Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1870-11-10
The FrankiMg Privilege.

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The ErankiMg Privilege.
+ It is announced that the Pos
!, Master General will, in his forthcom
!. ing annual report, urge upon Con
/ gress the abolition OF the Frankins
t Privilege The abu G Of the Frank
f ing Privilege ought, by all means, t
: be abated, but as to the advisabillt.
of an unconditional repeal OF tn
Franking Privilege with the substitu
j.; III of no system that shall answc
,hc purpose Of the present system t.
~. CT advantage, we have serlou
49,, Senator Sumner, at the las
.ass;o Congress, proposed sub
a,,no - present system, but h
was not ohle 70 get it through tn
Senate. On TIN =, - -,
attempt to abolish W. -
TEN, we hope someth. -,
actcr OF the Sumner pl
be passed. !:
The reason why Mr.. Gre. -,
urgct he abolition Of the +.
Privilege, is given by the teleA ~
SO as to make the Post Office
partment sclfsustainlng. There a
IA set OF political monoman,acs, OF
whom the present Post Master Gen
cral appears to be one, whose "hob.
by horsical" whim is, that the Post
Office Department should be self
sustaining department. There is no
sense in This w'him, any more than
there would be in the cry to make
the War Department selfsustaining
The various departments Of the gem
eral government are organized for
the general good Of the people. They
are not enterprises through which
the Government may speculate for
pecuniary profits.
What is really needed is, system
of Franklng, by which those officers
OF the Government who use the mails
in the proper discharge of their Of
fetal duties, can do SO, and the priv
ilege should be SO guarded that the
officer will forfeit his bond and vio-
lote his oath ifhe uses it for any 9th.
er than official mail matter.
If the Government must carry its
own mail matter, it does not matter
whether the Post Office Department
does the carrying under the Frank,
or whether the Treasury Depart
ment furnishes the money to the par
ty sending the mail and by him hand
ed to the Post Office Department,
except, that by the last method the
modus speranas will be more tedious
and expensive.
Let us have unnecessary abuses
abatcl, but do not let us get crazy
on within and spend thousands OF
dollars per annum in getting name
without the substance of q reform.
800
THE REArDIrsS AGE.-When the
great Henry ", of France was sue
ccc'lcd by Louis MI. (who never be-
came great. the new king was only
nine years old, consequently bcardlcss.
Courtiers have at all times been re-
markablc for their scrvility, and as
little Louis could have no beard, they
resolved to be beardlcss themselves;
and they went forthwith to the bar
bcrs. The honest statcman, Sully.
it's recorded, was the only man who
dared to appear in the same form rs
he wore it III the time Of the old
master. Croplipped courtiers made
merry at the old counsellor's expense,
laughing ut his ancient appearance.
Sully bore their irrcvcrent icsts for
some time, and then with dignity he
said to the king-"Sire, when your
father OF glorious memory did me
the honor to consult me on his great
and important affairs, the first thing
he did was to send away the butfoons
of his court" Louis NIL, howcv-
CT, had no idea above butfooncry.
The system ofcropping, we ARD told,
was carried so far that even the in
fcrior animals were subjected to the
process, which occasioned Marshal
Bassompicre, who had been impris-
oncd during the twelve last years Of
the preceding reign, to observe, on
coming to court again, that he saw
no other change in the world since
he had been excluded from it, than
that men had lost their beard and
horses their tails. In England in
Queen Elizabcth's time, the growth
of beard was regulated by statute in
Lincoln's inn, and it was ordered
that no fellow Of that house should
wear a beard above fortnisht's
growth. What a stubby appearance
the learned chins must have exhibit
cd. The prohibition did not last
longer than a year.