The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-25
CHEAP BOOKSN THE MAILS.
The House Declines TO Increase the
Rate Of Postage.

to Print the Postage Stamps-The
Debate on the Book Amendment a
Prolonged One.
Washington, April "A. Mr.. Hepburn,
rep, of Iowa, raised an objection in the
House this morning to approving pro
forma the journal of yesterday proceed
ings, and rising vote was taken with
this result; Ayes us; nays 0. Mr.. Hep
| burn made the point of no quorum and
/ the yeas and nays were ordered, Messrs.
! Sayers and Hepburn acting as tellers.
! The vote resulted, yeas 232, nays 0. Five
members reported thems elves present.
! The House went into committee of the
whole, with Mr.. Hatch, of Missouri, in
the chair, to further consider the post
Office appropriation bill for the year end
ing June 30, 1895. The only paragraph
remaining undisposed of was that making
an appropriation of S196, 600 for necessary
and special facilities for the mail route
from Springfield, Mass, via New York
| and Washington to Atlanta and New
Orleans. MIR. Kyle. dem, of Mississippi,
| had moved to strike out the paragraph. 1t
was agreed that debate on this amend
ment should be limited to two hours and
| fifteen minutes.
The amendment was advocated by
Messrs. Kyle and Loud, rep, of Califor-
: MIA, members of the committee. MIR.
| Kyle pointed out that 1.-The fast mail train"
! benefited by the appropriation made the
| journey in ten minutes less time before the
| roads over which it runs received a cent
| of the money than it does now. He also
| objected to the appropriation, as involving
! a false principle.
Mr. Loud showed that other roads,
| especially in the west, performed
! similar service to that of the
! southern mail without additional
| pay, and this appropriation was an unjust
and unnecessary discrimination. The
amendment was opposed by Mr.. Meyer,
! dem, of Louisiana; Mr.. Robertson, dem,
! of Louisiana; MIR. Hooker, dem, of Missis-
! sippi MIR. Cooper, dem, of Florida, and
! MIR. Henderson, chairman of the commit
! tee. These pleaded for a continuance of the
| appropriation, which had been in every
! appropriation bill for seventeen years for
! the benefit of the business interests of the
| south.
PRINTING OF POSTAGE STAMPS.
Mr. Bingham, rep, of Pennsylvania, was
| given time, by courtesy of Mr.. Loud, in
which to make speech in opposition to
the provision of the bill, by which the
manufacture and printing of postage
stamps for the next four years will be
| given to the bureau eff engraving and
| printing.
The amendment was defeated-ayes,
"a nays, 1871.
An amendment was adopted enabling
| the postOftice department to get rid of the
useless accumulation of old records relat-
ing to the money order business of the
| department.
The committee then rose, and Chair
man Hatch reported the bill as amended
to the House with a favorable recon-
mendation thereon. All the amendments
adopted by the committee were agreed TO
by the House except one, which, on
motion of Chairman Henderson was
made section four of the bill, as follows
THAT all publications purporting to be
issued periodically and to subscribers,
/ but which are merely books or reprints
of books. whether they be issued com
plete or in parts, whether they be bound
or unbound, or whether they be sold by
subscription or otherwise, when offered
for transmission by mail, shall be subject
to postage at the rates prescribed for
third-class matter"
OPENED TO GENERAL DEBATE.
BY agreement this amendment was
opened to general debate for an hour and
half. 1t was opposed by MIR. Quigg,
rep, of New York, who said that its pas
sage would utterly destroy large and
valuable industry and deprive millions OF
readers throughout the country of an in
structive and desirable class of literature
by Mr. Picker, of South Dakota who
pleaded for the use of the mails at pound
rates by the publishers of these chear
books, in the interests of the people, who
) could not afford to secure them otherwise
than by this method by Mr. Hopkins
+ who said that the recommendation
of the postofice department that the
amendment adopted was not we'll.
founded, for the reason that the postal
l service was not organized and conducted
: with q view to being self-sustaining; by
! | MIR Walker, rep. of Massachusetts, who
2 said that the proposed change in the
: rates of postage on these publications
a would increase their cost 40 per
}. cent, and result in abolishlng the
industry of their production; by Mr.
| Cummings, dem, of New York, who
said that the House would make a mis-.
take if it increased the cost of good liter
e AZURE to the people; more than that, il
S would commit crime Applause the
4 same the House would commit were it tc
= vote to increase the price of corn bread
e For himself, said Mr.. Cummings, ne
would rather pay more for his potatoes
than to be compelled to pay more for his
books. Applause
e RETRoGREssIvE LEGISLATION.
Mr.. Bingham, rep, of Pennsylvania
: said that this was the first time in the
: history of legislation on postal affairs
q
{ lower to a higher rate of postage. In
stead of doing this, he said, he would, as
he believed congress soon would do, as an
educational measure, carry newspapers
: and books through the mails free of pos
e tage Applause
e MIR O'Neil, dem, of Massachusetts,
said that postal legislation should be in
the direction of lower rates and moi
higher
Mr.. Cannon, rep, of Illinois, said that
d the legislation of 1879, which it was
sought to repeal by the proposed amend
ment, was in the interest of the POOR boy
Of the farm who could not otherwise pos
IS sess himself of these books.
?, Mr.. Henderson closed the debate, speak
n ing in favor of the amendment 10 show
the necessity of it's adoption he read from
statement of the postmaster genera
5 showing that the cost of carrying thi!
y second-class matter over and above the
e postal receipts account is about SIS, 600 0O(
J. | annually.
In answer to a question by Mr.. Aitken
IS rep, of Michigan, MIR. Henderson sale
,e that if these publications were printed il
IS Canada they could circulate in Canadian
n newspapers through the mails of tn,
United States free of charge.
The amendment was Fejected-ayes 20