The Washington herald., 1919-03-31

IhlS ILLUSTRATION IN MIND, that lndt- |
Tdual Congressman csl easily abuse |
their franhng privilege to the extent |
of s1.O0o.O0o a year.
founT another member of Con- |
GresS no conceived the idea of in |
fIencing public opinion against pre-
paredness by delivering speeches in |.
Congress abusing the President and |.
playing the German game-I do not /
contend that this member received |
any German gold for delivering these /.
speeches, but I do rfaintain that he !
earned 1t. These speeches were print |
ed at government expense; they were
franked out to German peace societies
at government expense; and then, I'm !
addition, franked envelopes were in |
cluded so that the German peace So |
cieties could in turn send them with |
out expense to any individuals whom |
they thought fit subjects to influence |
by such propaganda. Can you inn |
agine a more devilish scheme of un-
dermining the morale of the people |
at eheir own expense. compelling
them to dig their own graves, so to |,
speak? On the outside of the en-
velope that this Congressional mem
Der utilized for this purpose l find
the following notation:
Preparedness. Let the truth be told. |
Public opinion must settle this ques-
tion in the end, and there can be no
public opinion of the question until
the public knows. the truth. The
metropolitan newspapers and maga-
zines, with few exceptions. have de-
Clined to state both sides of the ques-
ton. The effort seems to have been
to stampede the public into hasty ac-
ton. out with the truth. No great
question like this can be determined
without the facts.
How many American boys are lying
out on Flanders Field stiff and stark
today as a result of such devilish
pTopag aganda delivered in the National
House of Representatives and mailed
into the homes of our citizens urging
upon them the wisdom of combating
a wild beast with gentle Caresses and
total unpreparedness?
1 have in mind a gentleman more
ambitious, perhaps, than others for
the intellectual development of his
constituents by way of readipg Gov
ernment literature, who has been
storing up every conceivable kind OF
Government literature for the past two
years and who now has two rooms
full. l suppose his idea is to literally
flood his district at about election
time. Personally 1 never before ap-
preciated what the term flood the
district meant. Apparently it means
that literature printed at the expense
of the people and transported at the
expense of the people shall fall upon
it like the gentle rain from heaven
You map recall that in 1908 a COM
mission, consisting of Charles f.
Hughes, A Lawrence Lowell, and
Harry A. Wheeler. reported that mail
franked out by Congress weighed A.
5Sl $50 pounds, representing 9W7, 7,5Ii
separate pieces. The total weight OF
all first-class mail for the whole Coun-
try that year was 157, ,502,6lO pounds.
Considering congressional franlcd
mail as first class, which is only fair,
as it goes out sealed, one gets an
astounding comparison. The mail
franked out of Congress in 1908
amounted in pounds to more than one
fOrtieth of that of the whole maii of
the United States of America. My
investigation would lead me to believe
that the output of congressional
franked mail has more than doubled
since that time.
Postmaster General Hitchcock, in
his annual report for 1903, states as
follows:
The unrestricted manner in which
the franking privilege is now being
used by the several Federal services
and by Congress has laid it open
to serious abuses, a fact clearly cs-
tabfished through Investigations re-
Gently instituted by the Depart
ment. While it has been impossible.
without a better control of frank
ing. to determine the exact expense
to the government of this practice,
there can be no doubt that it an
nually reaches into the millions. 1t
is believed that many abuses of the
ranking system could be prevented.
and consequently a marked economy
effected, by supplying through the
agencies of the Postal Service. spe-
cial official envelopes and stamps to
be issued on requisition to the va
rious branches of the Federal serv-
ice requiring them and such records
to be kept of official stamp supplies
as will enable the Post Once De-
partment to maintain a proper pos
tage account covering the entire
volume of free government mail.
The different ways in which the
frank is abused demonstrates the
essential secrecy of the system and
it's personal and political uses con-
denim it in themselves. A fine of
5000 is imposed for the personal use
of the frankingprivilege, and yet
congressman violate the law with
impunity. The suggestion made by
Postmaster General Hitchcock in
1910 would seem to be a good one
as a starting point. Certainly the
overshadowing element of personal
and party politics should be elimi-
mated and the use of the frank re-
stricted to public affairs. There
should be the fullest publicity with
reference to franking. 1 would re-
quire each Congressman to append
note to each speech or document
sent out, stating the number being
mailed and all other essential facts, |
and beyond question there should |
be some commission or committee |
representing the Postofflce Depart
ment to see that Congressman them |
selves obey both the letter and the
spirit of the law.
Members of Congress in some in
staQceS have Voluntarily suhvpitta5