Birmingham state herald., 1896-06-12
THE SEABOARD'S SIDE OE II Captain McBee on That Padded AS TO THOSE FIFTEEN SACKS
He Says Thers Is No Secret-An Outcome of
 the Franking Privilege.
COMPLAINT OF UNJUST CRITICISM
The Captain Charges That the Published Statement Alleged to Have Been Au- thorised by the Postmaster Gen.
 eral Is Libelous.

Portsmouth, Va., June l1.--Odpt. W I' McBee, general superintendent of the Seaboard Air Line, today gave out the following statement in regard to the charges made against that company by the postoff1ce departments:
 Tt is not usual for just grievances against this government to be fought through the press, but in view of the statement in regard to the alleged irregu- larities in mail matter over the Seaboard Air Line road recently published and said to have been authorized by the post mister general I may be pardoned in using this medium in setting forth the facts before an impartial public.
 We are not responsible in any way for the shipment of public documents through the mail, nor have we exerted ourselves to induce the movement of such documents during the mail weighing pe- riod. The franking system is a personal privilege granted to members of con gress, to which there Is no penalty at tached and for which the members are alone responsible; nor has the postmas- ter general or any other government off ctal the right, as l understand it, to ques- ton the privilege of movement of their documents through the mail at any time, in any quantity or any direction. See act March 3, 1875, and act March 8, 1879 and also the postmaster generals report of 1895, page 153, which comments as fol- lows: There is no penalty attached to the misase of the frank privilege, hence there is no action that can be taken by me further than to call the attention of the members to the natter
 Referring to the fifteen sacks of pub lie documents claimed to have been for warded from my office, there was no se- cret about it. They were forwarded on regular mail trains, and 1t was the mail agents duty south of Weldon to count the sacks and weigh the contents, as they had been previously weighed on our line Gas mail was not being weighed on that portion of the road between Ports m uth and Weldon), otherwise the rail- roads would haul tons of public docu- ments during the next four years for which we would not receive compensa- ton, and when learned that postoffice inspector was going over the road trying to intimidate small agents by announcing who he was I sent for him to come to my office and I would give him all the information he wanted in regard to the law.
 "I herewith quote the law, which will be found on page 934, clause 209 in United States official postal guide, dated Jan uary 1S96 "A bulk package of franked articles may be sent to one address, who, 1s may place addresses on the franked ar- ticles and remail them for carriage and delivery to the respective addresses
 This law seems to be plain, and I can not see what more could have been done than was done to comply with it. Con- firming the above law and in further justification of the action of my clerk, I quote the following letter. written by the first assistant postmaster general to Sem ator -, who wished to ship docu- ments to California:
 " "'Postoffice Department, Office of the
 First Assistant Postmaster General,
 Division of Correspondence.
 Washington, D. C., March II, 1896. Hon. -, United States Senate
 Dear Sir: In compliance with your request I have the honor to advise you that section 366, page 157, postal laws and regulations, expressly provides that "a bulk package of franked articles may be sent to one addressee; who, on receiving and opening the package, may place ad- dresses on the franked articles and re- mail them for carriage and delivery to the respective addresses"
 |" Should any postmaster refuse to ac- cept speeches in properly franked envel- opes offered them for mailing I will is- sue the necessary instructions if you will call my attention to the matter. Very respectfully, F. H. JONES,
 First Asst. Postmaster General
 'In regard to certain newspapers, which it is purported were sent over our line in April, as I understood it regular postage was paid, and there is no law which would prevent advertising matter fir om being forwarded. through the mails at any time, and the postmaster general can make no just complaint about that, for we send out quantities of paid adver- Using matter all of the year round and there is no legal or equitable reason why we should withhold matter from the mails during the weighing period. The month selected by the government for weighing of mails is one in which the smallest business is done and 14A per cent is deducted from the locals in. order that the minimum may be paid for carry ing mails throughout the four years.
 "rhe Seaboard Air Line railroad re- ceives much less mail pay per mile than any road of it's length in the United States, and, as I can show from com par,son of their published reports, has been for years unjustly treated in these ma tiers. 9F7
 i've received notice from the depart men. on January 23 that mail would be weighed on all routes on our line south of Weldon for thirty consecutive working days, commencing February 26, and on March 20 we received the following let ter, bearing date of March IT:
 'sSir: Your telegram of the 18th in- stant to General Superintendent Warde relative to continuing the weighing on your lines for an additional ten days has been referred to this office.
 1" Tn reply, you are informed that 1t Is the uniform rule of the department to weigh the mails on railroad mail routes in a state or section at the same time and for thirty successive working days, as re- quired by law. -f
 g"'This being the case, the department could not do as you request without throwing itself open to the-charge of do- hg for your company that which it is frequently compelled to refuse to do for other companies. This 1t must decline to do
 The reports of the weighing, so far as received, indicate that 1t Is progressing satisfactorily, and that The results are likely to be as favorable to the railroad