Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-05-20
1 SERIOUS CHARGE.
,Isgsd Attempt Of StaOOaTd AIRLINE
10 Dsifaud The Government
LITTER OF WEIGHING THE MAILS.
...,orcnf Given 10 the Public ON
n.c Authority of the Postmaster
neutrality-suspicious. ana far-
uculnrS.
ticuIars.

WASHINGTON. d. c.. May i9.-Post-
-..,erCcncral Wilson to-day authorized
1o publication Of the following state
-.,t I'm regard TO an alleged attempt
g.. overcharge the government for the
..,veyaucc Of the mails in certain Of the
southern states:
.rycry four years the mail trans
-...,1 over the various railways in the
r,.,ad states is weighed for a period
~ thirty days. FOR one fourth OF the
..,rfrv each year. Upon the average
-.gbt obtained during that thirty days
.,o commission Of the railroad is ad-
.....f. and remains in force for four
cars The last weighing was conduct
N during the month Of March. 1896.
0,s railroad company. the Seaboard Air
Zine whose mail line extends from
portsmouth. Va, 10 Atlanta, Ca, at
...-nfed TO take advantage Of this op-
...-.gnIty 10 swell the Weighing OF mail
carried over their system. during the
,,slshng OF the mails. by very large
.a.rmeuts Of public documents.
a,b3ut three hundred sacks OF docu-
,-srts franked by a United states sena-
..- and a member Of Congress were
..n- 20 the various station-agents Of this
,,rrany I'm Virginia. North Carolina,
South Carolina. and Georgia. The sacks
...t-bel from 100 TO 125 pounds each.
Two. three. four. or even five sacks
,r.rc sent 20 one agent. Some agents
,are furnished by railroad officials with
l..ts OF addresses in North Carolina and
v.rrIuia. The division superintendent
and road-masters gave oral instructions
,. the agents under them as to pasting
labels or writing addresses on the books
which were not previously addressed;
l.t the tags OF the sacks were adj
f..ssaI "All for --" namely a rail-
had agent at that poinO. The books
were then remailed and again transported
over the routes OF this company, TO be
again weighed. A few agents, not un-
Outstanding their instructions, gave out
fre books for public distribution before
ne frenked labels were received.
"T.rfeu sacks were delivered at
p,rtsmouth Va. addressed I'm bulk to
ta general superintendent. That night
ne hooks were roaddressed I'm the rail-
road buildings by his secretary and a di-
r.0u superintendent. and remailed tho
following morning 10 various persons
along the route. a newspaper at Ellen
a.rG. ". g.. learning Of the transac-
H0n published a short article, headed,
rA Mistake" stating in substance that
, United Stntcs senator. In mailing docu-
mont. DO bis constituents, had. by mis-
f.tp addressed them TO station-agents
sI.rr the Seab0ard AIRLINE railroad. A
division superintendent learning Of the
article. proceeded 10 the town, and in
fursi Che editor 10 cut the item out Of
every COPY of his paper. on the ground
Hat 30 would hurt the road.
s REWEIGHING.
"Tre 'raIdmg OF the mails by this
lmrry Was Investigated by the Pvt
lM.a Department and to prevent this
tra-uce lhe department ordered the
weighing 90 Dee continued FOR thirty addi-
tonm DAYS during April The railroad
company then resOrted TO a new scheme
by contracting with publishers of news
1lr.rs for "a large number OF papers to
De- sent over their line daily, TO addresses
Furnished by the company. At Ports
mouth Va. the general superintendent
arranged with a Portsmouth paper to
fe1I Sa9 copies daily for ten days. and
after that 210J copies daily, in bundles
of twenty-five. addressed TO parties in
south Carolina and Georgia, on the Sea-
board Airline railroad At Raleigh. y.
g.. au official OF the railroad arranged 10
have 5000 copies the first week and 5000
.op.es a week afterwards of a weekly
paper sent in bundles of forty-fiye over
he seaboard Airline railroad to stations
Do Georgia. South Carolina. and few
u North Carolina. At Atlanta, Ga, the
private secretary Of the division superin-
.auIent arranged with an Atlanta paper
tlr 200 copies daily. to be sent out on the
Ssab1ail Airline TO Norfolk and Ports
mouth 1860 copies addressed as TO regu-
ar subscribers. the other 1000 as sample
'opes Arrangements were also made
SIh another Atlanta paper 70 send $500
.ofiss u the Sunday issue. weighing over
sa.i pound each. 20 addresses in Norfolk
uI Portsmouth. Va. The Norfolk ana
Portsmouth city directories were fur
l.shed 90 the newspapers from which to
'-ai labels for mailing papers TO parties
% those cities Several OF these parties
hus addressed Tad moved from those
cities. or had died
Had this Weighing been accepted by
te department, the Seahoard AIRLINE
railroad would have received for the next
four years a much larger compensation
Nlu 10 was entitled 10.
some OF the newspaper publishers were
Indignant when they found they had been
made PARTIES TO such scheme, and the
publisher of the paper at Raleigh. n c.
refused TO send out the fourth shipment
. hs paper