New Britain herald., 1917-09-24
Especial to the Herald)

Bill have agreed on the provisions of the Lonergan Bill incorporated there | in:
 MT. Lonergans remarks follow:
 What Inspired Him.
 MT. Speaker, on July 30, 1917, I in troduced in the House of Representa- tives a bill providing that hereafter, under such rules and regulations as the postmaster general may prescribe, duly certified frst-class mail matter of the soldiers, sailors and marines in the service of the United States shall during the existence of the present war, be forwarded to their destination without payment of any postage what ever.
 was prompted, in introducing this bill, by two motives: First, l thought that when a nation asks it's citizenry to leave it's accustomed paths of life and enter camps to be trained for the duties of war it should in every way possible, mitigate this sudden transi
 tion from peace to arms by arranging it so that the men called could at least keep up communication with those who hold most dear with as lit tie difficulty as possible; and, second, when our allies had been so generous to their own troops as to extend to them the free use of the mail and when even the Government of the Re- public of France had granted the priv ilege of it's mail gratis to American troops, it occurred to me that we should not neglect to do for our men what our brothers in arms had a1 ready in a generous way begun.
 "Men who have been through the campaigns of war-and there are many such in this House-tell us that there is no more welcome treat for a warrior on the battlefield than to re- ceive tidings from home, and it needs no imagination to picture the joy that comes to every household when the mailman brings a line to anxious rel atives from the men called to the col ors.
 Above the picturesque portals of the new post office building, in this city, are the legends which greet the new arrival and leave happy sentl- ment in the minds of departing travel CTS, that letter is messenger o1 sympathy and love-, servant Of part ed friends 'consOler of the lonely. inc bond of the scattered family, the 'enlarger of the common life. If a let ter is all this in peace, how much moro in war? We owe it in all justice in all honor, in all sympathy. and in all
 n,triotism. to extend to our boys in the service for the present emergency the use of the mail facilities of the
 government, with no thought of fin
 ancial return, The delays in writing
 home that such a plan would obviate, tbe inconvenience of seeking stamps in the field that it would eliminate. and the good feeling it would inspire all around would do much to Keep the morale of the troops consistent with the high ideals of the service. .The function of only a simple let ter. at times, may be more glorious than the message of a king, and may bring to an apprehenslve heart more iov than the visit of monarch at inc home of his most humble subject. Practical, As Well.
 "While the sentimental reasons for passing this bill at once suggest them selves, the measure has in it every | thing of the practical 1t will un- | doubtedlv serve to increase the num- 1 Der of letters the men will be likely l to write home. And increasing the ] number of letters will mean that the 1 American people will be kept con- 1 tinuallv informed And the better
 informed the people, the more surely ] will they stand firm until the purposes l for which we fight are accomplished,
 until autocracy shall have learned to l listen, until democracy shall have 1 been made secure.
 ",rhe bill must not be allowed to l die quitely in pigeonhole. It is 1 not enough that the soldiers and sail ] ors be allowed to write home as in 1 the time of the Civil War, marking l their letters as Soldiers Mail and 1 having them paid for on delivery. It l is not enough that this proposed meas ] ure. as was the case with a similar l measure advocated during the Span l h-American war, when the Fifty l fifth Congress was in session, be dis l cussed and postponed, and dlcussed ! and postponed again, until finally 1t Is
 talked in a desultory fashion into l oblivion It should be enacted into ] law, and quickly.
 1 "Our allies have not been backward l in granting similar privileges to their
 enlisted men. M Jusserand, the l French ambassador, informs me under ! date of August 3, 1917, that In &C.,
 cordance with a law of April 27 and l a decree of May 2, 1915, the families, 1 members of which are at the front, l and who receive the usual grant, owing
 to their being in want, are allowed to l send, once a month to each of their
 relatives at the army, a registered 1 parcel of 1 kilogram, the conveying l of which is free.
 l "'In accordance with the law of | June 23 and of the decree of June l "A, 1916, al! mobilized men of France l have the right during the months Of 1 June and of November, to send, free