The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-22
REPEAL THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE.
From the NJ Y. Tribune

From the NJ Y, Tribune
The franking privilege comes up in the
Senate to-day for consideration and, we
trust, for absolute and unconditional aboli-
ton. 1t has grown to be a gross imposition
and tax on the people--enormous IN the ag-
gregate expenditure it entails, and obnoxious
because it has been perverted from the use
and benefit of the public officers who are
authorized to frank their communications to
that of q multitude of useless hangers-on of
Government, who beg borrow, and steal the
valuable signatures of inconsiderate friends
IN Office The actual cost to the Treasury of
the privilege in its present much-abused state
is fully 50, 500, 900 per annum. 1t is absurd
to suppose that the Government is benefited
to any such extent; and it is evident from the
unprecedentedly numerous-almost universal
petitions for the repeal of the law that the
people who pay the bills do not consider
the receipt of worthless documents a fair
equivalent for this expenditure of valuable
greenbacks. It's cost to the Treasury is fully
$4,000 per annum for each Senator Repre-
sentative and Executive officer entitled to
the privilege. 1t is absurd to assert that the
benefit which each of the privileged three
hundred or so officials derives from the law
will amount to anything like this sum. Neither
his public nor private business demands an
expenditure so disproportioned to his salary
from any member of Congress. For these
reasons, and others we have repeatedly urged,
the bill repeating the privilege ought to pass
without hesitation.
But this heavy direct cost is not alone the
useless expenditure with which the franking
privilege is justly chargeable. The repeal of
the privilege will naturally reduce the circu-
lation of public documents to the minimum
document number" of 1850 copies, since
extra copies will not be ordered if members
are to circulate them at their own expense;
or that of their constituents. The saving in
consequence IN the Printing Bureau would
be immense. Let us illustrate. The Con-
gressional Printer in his report of December,
1869, gives the cost of printing the reports
of the Commissioners Of Patents for
1867 four octave volumes of 3038
pages of matter not of general in
terest, and published eighteen months after
the material facts have been given in the
newspapers. In addition to the usual ''docu-
ment lumber" of 1850 copies, the House or
! dered 10000 copies for members and 5000
for the Commissioners, while the Senate
treated itself to 4000 making total of 1000
extra numbers, 76, 600 extra volumes, or about
sixty unnecessary sets -240 volumes-for
each member of Congress. The postage
| chargeable on the set was SS1'64. This, then,
was the total cost of the extra 10, 900 volumes
which would not have been ordered if the
members had had to pay the postage on them
Houses order-10 600 COPIES $137 SOC 3(
! Commissioners order-5O0O copies. ...... S. 903 i!
Senates order-4000 copies .............. 11,926'5
POstage-19,00O copies es.................... 8l,l6OO
Total ............................ S24969611
And this, it must be remembered, is bu
one instance, taken at random from hundreds
of others which might be cited. These fact
alone ought to arouse Senators to a sense OF
their obligations in this matter to a heavily
taxed people struggling to pay great ma
tional debt