New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-12-11
The Franking Privilege and It's
Cost.

bers of Congress be repealed, which seems to
be a foregoue conclusion, Congress will, IN
doubtedly, invent some plan for relieving them
Of the postsgc-taS which they so patriotically
imposed upon themselves at the last session.
This plan will either be to pay their cores
pondence directly from the Treasury, as the
official correspondence of the Departments is
now paid, or to restore the Franking Privilege.
OF thasc two methods, the last, in our opin-
ion, is by FAR the best, because By far the
most economical and convenient. 1t is hardly
TO he presumed, of course, that in the face
of the prejudice, the misrepresentation Of
small politicians, in tine press and out, has
created in the public mind upon the subject,
Congress will dare restoro the wonderful
privilege"
The truth in regard TO this subject is, that
the expense Of carrying franked matter in the
mails has been grossly and purposely or
ignorantly exaggerated. 1t may be doubted
whe Their ii cost one-tcnth the amount esti-
mated, if anything. At any rate, it has cost
far less than il has been to the people. a
few facts will show what deception has been
prac,iccd upon the public by those who have
procured the repeal of the Franking Privilege
by their persistent Misrepresentation.
1t has been asccrtained from official sources,
as we have before stated, that the weight of
all the paper used at the Government Print
; ing Office for public documents does not
exceed an annual average Of $50 tons. The
weight of the paper on which the Congress-
iona' GioJe was printed, and for all the
speeches franked by members of Congress,
never exceeded $50 tons, but will estimate
it at go tons. This will make an annual
aggregate Of 900 tons OF paper used in print
ing public documents, Congressional, Globe
and speeches of members.
The legal postage on unbound printed
matter is now, and was, when the Franking
Privilege was abolished, onc-hals Of ono cent
an ounce, and on bound volumes one cent an
ounce. In 1000 tons there are l6 Zoo, goo
ounces. If every ton of this paper had been
, made into bound books and seat under frank
|, through the mails, the legal postage upon
them would have been just slG0, 900 yearly.
Not more than one-half Of it was ever bound,
a however, Or ut any rate not more than one
e half o. it was ever sent free through the mails
in that form. But we will assume that every
pound Of it is bound and then transported by
the Post Office Department under frank. In
that case the Government would not receive
5 100000 for postage that it would if theil
e books had all been sent and the postage paid
d upon them.
c In addition to this fraud " upon the tax
II payers of the nation, there is the free letter
q "swindlc +" to be estimated. To approx.
II mate the cost Of this terrible "abuse,' u
: we will assume that each of the 32j persons,
; who were entitled to the Franking Privilege
. sent and received ) 200 double letters annual
o ly, though it is more than twice the average
y number they do actually receive, aud half u
I them are single. This would make an annual
e aggregate Of 100000 letters, which, at
: cents each, would amount to 1857 800. The
n gross sum out Of which the people were
cheated yearly, therefore, was exactly s5I7,-
G been made to believe.
4 This is the most unfavorable and expensive
f aspect Of the case that can possibly be pre-
c sented. BY no possibility could the Frank
: ing Privilege cost the Government more than
/ the postage on all the franked matter trans
0 ported by the mails and that, as we have
y shown, Is less than a third of one million
: dollars. But, in reality, it never cost the
I Government even one-fifth of 83l7 500, if il
cost anything, as we believe it did not
D There is no reason to believe that mail
h contractors ever bid dollar higher or received
: a dollar more from the Government on ac.
count Of the franked matter they were re.
d quired to transport, for, in reality, it cost
n them nothing. What did it matter to the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, for instance
Q whether they took from Washington loo tons
e or lO3 tons of mail matter daily? There can
a be no stronger proof that mail contractors
j considered the franked matter passing through
: the mails OF no sort OF consequence, than tho
II fact that, Immediately after the repeal Of the
e Franking law, all the railroads carrying mails
demanded of the Post Office Department a
II largely increased compensation for the posta
l. car service than they were receiving before
Il And there can he no stronger proof that
e the Post Master General does not expect the
II aboliti N Of the much-ahused privilege will
IL cheaper the postal service, than the fact that
: his estimates for the expenses of the Post
: Office Department the present fiscal year is
: over $1,000, 600 greater than ii was for the
u last. Where, then, is the saving from the
much wanted "pOstage reform" to come in :
, But if the Franking Privilege had cost the
, largest sum we have named, there can be nc
D question that it was worth ten times all il
= cost in the free and valuable information i,
t ha been the m ans of disseminating amongst
: the people, and highly priced privilege ii
gave them of petitonng Congress, and cor.
: responding with it, members upon the various
subjects of interest to them.
twas not the people who raised the clamor
: that lei t. tn, abolition OF the Franking
, Privilege, nor did they ever demand its repeal
1t was the work of a class of political deuia-
{ gogues, who hoped thereby to manufacture d
little apital for themselves. That the edi-
D tors who howled 20 loug and Justify for the
i reform, were not influenced by any high or
t patriotic motives, is shown by their bitter
abus, Of Congress in not excepting them
from its op,ration,. The :! mills, which