The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-09
The Fitzgerald Resolution
 Causes an Uprising
IS PETTY GRAPHING
Appropriations Chairman States Tele- graph Official Business Privilege Is Used for Private Mes
 sages by Congressmen
By JONATHAN wtNFInLD

chairman of the House committee on appropriations. that members of Con gress are guilty petty grafting" in their abuse of the privilege of send ing official business telegraph mes sages has caused heated argument on Capitol Hill where the statesmen gather. It has also caused much wonder among folks who do not know all the per quisites of member of Congress. This latter class wants to know what Fitz- gerald is driving at-and here is the ex- planation.
 There Is a contingent fund of the House and Senate which covers expen- dtures for everything from a cake of soap for the barber shop to the travelling expenses of witnesses called before the Senate and House committees. Telegraph and telephone bills, for instance, are paid from the contingent fund and Mir Fitzgerald says he has discovered that it is crying shame the way the fund is abused by those who claim to send official messages"
 | It is probable that the New York mem Der is right, if official business" is to | be strictly interpreted, but the mem  | dignation and swatted the Fitzgerald amendment to limit the telegraph. allow 1 ance. The opponents of the plan of the economical chairman of the appropriations committee said that members were forced to send a great many telegrams proper
 y labeled official business and they proposed the government should con- tinue to pay for them.
 The practice to which Mr. Fitzgerald referred in biting terms, however, was that of sending personal messages dis guised as official messages. There is a line of distinction between the purely official message a member is compelled to send because he happens to be a member of Congress and the message sent to boost his own game. But quite | a number of statesmen fail to see the distinction and they are decidedly averse to digging down for telegraph tolls at | the customary rates, The government l letter to his most powerful constituents. | is even cheaper than the night letter rate and a member can say great deal with comparatively little expense 1 to the government and absolutely none to himself.
 It is an open secret that many mem bers abuse the official business" mes sage. Suppose the gentleman from Osh- kosh has succeeded in getting a large appropriation for river in his district. He IS naturally eldteu ana WIlle ne might wait for the newspapers to trans init the news or might even write a letterto his most powerful constituents. | the member Is more apt to stroll over to | the telegraph office in the capitol corTi- | dors and ~.nd along a message like this: "Jno Smith, controller of votes. Oskbsh: :: House today passed river and harbors biu. Item of S1O0,0O0 for Deep Run river remained in the bill after a hard fight | waged by myself This is a great victory { for Oshkosh. Have this telegram posted | i'll the postoffce or read at meeting of 1 the board of trade and pass the word along that I succeeded in getting the item retained despite the opposition of a number of jealous members of the House who were disappointed in not getting their appropriations. Fearing that some of his other more 1 important constituents may feel pqued | in the event they do not also receive a telegram similar in purport to the one sent John Smith, the member runs his finger down the list and probably will duplicate the Smith telegram a half dozen | times to prominent citizens in his dis | trict.
 | In each instance the telegram Is mark | ed "offielal business" the member con- 1 tending that a part of his official duties consists in keeping the voters posted. The i government pays the bill. Suppose Senator desires to converse with another | Senator who happens to be out of town, l say during a recess of Congress, Sena- | tor Blank may be in San Francisco and | Senator Dash probably is in New York. | One Senator wires the other to know 1 if conference is possible at a midway point There is considerable dallying over the wires and finally the conference ! may be arranged Perhaps there is a bit of soficial business" talked over | ,.rI,1. sl,n ca1 hut il a ua n bet that 1t will be politics rather than business in which the nation Is inter ested
 However, you can hardly expect these Senators to pay for all this telegraphing out of their own pockets. In fact. they don't, for the annual report of the sec retary of the Senate contains a mum Der of items like this:
 Senator Blank to Senator Dash. tele- gram, 7s cents.'
 Members have become accustomed to using. the telegraph to keep their constituencies informed about 2, great many things and sometimes the official business privilege is used instead of a | letter in answering the query of. some constituent regarding the status of g. ' claim or a pension bill Prompt answers | of this character impress the constituent with the fact that his member is Ion | the job" and thoroughly alive to the interest of his people.
 Of course. there are scores of instances where the official business message Is entirely justified House and Senate committees summon witnesses call for information. summon absent members notify absent statesmen of the importance of being present for an important vote l in committee an1 so on. The House and Senate whips. in the face of an approach | ing contest Lp either body, frequently dispatch hurry up messages to members who have gone out of town and who must be recalled for the good of the party.
 | Mir Fitzgerald proposed that the con- tingent fund should not be used to pay | from the chairman of the House and 1 Senate committees, tho whips Of each body and the officers of each body. If | the amendment had carried all teiegrams of a quasi-personal nature would have been tabooed
 Despite Mir. Fitzgerad's statement that one member had sent a single mes
 sage costing sGO. and that another had | spent $250 in one month on messages
 not entitled to go as official business .
 the House sat upon the proposition of the chairman of the appropriations com l uittee. And so the "official business.' messages continue to pour in at the tele- groph offices
 The Only Dry Place