Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1896-07-09
WASHINGTON LETTER.
now the Franking Privilege II Abused.
Gold by Registered Mail-Dy-
Mantle Proof Safes.
Especial Correspondence. ]

though it is likely to make decided
difference in the receipts Of the post
ONCE department. The new law provides
that nothing but written or printed
matter shall be carried as mail matter
under frank. 1t has been the custom
OF the departments for some years to
send all sorts Of supplies under official
frank in postal cars. When party from
the geological survey went to the west
on an exploring expedition, the tools,
the tents, the picks and shovels were
sent in mail cars and were handled by
the postal clerks under the department
frank. When the party came home, the
specimens Of ores, sometimes weighing
hundreds Of pounds, were transported
in the same way. The attention of the
postoff1ce department was called to this
abuse at time when particularly
heavy shipment of freight was made
weighed officially. The weighing of the
mail on the railroad routes occurs once
in four years in each section Of the
country, and on this weighing the gov
ernment's payments for mail transporta-
ton are made during the ensuing four
years. The heavy shipment of freight
raised the average of the mail matter
carried over one of the routes for the
entire four years and cost the govern
ment probably hundreds of times what
it would have cost to send the single
shipment by freight or express.
FrankinR Soiled Linen.
This provision ought to have been in
the law years ago, when congress
men used to ship their soiled clothing
home to be Numbered and have 1t sent
back to them clean under frank. Not
long ago New York congressman sent
bundle Of laundering home under his
frank and as it was examined in transit
the fact became known to the postal au-
thorities aud he was warned not to do
it again. Congressman have no right to
frank anything but parts of The Congress
sional Record, public documents and
letters on public business
The new law will prevent the treas
ury department repeating the great gold
shipment which was made four or five
years ago from the Pacific coast The
treasury wanted the gold on storage at
the San Francisco mint transferred to
New York. Application was made to
the Wells Fargo express for q rate, as
San Francisco is out of the district of
the United States Express company,
which has the contract for handling the
government money. The rate named
WA yarv biuh ap1 tho oacrat ary ~ tba
treasury determined to ship the gold by
registered mail-that is, to send it east
under guard on special train which
was hauled by the railroad companies
at the special rate made for postal ship
ments The total cost of handling it
was about one tenth what the express
company would have charged. If the
shipment had been made east of the
Missouri river. the government would
have had to pay the United States Ex-
press company even more than the Wells
Fargo people asked, because under it's
contract with the government the
United States company has the exclusive
right to transport the government cur
rency. 1t is only on the big shipments
that the express company makes any
money There is no profit in handling
small sums because of the great risk in
volved
Dynamite Proof Safes.
A few years ago the publication of
story called attention to the
fact that the United States company
was hauling the government money and
a, ,al, FOL Oft rl h.
pany had its first experience with train
A train was held up and the
express car was robbed. Fortunately it
carried a comparatively small sum. But
the experience led the agent in charge
Of the government shipments, who was
at that time Mr.. Edward Plat, to insti-
tute experiments for the purpose of OBJ
tanning not a burglar proof safe-for it
is admitted that such thing is impos-
sible to procure-but safe which would
Withstand the attacks of safe robbers for
u certain time.
The express company asked safe
makers to submit safes which they
would guarantee for "a certain number Of
hours This the manufacturers refused
to do. They said they were doing bust
ness on borrowed capital and that they
could not get credit If they had hanging
over them guarantee which might in
volve them in a million dollar loss at
almost any time. The express COM
pany then called for a trial Of safes to
resist dynamite attacks for a certain
period. AS result Of the tests, a safe
was selected and introduced in the gov
eminent service Not long afterward an
attack was made on an express car on
the Lake Shore road and the safe was
"dynamited without effect. The ex-
press company thinks that for the pres
ent it is protected reasonably well from
train robbers. 1t has not been molested
since.
Departments Short Of Money.
The fiscal year ends on the Both Of
June, and as usual some Of the depart
ments of the government find them
selves pretty short of money. This is
less the case in the even than it is in the
odd years. Congress is usually in SEES
sion until June 80 on the even years,
while ON the odd years it adjourns
March A. There are some departments