The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1883-04-19
"PUB. pOCs.n

COs bVOkoe
The mail ears leaving Washington are
burdened every day with public docu-
ments, and every Congressman as he
leaves the city pays one last visit to the
"folding-room at the Capitol to see
how his documents are getting off. The
entire force in the folding-room is busy
as busy can be, and quantities Of the
documents have accumulated at the
post-otlice owing to the inability of the
authorities to furnish mail cars in which
TO carry them off as fast as they are
mailed. The fact is, impossible as this
may appear, the amount of this kind Of
matter now furnished by order of Con-
gressmen for transportation through the
mails is more than carload a day
BY carload is meant twenty thousand
pounds. There are, said Superin-
tendent Robinson, of the House folding
room, in speaking of the subject to-day,
there are sent from our folding-room
to the post-oifice every day, now, about
two hundred sacks of these documents
books of all sorts and sizes, and upon
all subjects that the Government Printer
has been ordered to discourse upon
And what do these two hundred
sacks weigh apiecepn
About one hundred and Twenty-Five
pounds-that makes twenty-five thou
sand pounds, Then add one-third more
lor the amount sent out from the Senate
document-room, and you have about the
SIZE OF our daily mail nowadays"
ehpn po''n's'
Yes
And all carried free, Of coursepn
Yes, it could not go otherwise. 1t
would break up the average Congress
man to pay the postage on his docu-
ments. And, indeed, it seems quite
proper that these books should become
Tree, for they are proper educators.
Ihey go everywhere and are read bv
al classes Of people. They are, as
rue, very jndiciously distributed, each
Congressman sending his books to peo-
pie whom they will interest. For in
stance, a member has seven or eight
hundred Agricultural Reports, or 'agas,'
as We term them, and couple of hun
urea Consular Reports ON mercantile
matters, hundred Engineers Reports.
couple of hundred on enoineerino. as
many reports of the Railroad Com
missioner, some more about patents,
ana SO on; Of course he sends the aori-
cultural reports to the farmers in his
uistllct, the reports of the consuls to
the merchants and manufacturers. those
upon financial topics to financiers. and
50 on through the list. More than that.
Mhere q member has no constituents in
.erested in any of these particular sub
JecIs, and many who are interested in
ahotner, he trades off his documents
maj ms people don't want for those of
another they do want, and SO really
lney are made to go as far as possible.
a19 90 as much good as could be expect-
euirom general distribution of this sort. ),
what is there in this talk that MEM
3ers selltheir documents to seeond-band
dealers hereP''
y Nothing, | think. Al least know
" " 10 such cases. do know, though.
,naV ' they often make trades with these |
n.e1 upon The principle indicated in the
a"'es mat mentioned few minutes |
ago' and by that means enable them |
iselNes TO furnish their constituents \ |
,arge number of books that are really
valuable to them.''
bers getp'' e"en ''o iiiein-
n,,,,,l nat depends altogether on the
N WIuil'per ordered by the act of CONGRESS.
tow ,I: TINS year each member gets some
anlng over seven hundred Agricultural
AM ~. ~. mat Is the largest number of
= How maO.y .l:a... -.
are there?n Pa'iio'''iolis
,o,,' Some of the members sent out this
4. "a s, a. many as two hundred and twen-
,snt1: n.e Inherent works, not all of them
r'.Iueatlons ~ W OF this year, however, y
,aa,.l on Keep the publications of former
'alS .y on hand, then, do you?~
sar es' some of them. Some run as
I,'s bar'' o"ck as twenty years; OF Others we
Nh, none more than wear or two
.aeA' .a The more valuable ones NJ
nen,s 1grSe, are picked up rapidly by the
frends.n '"Vi'isefes ana their
ihenP'' - .tlem SO valuable,
ive de,, des; some run as high as twenty
,xcoTt;la nellars Tor set. OF course, that's
ghera i1naii y but there are a few cases
4stg ..U .hey run that high 2
ron s.uw sos', many volumes do you think
'ou send out yearp'' = ''-'
.arI 'nIiik about seven hundred thou-
mi % l nave no definite record Of the
y loe', ,hs. but think that it must run mn
9 mat number 9 7 f'i''s IN up
NJ ine1 adding one-third for the SEN
~ "ua some more for the depart {