The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-06-13
CHARGES AGAINST sEABOARD.
Superintendent Mc8ee Explains the
Whole Matter.


| Portsmouth. VA. June 11.-Captain
| y +. Melee. general superintendent
! of the Seaboard Airline, to-day gave
out the following statement in regard
| tho the charge made against that com
pany by the Postof1ice Department:
1t is not usual for just grievances
against this government to be fought
| through the press but in view OF the
statement of alleged irregularities IN
| the mail matter over the Seaboard A1r-
| Line road. recently published and said
| TO have been authorized by the Post
master General, may be pardoned for
using this medium setting forth the
| facts before an impartial public.
We are not responsible in any way
| for the shipment OF pubic documents
| through the mail, nor have we eNerted
ourselves to induce the movement Of
sl5ch documents during the mail weigh
| mo, period. The fran<ing system is a
| personal privilege granted to members
| clf Congress-, to which there is no penal
| tx attached. and for which the mem
| beers are alone respOnSihle; nOt has the
| Postmaster General, or amy other gov
eminent official, the right, as | under
stand it, to question the privilege of
movement of their documents through
| the mail at any time, in any quantity
| or any direction. See act March Bird,
| 1873 and act March 3rd, 1897, and also
| Postmaster Generals report of 1895,
page 1853, which comments as follows:
There is no penalty attached TO the
misuse OF the frank privilege; hence
there is no action that can be taken by
me further than to call the attention
| of the member to the matter.
| Referring TO the fifteen sacks OF pub
| lie documents, claimed to have been
| forwarded from my office, there was no
secret about it, They were forwarded
ON regular mail trains. and it was the
| mail agents duty, south of Weldon, to
count the sacks and weigh the con-
| tents. as they had not been previously
| weighed on our line (as mail was not
| being weighed on that portion of the
| road between Portsmouth and Wei
| dom; otherwise the railroads would
| haul tons of public documents during
| the next four years for which we would
not receive compensation, and when /
| learned that a postoffice inspector was
going over the road trying to intimi-
date small agents by announcing who
| he was, / sent for him to come to my
| office and | would give him all the in
| formation he wanted in regard TO the
| law.
/ herewith quote the law which viii
| be found on page 934, clause 200 in the
United tates official Postal Guide,
dated January, 1896:
AZ bulk package of franked articles
NAV be sent to one address who on re-
| ceiving and opening the package, may
place addresses on the franked arti-
Giles and RENAL them for carriage and
delivery 10 the respective addresses.
This law seems to be plain and l
cannot see what more could have been
dome than was done to comply with it.
Confirming the above law and in fur
ther justification of the action of my
clerk, / quote the following letter writ
ten by the First Assistant Postmaster
General to Senator -, who wish
ed to ship documents to California:
Postoffice Department,
Office of
First Assistant Postmaster General,
Division Offices,
Washington, March II, 1896.
Hon. -. United States Senate:
Dear Sir: In compliance with your
request / have the honor to advise you
that section 500, page 157, Postal Laws
and Regulations, expressly provides
that "A bulk package of franked arti-
Giles may be sent to one address, who,
on receiving and opening the package.
may place addresses on the franked
articles and RENAL them for carriage
and delivery to the respective adj
dresses"
Should any postmaster refuse to ac-
cept speeches in properly franked en-
velopes offered them for mailing, / will
issue the necessary Instructions if you
viii call my attention to the matter.
Very respectfully,
(Signed) f. II. JONES,
First Assistant Postmaster General.
In regard to certain newspapers,
| which it is purported were sent over
our line in April as / unrstand it.
regular postage was paid, and there is
no law which would prevent adver-
Using matter from 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 advertising 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
IlHOHtu SeltCleu ny -JHt government IoE
the weighing of the mails is one in
which the smallest business is done
and AZ per cent is deducted from the
totals in order that the minimum
sum may be paid for carrying mails
throughout the four years.
The Seaboard Airline railroad re
ceiyes much less mail pay per mile than
any other road of it's length in the
United States and as / can show from
| a comparison of their published re-
ports, has been for years uniustly
| treated in these matters.
We received notice from the depart
ment on January 23rd that mail would
| be weighed on all routes on our line
south of Weldon for thirty consecutive
work days, commencing February
| Goth, and on March Goth we received
| the following letter, bearing date of
| March II: