The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-07

Governor Frederick Smyih, and General Will
liam f. Smith, and finally that he was ap-
pointed, August 3, 1866, Lieutenant. Colonel
Of the doth Regiment of infantry in the
regular army. All of this certainly goes far
towards establishing the claim Of General
Kinks to the thanks OF his oountrymen for the
good work he did in behalf of the Union. But
the "Pub. Doo." in question contains nethine,
as far as we osn detect, which establishes the
right OF General Kinks to have his postage
bill footed by the Government. WHY the
synopsis" was ever printed we cannot ina
gine, nor can we divine why It is being distri-
buted over the country under the frank Of
member of Congress.
Perhaps Mr.. Broomall can and will enlighten
us ON the latter point, and perhaps, also, Mr..
Samuel j. Randall can find time to explain
why he has loaned his franking machine to
the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Streets Passen-
ger Railway Company. And perhaps, futher-
more, Congress may regard these two cases as
additional arguments in favor of abolishing
the frankipg privilege, with all its actual and
all its possible abuses.
The l'ew York Tribune justly regards as
Zone of the most cheering auguries OF coming
reform the rapidity with which Congress men
are getting ashamed of the franking privi-
lege." AS Zone of the most hopeful of the
new converts" +" 1t cites the case of Mr.. Phila-
DELPHI Van Trump, of Ohio who was recently
called to account for distributing under his
frank the prospectuses Of a Columbus news
paper. When the attention of the public was
called to this case, Mr.. Van Trump also
thought it would prove profitable subject for
study, and at it he went. The discoveries
made by the Ohio member must certainly have
astonished him greatly; for not only did he
find, as he states in long explanatory and
apologetio letter, that he had been
acting under a mistaken estimate of
his rights, but that the franking
privilege has been monstrously perverted for
years." An examination of the laws of Con-
gress now in force, which had never before
fallen under Mr.. Van Trump's attention
divulged the fact that the privilege of Con-
gressmen embraces only correspondence to
and from them, and all printed matter issued
by authority of Congress, and all speeches.
proceedings, and debates in Congress, and all
printed matter sent to them" From
these data the Tribune concludes that
''the franking of campaign documents
iniment puffs, dirty shirts, and circulars of
the New York Express, is, therefore, indirect
contravention of the letter of the law as well
as OF its spirit" Mr.. Van Trump has arrived
at the same conclusion, and in his letter
promises to beguided by it in the future use
of his postage-stamp Machine. Perhaps, if
Messrs. Randall and Broomall will look into
the subject, they will discover that the circu-
lars of passenger railway companies and
twelve-pag puffs of Brevet Brigadiers are lia-
BILE to postage, as well as dirty linen and
patent medicines. And perhaps, as we have
already intimated, Congress will have the good
sense to compel the puff and liniment dealers
to pay their postage, by doing away with the
grossly abused and inherently wrong franking
privilege.