720 CONGEESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



Mr. Morrill. Only one word. Earlj- in this session we determined 

 to urrest the publication of public documents, and I thinlc properly. 

 I am not going to say whether it is true or not, fo-r on that I have my 

 own opinions, and they may not be in harmony with the public sense 

 on that subject; but one thing is clear, that from one consideration 

 or another, within the last few years, a very general impression or 

 sentiment or conviction has come to obtain in the public mind that 

 the publication of documents by the Congress of the United States 

 had become a very great al)use. It took a variety of forms. It was 

 an abuse under the franking privilege which overloaded the mails. 

 It was an expense in many ways, and it was a corruption in itself. 

 That is a deep-seated and thorough conviction in the public mind, 

 right or wrong, and I think the Senate of the United States was wise 

 when, at the beginning of this session, it said it would pause in the 

 publication and distribution of documents, for the present at ieast, 

 until some wise determination could be come at. 



Now, it may be that the views of my colleague render this an excep- 

 tional case, and it is a proper thing, possibly, to publish the reports 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, being of a scientific character, so far 

 as relates to itself; but this resolution provides for their publication 

 for distribution, and certainly it ought not to apply to that. We do 

 not want these reports for distribution. We have no means of dis- 

 tributing them. At any rate, to that extent 1 submit to my colleague 

 that this is certainly within the inhibition of the resolution of the 

 Senate. If there is no special objection, therefore, I should like to 

 have this resolution lie over until to-morrow. 



Mr. F. T. Frelinghuysen. I wish to say a word on this subject. 



Mr. Morrill. I withdraw the motion, to allow the Senator to do so. 



Mr. Frelinghuysen. I have only a word to say. I shall vote for 

 the resolution to print this report, and I will vote for any resolution 

 to print the proceedings of Congress. 1 think this idea of isolating 

 the Congress of the United States from the people is a very foolish 

 one. As to economy, I think it is an illustration of that wise saying 

 that "there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to 

 poverty." The people of my State write to me every day for copies 

 of the Agricultural Report, which contains most A'alualile information 

 to the farmers of the country, and the}" can not be obtained. The 

 books are ready to be printed, but their printing is stopped; and 

 we are keeping the proceedings of Congress here as a close corpora- 

 tion from the people. I introduced a bill providing that these public 

 documents should be circulated, the postage in no event to be more 

 than 25 cents a volume, and not requiring prepayment, and authoriz- 

 ing the documents to be sold if they were not called for within ten 

 days. That bill has not been reported from the Committee on Post- 

 Offices and Post-Koads. 



