The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-07

home anything they wished by simply placing their address and their frank up- on 1t. That time has, fortunately Tor the service, gone by. It Is now consid- cred breach of good manners to ship anything under a frank that cannot be packed in the special boxes or in the mail Sd ,ks which are provided for documents. Formerly furniture, desks. trunks and b1ggies and carriages were franked home in mall cars.
 "Nowaiays we seldom come across anything of that kind, except an occa- sional trunk or two. It Is also no longer considered a fair thing for Congress- mn to send his laundry or family wash to his home and have 1t returned under his frank. There used to. be member from Indiana who was addicted to this habit. He had a family of about five children. and yet after two terms he re- tired with about $1OOOO, which he had saved out of his salary. One of his daughter sacted as his private secretary, another was a clerk Tn one of the, de- partments, and a small son was page at the Capitol. The entire family practiced rigid economy, and among other things the Congressman each week franked home his family washing Of course. he did not save much by the operation, but in the course of four years service 1t mrst have amountsd to about $2Oo. have heard he was one of those members who constantly use their committee sta- tionery and draw their allowance of S125 for such in cash.
 We used to have considerable difH- culty with household furniture. A fold ing bed or a lounge Is not desirable object in a postal car. It Is bad enough to have the car filled with bags of doc uments or boxes of goods. but when it comes to marble-topped tables, boxes of bric-a-brac and other things of that character, including china closets and kitchen utensils. ones patience is tried to the limit. I have heard of a member of Congress who once franked home an upright piano. The clerks were so en- ragged at his presumption that a heavy box was allowed to drop. accidentally of course, upon the lid, which was split open. Then a leaky lamp was hung right over the piano, and by the time it reached it's destination 1t was very badly dam aged. Of course the member had no re- course. as he could not make a com plaint about the treatment his piano re- ceived when he was clearly violating the law"
 What is the most difficult shipment you have known?" the reporter inquired
 Well. we have many difficult and pe- cuIar jobs in that line the postofice employe responded.
 Possibly the worst job I ever had to tackle was when retiring Senator franked home a safe. In his committee room at the Capitol he had a fine and large safe. which had been purchased for the use of his committee. but which had been condemned and sold to him at an infinitesimal price. It weighed nearly 40O0 pounds. All the Senator did was to
 r1aA ~A nd potify the officers of the Senate post office to come in and get it. They got it all right, but the getting was accomp- lished by much swearing. What the clerks In the postofflce where 1t was shipped said when 1t landed l have never heard. I think it was not delivered by a letter carrier.
 We have had some queer requests in regard to shipping of franked matter. Just few days ago a representative from a Western State brought hand some fox terrier to the office, which he wished to frank home. We persuaded him the dog might suffer from inatten- tion en route and he sent it by express. There is a member of the Senate who was once accused according to the pub lie press, of franking home his horses and carriages. l am not saying whether this is true or not, but the hulabaloo which was raised by the publication of the charge prevented a repetition of the abuses of the franking privilege since the passage of the new law. More than 1000 boxes have already been shipped to different parts of the country. together with more than this number of bags of public documents, which will oe dstrib- uted by the members turing the summer season. Their total weight will be about 100000 pounds, or ten tons per day. As 1t costs cents a pound on the average you can see that the Postofice Depart ment expends a considerable sum every year in moving the effects of the mem- bers of Congress"
 How is 1t that no complaint is made? It would seem that the employees or some of the department officials would call at tention of Congress to this situation"
 sYou see. it's this way. Congress makes the law and Congress appropriates the money to run this department. Now, 1t is a matter of small concern to me, to any other employe of the Department, or to the Postmaster-G General, if Con- gressman wants to ship a house under a frank while it is all important matter that Congress should be satisfied with the administration of the Postoff1ce De- pertinent. Suppose I should complain that Congressman Blank is using his frank improperly and the complaint reaches the ears of the Congressman. He might discover that the Department could | do without my services, and I might be turned out to hunt new Job, which at my time of life would be inconvenient | to say the least. Then, if protest against the whole practice were made the | Department might find itself several mill | lion dollars short when the postal appro- | prtation bill went through, so we would be | cnttiOp off GnifA cied grudges against our faces. Not for | me. They can shin the United States