146 



CRESS, UNITED STATES. 



provide for the transmission of official docu- 

 ments and other public mntt< r. 



The .juvct ii 'ii was on agreeing to the motion, 

 and, on being taken, resulted ai follows : 



YIA Meaara. Alcorn, Boreman, Buckingham, 

 Cole, Onkling, Corbett, Ferry of Connecticut, rlan- 

 agan, FwUngtUTaen, lUmli'n, HarUn, Hitchcock, 

 Klly, MoriiiB of Maine, Morrill of Vermont. Pattr- 

 oo.VraU, Kamaey, bohura, Soott, Sherman, bpngue, 

 Suwart, Stockton, Thunuan, Weal, Wilson, \VLU- 

 dom, and Wright . 



N*T Meaars. Amen, Bayard, Carpenter. Ed- 

 munds, Hamilton of Maryland, Hill, Johnston, Lewis, 

 Machen, Norwood, Pool, RoberUon, and Stevenson 

 11. 



ABBOT Moaara. Anthony, Blair, Brownlow, Cald- 

 wcll, Cameron, CaaMrly .Chandler, Clayton, ( 

 Cratfin, Daris.Fenton, Ferry of Michigan, GHK'rt, 

 Goldtbwaite, Hamilton of Texas, Howe, l.o k 'an, Mor- 

 ton, Nye, Otborn, Pomeroy, liansom, Kiev, Sauls- 

 bury, Sawyer, Bpenoer, Suium-r, Tiptoe, Trumbull, 

 and Viokera Jl. 



So flu 1 motion was agreed to ; and the Pen- 

 ate, as in Committee of the Whole, proceeded 

 to consider the bill to abolish the franking priv- 

 ilege and to provide for the transmission of 

 official documents and other public matter. 



The firat section abolished the franking priv- 

 ilege from and after the 1st day of July, 1873, 

 and declared that thenceforth all official cor- 

 respondence, of whatever nature, and other 

 mailable matter sent from or addressed to any 

 officer of the (iovi-mment, or person now au- 

 thorized to frank such matter, should bo charge- 

 able with the same rates of postage as may bo 

 lawfully Imposed upon like matter sent by or 

 addressed to other persona, 



The second section provided that there 

 should be prepared and issued by the Post- 

 Office Department to the President of the 

 Vnitcd States, to each head of Department, 

 and to the Secretary of the Senate and the 

 Clerk of the House of Representatives, proper 

 stamps, which should print or impress the 

 name of the Department or officer using the 

 tame, respectively, and the nature of the mat- 

 ter to be sent thereunder, as " Department of 

 iterior. Mechanical Report," "Executive 

 it's Message," and the like, and 

 the date or other proper device, as the Post- 

 man' il may direct, which st 



1 t>ythe Department or officer to 

 whom the same may be Issued, respectively, 

 for the purpose of stamping all books, 

 Mients, and other official matter ll 

 from -i.-h Department or oft: i\ely. 



including in the use of the same, by the Sec- 

 retary of ,nd Cl. rk of th,'. House of 

 Bepresentative*. nil reports mid other docu- 

 ment* printed In- order f their 

 IIrm<-. Such stamps shall be nwd for no 

 other purpose* than that stated, and all t 

 so Umped shall thereupon pass through the 

 mail* without requiring further stamps or 

 charge, and th. '1 l,,,,,k-. docu- 

 ment*, nnd other public matter so stomped shall 

 be charged by ..,. ] i. ,, :ir t n ,. 

 the Department or office iwraing the same, 



respectively, and the amount so charged shall 

 be defrayed by such Departments and officers 

 out of appropriations to be made therefor by 

 Congress as part of the incidental expenses of 

 the Government. 



Section three provided for the punishment 

 of any person who should forge or conn: 

 any such official posture-stamp or stamping- 

 nmchinc, or who should counterfeit any die or 

 plate therefor, or who should make or print, or 

 knowingly use or sell, or have in his possession 

 with intent to use or sell any such false, toured. 

 or counterfeit die-plate, stamp, or stninping- 

 machine, or any paper wrapper or envelope 

 stamped by any falsed, forged, or counterfeit die- 

 plate, postage-stamp, or stamping-machine, or 

 who should authorize or procure to he made 

 any such official die-plate, stamp, or Btamping- 

 machine, without the special direction of the 

 Post-Office Department, or who. after the same 

 have been prepared, should, with intent to de- 

 fraud the revenue of the Post-Office Depart- 

 ment, deliver nny such official dies, plates, 

 stamps, or stamping-machined, to any person 

 or persons other than such as should he author- 

 ized to receive the same, by instrument of writ- 

 ing duly executed under the hand of the Post- 

 master-General and the seal of the Post-Office 

 Department, 



Mr. MorriU, of Vermont : " I desire to offer 

 an amendment, to come in after line twenty- 

 seven, on page 2, as a proviso : 



Provided, That no compensation or allowance shall 

 now or hen-iifter be miulc to Senators, or members 

 and Delegates of the House of Representatives, on 

 account of postage. 



" If this was really an earnest attempt to abol- 

 ish the franking privilege, there should be some 

 appropriate legislation in relation to what is 

 to be done to take its place. Now, I appre- 

 hend that most Senators who vote for the bill 

 are doing it in im entirely disinterested manner, 

 nnd that they mean to lessen the expenditures 

 of the Government in consequence of this bill, 

 and if they do so mean, then it is not the pur- 

 pose hereafter to support an amendment that 

 will give each one of us two or three times the 

 amount of postage that we pay out. 



"I therefore oiler this amendment, taking it 

 for granted that the Senators who vote against 

 it reserve to themselves the privilege of ol, tain- 

 ing compensation that certainly is an equiva- 

 lent and perhaps more than an equivalent for 

 it, and if they do vote for it, then hereafter 

 they will oppose all propositions to put money 

 In their pockets in consequence of the abolition 

 of the franking privilege. 



M>. I lamlin, of Maine, said : " I do not think 

 the amendment of my friend from Vermont 

 will prove very effective. Whenever a Con- 

 grew subsequent to this shtill sec fit to appro- 

 priate money to pay its own postage it will do 

 so, and what will become of the Senator's 

 amendment? It is an unnecessary amend- 

 ment. 



" I want to call the attention of the Senate 



