New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-04-03
prDUCTION OF POSTAGE.

REFLECTION OF POSTAGE.
VARIOUS MEASURES BEFORE THE HOUSE 'oNMln a,lI,,
rEE-oBJECTONs 10 TIE RESTORATION OF lliI
Fe,NKING PRIVILEGE.
rBY TELEGRAPH TO TIE TRIBUNE.l
WASHINGTON April 2.-lIas the time come whe
,l noonle of the United States should be furnish
'r;,I cbeaner postal faciliticss is a question t..
which the House Committee on Post Oiiices anu
Post Roads is now seeking answer. Several blils
t,;s slicct have been offered al the present ses-
sio, among them one by Mr.. Hill, of New-Jersey'
which provides that from the 1st day of next July
,b r,te of hostage on all domestic letters not eX-
c,edino one half ounce in weight shall be UNIFORM
a. t,co cents and that for each additional hali
ounce or fraction there 4 an additional rate OF Two
cents shall be charged.
Mr.. DE Motto has bill providing that postage on
dorestlc letters shall be at the rate OF cents lor
each ounce OF fraction thereof. bill introduced
by Mr.. Jones of New-Jersey provides that postage
on domestic letters shall be at the rate oi cents
for the first once or fraction thereof and cent lof
each additional half ounce or fraction thereof
Joint resolution, offered by William E Robinson,
provides that hereafter domestic letter postage
shall be at the rate of cent for each half ounce or
fraction thereof.
II is understood that several mcmhers-perhapS
majority. of the House committee-are disposed to
1enort favGrablv Mr.. DcMottes ba with a modiii-
cation SO that it will provide for rate Of 3 cents
for each full ounce in We ght, and cents for each
fraction of an ounce The committee will further
CONSIDER the subject next Tuesday, and Will hear
Mr. Hill of New-Jerscy, in support OF ms blll. mat
gentleman has always been an earnes; advocate OF
cheap postage for the people, and 1t was III great
measure due 10 his efforts that TIE postal card system
was adopted eight wears ago At that time the oppo-
nents of the innovation argued that the effect of it
,sould he seriously to diminish the postal revenues.
Tbisprehction has not been fulfilled; but on the con-
trarv the effect of the sy stem has been 10 stimulate
the Use of postal facilities and largely TO increase
the revenue. The net revenue fI0m postal cards IN
eight years has amounted NJ. Hill says to about
SI3O0OOOO. and It is annually increasing. Mr.
Hill contends that the reduction of letter postage
from3 cents TO cents would tend rather TO increase
than diminish the postal revenues; and the postal
service is now so nearly self-supporting that even
should the revenues fall off temporarily, 1t would
be only to a slight extent and for limited period
According to computations just made in The De-
partment il appears that the net revenues of the
postal service during the three months ended De-
cember 81 1881, exceeded by nearly million dol
lars the net revenues for the quarter ended Septem-
Der SO 1851, which were almost equal TO the
expenditures of that quarter. The rapid increase OF
population and of business Mr.. Hill regards as a
sufficient assurance that the net postal revenues
will continue to increase at a rapid and steady rate
In view of these facts he believes that the time has
come when postage rates should be reduced for the
benefit of all the people.
To reduction in the form OF doubling the weight
that may be sent for cents Mr. Hill offers the OBJ
IcciOn that il would inurc to the benefit of only
small proportion Of the people comparatively and
those of the class who are best able 10 pay their
postage. Probably not more than one in forty or
fifty Of the letters sent exceeds half ounce in
weight, and very few of those which do sent by
persons who would be most benefited by reduc-
tion Of the rate. For similar reason Mr. Hill Op-
poses, as do many other members of the House the
proposition to restore the frankng privilege to Sen
ators and Representatives,
prominent Congressman talking about this
recently said: al do not see why | should send my
letters free, when my constituents who write TO me
are compelled to pay postage on theirs. II there is
anything in this cry that there should be free
municatiOn between a Congressman and his con-
sttuents they ought TO enjoy the same privileges he
does. II we do anything it ought to be to reduce
the cost of letter postage to farmers, mechanics,
merchants and Others as well as TO congressman"
The abuse of the franklng privilege is what Con-
gressmen seem most to fear They argue rightly
enough that a Representative who will sell his pub
lie documents which cost the Government from 40
cents TO - a copy, for 3 to 40 cents copy might
not be above selling his frank TO unauthorized per-
sons. That some COngcssmen do the former IS no.
tOrOus. Only day or two ago Western Con-
gresham who had received an application from a
constituent for a certain document, applied to a
dealer in such publications who haunts the Capitol
and Departments for a copy and handed him 90
cents That evening the dealer sent him ten copies
instead OF one, and he then learned that the
dealers price for this particular doc
ument was only 5 cents a copy 1t is
q publication which costs the Government probably |
40 cents a copy. The same Congressman said that |
not long ago lie ordered Of the same dealer 100 |
copies Of another document which is in great request
among his constituents. When the books were sent |
&c him lac found that they all neatly wrapped |
and that each one bore the frank of another Con
gresham. Upon inquiry he learned that the dealer
had obtained the books honestly in the regular |
course Of business" Such facts these of
have bearing not extremely remote against the |
proposition to restore the frankng privilege on let
teIS The Congressman SOLD his books and threw |
IN y his frank. into the bargain.
ELECTION FRAUDS IN SOUTH CAROLINA.