El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-11-29
Free Mail Is Heavy Burden
Government Gives S2O,OO0,0O Worth
of Free Nail Service Every
Year, Mostly TO Con-
Eressmen.
BY FrcGeric J. Haskin

sonable amount There are, generally
speaking, two kinds of mail carried
( free in the United States mails, that
/ which is RANKED by members of con-
gress, and that which is sent out
under penalty envelopes by the va
/ rious departments Of the government
| The main criterion in determining
whether mail matter has the right to
go free. is whether or not it is off
Certain personal mail matters arc
l allowed to be carried free in the
/ postal service Newspapers circulat-
! ing within the county of publication.
when ret addressed to letter carrier
! offices, are cglried free; state aSricpl
/ tural experiment. station reports and
/ bulletins enjoy free transit in the
mails, as do magazines carrying no
J advertising ma ter and printed IL
raised characters for the blind, and
books for the bnnd in transit betwe IN
libraries or between Libraries and
/ readers Any person who has any
I mutilated money that he wishes eX
changed for new mercy may have 1t
| REGISTERED free of charge when leturG-
I ing iU IL the 5n5- ed States treasury
/ although h must pay the ordinary
postage on it. All persons corresponding
Z with the census bureau or with any OF
! its officials on census business may
forward such mail free and the replies
/ of all persons to Official inquiries for
! information are entitled to go forward
4 free The widows of former presi-
/ dents of the United States are also en-
! titled to frank their mail with their
I autograph signatures.
Gives $29.GG0,0O0 Free Service
An investigation reveals the fact
! that the postoffice department an
nually renders free service to the ex-
tent of about $50, 100000 That amounts
! to over 20 cents for every man, woman
and child in the United States. The
actual cost of performing this service
IS estimated at a little over 10 cents
II : In he
aggregate. If Uncle sam had paid the
same postage last year for his own
mail that he charges the people, there
would have been left no room for ar
gument about postal deficits The
amount of free matter handled outside
of the official business OF the govern
ment is not so important. All told, in
GLIDING all free in county postage. it
would not amount to more than
100000 a year
Put Brakes On ConGrexsmen.
Ever since the pOStoffice investiga-
ton Of about half dozen years ago,
there has been tendency TO tighten
down on members Of congress who are
too free in the use of their ranking
privilege. In days gone by they could
send their typeWriters and office sup
plies by mall under a frank. and 1t is
asserted that some of them went even
further than this. Then the postoffice
department began to look into these
matters, and when a senator or a rep
box by mail under his frank. he was
invited to come down and pay for it
at the rate Of cents an ounce. Pay
ing for q 100 pound package at cents
an ounce is not very enjoyable. even
10 a member OF the senate or of the
house. and so the practice was soon
broken Up.
The principal difficulty in holding
down official mail is encountered more
with reference to legislative RANKED
mail than with reference to DEPART
mental penalty mail This is not the
result Of any superiority Of moral IL
Der in the departments over THAI IN
the capitol but due rather to the fact
that the limitations are more tightly
drawn with reference to departmental
mail than with reference to legislative
mall Much is left to the discretion
Of legislators, and they sometimes err
so much on the side of liberality in de-
termining what is official and what is
personal mail that the postOffice de-
partment has to intervene and tell
them where to draw the line. This is
rather unusual, however, since no
member Of the senate or house wants
TO be charged with misuse Of the mails.
They might, if they were willing to
make fight, have the law construed
according to their views. but the ad-
vantages they would reap would be in
significant in comparison to the scorn
to which they would be exposed if the
people thought they were trying to
beat the government out of a little
postage. Most senators and representa-
tives scrupulously observe the regula-
tons Of the department, whatever
their individual views on the subject.
How Congressman Work Schemes.
Not very long ago .. certain senator
was a candidate for reelection and he
proceeded to have a speech delivered
by him in the senate reprinted and
sent through the mails under his
frank, to the extent of many thousands
of copies. Thus far he was within the
10 h. rerf,A ~
home would like TO have a picture of
him, so he had q fine photogravure
made of himself and a copy enclosed
with each speech. The postoffice au-
thOrities held, that while he himself
was an official parsonage, that did not
render a picture of him an official
likeness, and he received notice to
come forward and pay postage on ali
this franked matter He did so with
alacrity. not desiring to be exposed to
the criticism that publicity concerning
his course would have involved
The law makes whatever goes into
the Congressional Record Official
and out of that grow many abuses of
the franked mail privilege. Here is a
case where some member Of congress
has standard work on political
economy reprinted in the Congressional
Record After that the work became
frankable, and the publishing house
sent copies out under a congressional
frank. Another case is that of some
Matched up some new scheme or an
other which he wants to give pub
licity. He gets his representative to
have it inserted in the Congressional
Record, and thereafter it may go out
postage free
The average weight Of ranked mail
was more per piece for franked con-
gressional mail than for departmental
penalty mail; however, about Il times
as many pounds of departmental mail
were handled as there was congress
sional mail The pOstoffice department
last year expressed the belief that be-
tween July L and November I. there
was carried in the mails no less than
100000 pounds OF speeches and other
public documents for the edification of
the Eoters-and that IL this had paid
ordinary postage rates. the total reve-
nues OF the government from it would
have amounted to more than S2,50O,000 I
There are those who believe that
with all the minor abuses that have
grown out Of the liberal use Of the (
congressional frank, it is to the advan-
tage of the country to have il as IN I
restricted as the judgment Of indivld-
ual users OF the frank want it. In this I
day OF actual popular interest in the i
affairs of the government, when peo- I
pie are sincerely trying to vote their /
sentiments instead of in hidebound !
partisan way, anything that helps to I
place the political situation before 4