The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-05-26
A SERIOUS CHARGE.

ment.
"Postmaster. General Wilson author
led the publication of the following
s 'atement in regard to an alleged at
tempt to overcharge the government
for the conveyance of the mails in GER
tain Southern States:
Every four years the mail trans
ported over the various railways in the
U4lted States is weighed for a period
of 30 days, for one fourth Of the coun-
try each year. Upon the average
weight obtained during the 80 DAYS.
the commission Of the railroad is ad-
juated aud RENAL 8 in force for four
years The last weighing was con-
Quoted in the month Of March, 1896.
One railroad company, the S8abOard
Air Line, whose main line extends
from Portsmouth, Va to Atlanta, Ga,
Attempted to take advantage of this
opp )rtuniUy to swell the weighing of
mail carried over their system during
the weighing Of the mails by very large
shipments of public documents About
800 sacks Of documents franko1 by q
United Stat9s Senator and a member
Of Congress were sent to the various
station agents Of this company, in Vr-
ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina
and Georgia The sacks weighed from
100 to 125 pounds each. Two, three,
four or even five sacks were sent to one
agent. Some agents were furnished by
railroad officials with lists of addresses
N North Carolina and Virginia. The
division superintendent and road mas
cers gave oral Instructions to. the agents
under them as to FASTING labels or
writing addresses on the books which
we're not previously addressed, bat the
tags Of the sacks were addressed "All
for " (namely for a railroad agent
at that point.) The books we're then
remailed and again transported owe
the routes Of this company tO be again
weighed. Il few agents, not under
standing their instructions, gave out
the books for public distribution be
fore the frank labels were received.
Fifteen sacks were delivered at Ports
mouth, Va, addressed in bulk to the
general superintendent. That night
the books we're re addressed in the rail
coad building by his secretary and q
division superintendent and remailed
the following morning to various per
sons along the route. A newspaper at
E ien5oro, n c., learning Of the trans
action, published a short article headed
"A Mistake" stating in substance that
a United States Senator in mailing
documents 20 his constituents had by
mistake addressed than to station
agents along the Seaboard Air Line
R sIway. 4 division superintendent,
learning Of the article, proceeded to
the town and induced the editor to cut
the item out Of every copy of his paper,
on the ground that it would hurt the
road,
the padding Of the mails by this
company was investigated by the Post
office Department and to prevent this
| practice, the department ordered the
| weighing to be continued for 80 days
during April. The railroad company
then resorted to a new scheme, by
contracting with publishers Of news
| papers for a large number of papers to
be sent over their line daily, to ad-
dresses furnished by the company. At
Portsmouth, Va the general superin-
tendent arranged with a Portsmouth
paper to send E. 800 c0pi,s daily for ten
days, and after that 2 400 copies daily,
il bundles of 25 70 each address to par
ties in South Carolina and Georgia on
the Seaboard Air Line. At Raleigh an
official of the railroad arranged to have
E 900 copies Of the first week and 5000
ccpjeg q week afterwards Of a weekly
paper, sent in bundles Of As over the
Seaboard Air Line Railroad to stations
ia Georgia, South Carolina, and a few
in North Carolina.
AT Atlanta, the private secretary
Of the division superintendent arranged
with an Atlanta paper for 200 copies
daily to be sent over the Seaboard Air
Line to Norfolk and Portsmouth, 1000
copies addressed to regular subscrib-
ers, the other thousand as sample
copies. Arrangements we're also made
with another Atlanta paper to send
8, SO copies of the Sunday issue, weigh
ing over half a pound each, to ad-
dresses in Norfolk and Portsmouth.
Norfolk and Portsmouth city direc-
tories were furnished to the newspa-
pers from which to print labels for
mailing the papers to parties in those