New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-01-16

to know what they are. II it wou'u ~
form them that the Government an"uA',
manufactured into public document ~
more than |. 900 tons of paper, including '"e
Congregational Globe, and that not hioie ."
one -half of this is sent free through Tue "''lio
in bound volumes, the legal postage o'i
which "a only one cent an ounce, they 'o'''u
readily ascertain that the aggregate poS'as'
upon i, would be only AGO. 600 yearly. 10
dis mich, be added. say IL, 900, 900 OF ranked
.peeches of members, or 10 IONS VI fal.''
the postage on which would DC Dafeiy w.
900. making sIs0, 900 in all.
,rho-. ore no means of ascertaining the
.ogrcoate number of letters sent and re-
ceiyed free by those entitled to the Thanking
nrivilcce. Ii will be most liberal calcuia-
| tion 10 credit each one with 1000 free letters
yearly. There are 3GC members of Congress,
and possibly 3! other persons entitled to the
privilege, making 400 in all, and 2,OOO,O0O
free letters. At single rates of cents each
the postage on them would be sGo, 600 yearly
This, added to the postage on printed mat,
ter, would amount to s240,C0J as the 'ot"i
cost TO the Government of the Thanking priv
ilcge this year.
But there is one other charge against INC
ranking privilege upon which the '"''''''e
thus comments:
SIN view of the enormous amount OF liee
matter sent through the mails prior to the
late election, Mr.. Creswell, in his late re-
mort. estimates that three and half million
Of dollars worth of stamps would not have
more than sufiiccd TO liquidate the mail
charges"
Let us see how this is. The Republican
Congressional Committee printed and circu-
lated altogether during the campaign l., oCO,-
900 documents, averaging eight pages, and
four to sheet of paper, making 100000
sheets, or $3.50 reams. This paper weighed
thirty pounds to the rcam, and lS7, 300
pounds in the aggregate. The legal post
age, at retail rates Of half a cent an
ounce upon this matter, would just be
SIS 900, (ffieen thousand dOllars,) all told, no
more, no less. We challenge the Chronicle to
figure out another dollar. And what is more,
this matter was all carried under old con-
tracts made without any reference to it, and
for which no extra allowance was made by
the Department But there 10 another fact
to which we call the atteattsasof the Chroni-
Gle. 1t is that only fbsdE thfec-fourths of
these documents went nee through the mails.
The other fourth was sent off by express or
other private conveyanccs. This would re-
duce the SIS, 900 to sll $50 as the total legal
rate Of postage on all the documents sent
under frank by the Republican Congressional
Committee. And we understand that the
Democratic committee sent OIL less than
l,OO0,0 900.
In the above estimate VIC have calculated
the cost at the retail rate Of half cent an
ounce on unbound printed matter. But the
rate on newspapers and other periodicals Is
much below this, being only five cents
quarter, though of two ounces weight each,
or &c ounces for five cents. At this rate,
the postage on all the documents printed by
the Congressional Republican Committee
would amount to only 1910, and the post
age on all the matter printed by the Govern
ment and franked would be less than $50, 900.
As the Chronicle has taken it upon itself
somewhat sharply to criticisc our course on
the franking privilege, and to call in ques-
ton our political fidelity for declining to be
influenced by the action of the Philadelphia
Convention, we think common fairness would
prompt it to state our reasons fop opposing
the abolition of the franking privilege.
Having no doubt that the Postmaster Gen
eral is influenced solely by what he conceivcs
to be the public good, we accord him all
honor for his efforts to remedy what he con-
ceives to be great abuse and source OF
unnecessary expense to the Department
over which he presides with so much ability.
But we are satisfied that the tax OF which
he complains is at least ten times less than
it has been estimated; we are satisfied it is
worth to the people far more than it costs
them, and are therefore opposed to its re-
peal. We believe Mr.. Creswell will accord
to us the same honesty of purpose in differ
ing from him that we do him in his course.
A frank discussion will injure no good cause.