The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1907-10-26
FRANKlNG is ABOLISHED.
Postage Stamps Must BE Used Upon
All Mail Matter in the
Philippines.

POSTAGE stamps MUST BE OSeo upon
All Mail Matter in the
Philippines.
The postal administration of the
Philippines has taken the step advo-
Gated so strongly by Edwin c. Madden,
third assistant postmaster general for
the United States government, towit:
the franking privilege has been entirely
abolished on the islands, and every
piece of mail matetr, whether private
or official, must bear postage stamp
The motives actuatlng the insular
government in taking this step were the
same that suggested to Gen. Madden
the desirability of abolishing the
franking privilege in the United States;
deficit in the postal bureau. The
Philippine officials were satisfied that
| the postal department of the islands
would take care of itself provided it
could be placed on a business basis.
Under the old regime vast quantities OF
official mail was being transported and
handled from which no revenue was de-
| rived; the matter simply bore the
| usual penalty card" and was carried
| free.
The lnsu1ar bureau is in a sense a
law to itself and has authority to
| handle it's postal affairs according tn
the desire Of the. department without
| invoking legislation by congress. The
postal department, weary Of its regular
annual deficit and the unfavorable COM
| ment that naturally followed, took the
matter into its own hands and issued
an order that hereafter all mail of the
| lnsular government must carry the re-
qulsite stamps. The order went into
effect and the various bureaus of the
| lnsular government are paying thei:
good money to the post Office depart
| ment of the island and afixing postage
| stamps to every piece of mail deposited
| in the Office, whether it be a domestic
or foreign mail.
The method employed is this: The
bureaus of the insular government buy
quantities of stamps of various de-
nominations and with a rubber stamp
overprint them with the initials 20. B.
| which signifies <'oficial business"
Money to purchase the stamps is taken
from the lnsular treasury, paid to the
postal department, which in turn de-
poslts the money in the insu1ar treas-
ury- 1t is literally a case of takin;;
money out of one pocket and putting
it into the other, yet it enables the
! postal department to obtain credit for
the business it actually does and re-
qu1res the other departments to charge
themselves with legitimate expense.
The 1hsular government as a whole has
not made nor lost cent, beyond the
actual cost of printing the postage
stamps, which is about ten cents per
1000 stamps.
In his annual report to congress,
Gen. Madden recommended that the
franking privilege be abolished and
that members Of congress and officials
in the departments be required to affix
postage stamps to ali mail sent out.
He proposed that specific appropria-
tions should be made which should
cover the amount of the cost of
stamps used by members of con-
sress and the departments in Off
cial correspondence or for prepayment
Ct postage on documentary mail 1t
was not expected that tlis scheme
would result in any net saving to the
government, but it would enable the
post Office department to wipe out it's
annual deficit OF about $15,O0O,000 and
this amount would he added to the ex-
penditures of the other departments ac-
cording to the amount of postage
stamps required.
1t is not expected that action will be
taken along the line by congress at
this session, but the matter has had
attention at the hands of the house
post Office committee, and it is ac-
knowledged that there is great force in
the recommendations of the post office
department. The campaign in this di-
rection will be continued and it is only
a question.of few years when all de-
partments and officials will be using
postage stamps.