether this is not an
amount which we should look to in times
like these. / should not like to be one OF
those members who would 60 home and
tell their constituents that they voted to
impose tax of twenty cents per pound on
tea. .and fi?eicents on coffee to assist in liqui-
in the revenue Of the Post Office Depart
ment, and had voted against abolishing the
frankiag privilege. which occasions large
amount OF this deficiency.
| In the third place, the adoption of the
rule, which I think is the right rule, would
require those of our constituents who re-
ceive speeches and books from US to pay
postage thereon. No member can send
them to all his constituents, and does not
expect to do il; but those who receive them
should pay the small amount Of postage
which we provide for.
have seen very able article published
in the New York Times against this bill
written by gentleman who is identified
with the subject of Postal reform. His
objection to the bill is that it introduces
another rate of postage. added to the nu.
merous rates now existing l would SAY
in reply TO that article that l am as much
, in favor Of simplifying the rates of post
age as any person. ! believe these rates o.
postage should be codifed and brought
E down TO simple. distinct rates. But, un
fortunately, we have found ourselves Sc
pressed with business that we have not beer
able to do this. We hope, however. to b.
| able to make a report on this subject a
, the opening Of the next session of Con
gress. This additional rate is simply tha
, of two cents per pound on public docu
ments. One objection made by the gentle
man in the article referred to is, that thi
J rate is too cheap; bnt he has evidently no
looked into the details or he would hav,
{ found that some rates of newspaper post
age are cheaper than that. Newspaper
are carried in the State in which they ar
printed at the rate of one quarter cent pc
| week for three ounces If paid in advance
or at the rate of one and quarter cent pc
, pound. and are carried any where in th'
Union for one half cent for three ounces
, for the week. or two and half cents pc
pound. This bill provides for the pay
| ment Of two cents per pound, which is tn,
middle rate between the two newspape
; rates. 1t would make the postage on tn,
+ Patent Office Report five cents. and on tn
> Congressional Globe ten cents. Some gen
tlemcn say the people would not take then
! out Of the post Office if they had TO pay
postage on them. 70 this answer, tha
if such is the case. have no doubt tn
postmasters. who are required to sell un
claimed printed matter, could easily sci
: them for the postage. have no doub
! that Patent Office Report will at AMI
time very easily sell fos FIVE cents. II th'
I one to whom it was directed refuses to pal
postage on it.
The House viii see that the passage o
this bill will take away what by a portion
! of the public is considered great injus
5 tice in the old system. that Il confers upol
} one class Of people the privilege of sending
{ all their mail matter free of charge, Will
others are compelled to support the posta
system by the charges made upon them fo
, the transmission of their mail NATTER
>. This will destroy the capital which is Of
!, ten sought to be made 10 this way sgains
49, - n ~ Il