The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1910-10-20

one telling him that llensley was
IN any way embarrassed or out
rlassed in debate with Elvins.
POLITE AND THE FRANK. -
Polite, we are surprised at you ,
You ought to know better Are
yon aware that yOu are prostltut-
ing the postal laws and the frank
ing privilege which is conferred ny
on members of Congress We ac.
know ledge the receipt from you Of
one Of your campaign letters, en-
closed and sealed in an envelope
marked in one corner with the
words, House Of Representatives
/. S.-part of Congressional Rec.
ord Free, and with your frank
on the opposite corner We opened
the letter expecting to fluid one Of
your speeches or that Of some other
Congressman delivered in the
House and made a part Of the Con.
gressionaI Record, bat imagine our
surprise when we found neat
little tract emblazoued with your
counterfeit presentment covering a
letter from yourself to the people
of the Thirteenth congressional
district, fulsomely Mandatory of
yourself and the wonderfully bene-
fcent work which you claim to
have accomplished in the brief time
you have been in Congress, togeth.
err with map of the Thirteenth
district surrounded with scare
heads from Republican papers tell
ing what prodigy yon are 1t Is
n good piece Of campaign literature
for those people who are ready TO
accept man at his own estimate;
aud mind, wr don't blame you for
having such an exalted opinion Of
yourself, for there is an old axiom
which says that the world is dis.
posed to accept man at the cStl-
mate he places on his own import
ance. OF course there are cXcep.
tions to this rule. for the man may
display such self. satisfaction and
laudation of his own merits, that
that other old adage which says
self-praise is half scandal" is
prone to intrude itself
The point, however, is this: Are
you not violating the postal law
and your franking privilege And
are you not deceiving the postal
authorities and postmasters Of the
district by sending ont in sealed
covers, over your frank, your own
private campaign correspondence
under the guise of Part of the
Congressional Record The Re
publican and Democratic congress-
ional committees send out as cam =
paign documents under the franks
of Senators and Congressman parts
of the Congressional Record and
speeches delivered in one or the
other branch of Congress, but we
do not think they venture to pros
ttute the postal laws and ranking
privilege to the extent Of sending
out in this manner matters person
al and altogether foreign to the
Congressional Record. Has your
brief association with that hoary
old profaner, Uncle joe" Aid
rich, Payne and other champions
of the Special Interests, so corOded
and blinded your moral sensibili
ties, that You regard this in the
same light tina. they do the picking
of the pockets of the many for the
profit of the few Or is it that
you are ignorant of the limits OF
the ranking privilege
Perhaps we have an erroneous
idea as to the extent to which the
franking privilege may be stretched
with safety, but used as you are
using it, my! what an advantage
it gives to congressional incum
bent over his opponent! Under
the corrupt practices net of this
State. a candidate must make oath
that his campaign expenses did not
exceed a certain limit; and if the
/ r I