140 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



with those who are to remain here. But I 

 can not forbear making a remark. 



" The franking privilege was taken away be- 

 cause it was so flagrantly abused. If there had 

 never been any abuse of that privilege, it never 

 would have been taken away. It was really 

 misnamed a privilege ; that is, in the sense of 

 being a privilege of the members of Congress. 

 It was the privilege of the people far more 

 than of any member of Congress. It enabled 

 the people to receive what they otherwise 

 would not have received, in the form of docu- 

 ments and other information of the workings 

 and doings of the Government. It was the 

 people's privilege, and not the privilege of the 

 members of Congress. But it was flagrantly 

 abused, and when I say that I speak with some 

 knowledge op the subject and do not let any- 

 body suppose that I am going to make a con- 

 fession, for I am not conscious that I ever did 

 abuse it myself but it was so flagrantly abused 

 that there was a demand, and I believe both 

 political parties had a sort of struggle with 

 each other who could go the farthest in advo- 

 cating the repeal of that privilege. 



" Some years ago (I will not say what year 

 it was, but it was the year of a presidential 

 election) I was passing, in the recess of Con- 

 gress, through one of the corridors of this Capi- 

 tol, and seeing three or four hundred people at 

 work, sending off all sorts of matter, I asked a 

 friend of mine, the chairman of the committee 

 under whom these men were working, ' Won't 

 you give me one of those bundles that you 

 have put up there, and let me see what kind 

 of food you are sending off to the people ? ' 

 ' Why, certainly,' said be, and he told one of 

 them, 'Give Mr. Thurman one of those bun- 

 dles. 5 He gave it to me and I have it yet, and 

 I could show that it contained not one single 

 line of f rankable matter ; and furthermore, that 

 in the case of one man whose frank appeared 

 upon it, it was written in four different hand- 

 writings, showing that four different clerks 

 had been writing that man's name, and that 

 man, as I know, was not less than five hun^ 

 dred miles from this Capitol at that time." 



Mr. Logan : " At the time the law was re- 

 pealed, it was done at the dictation of a few 

 newspapers of the country and of a Postmas- 

 ter-General, who sent out instructions to every 

 postmaster in the United States to have a peti- 

 tion signed and sent to Congress to repeal the 

 law, and the postmasters were instructed to 

 get names to these petitions. That was the 

 way it came to be stricken from the statute- 

 book, and it was not for the reason assigned 

 by the Senator from Ohio." 



Mr. Thurman : " Has the Senator never 

 heard of the speech of a distinguished mem- 

 ber of the Government made to his constit- 

 uents, a political speech ? " 



Mr. Logan : " I have heard of many of that 

 kind." 



Mr. Thurman : " Of one that was sent, as it 

 was stated in the newspapers, by thousands 



and hundreds of thousands under the official 

 frank of a department ? " 



Mr. Logan : " What has that got to do 

 with official communications from the depart- 

 ments ? " 



Mr. Thurman : " I should say that was an 

 abuse of the privilege." 



Mr. Conkliug : " That was under the law as 

 it stands now." 



Mr. Garland, of Arkansas : " Mr. President, 

 so far as the principle of the resolution is con- 

 cerned, as I understand it, I indorse it ; for, in 

 brief, I think that Senators and Represent- 

 atives ought to be entitled to the franking 

 privilege upon all official business sent through 

 the mails by them. But this subject is like 

 most other subjects, the more it is considered 

 the larger it grows. I once heard a soldier 

 say as to the beef they got in the army, that 

 the more they chewed it the thicker it got; so 

 the more we masticate this subject the larger 

 it seems to get. 



u The joint resolution proposes to make an 

 addition to a regulation that already exists. It 

 would necessarily form a portion, either by an 

 addition or an amendment of some character, 

 of the postal laws that now exist in the United 

 States. I am in favor of the Committee on 

 Post-Offices and Post-Roads taking the joint 

 resolution and incorporating its theory in the 

 present existing laws and modifying it further, 

 and in their .own good time reporting it back 

 to the Senate. In the first place the existing 

 law provides that 



" Senators, Representatives, and Delegates in Con- 

 gress, the Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of the 

 House of Representatives may send and receive through 

 the mail free all public documents printed by order of 

 Congress ; and the name of each Senator, Representa- 

 tive, Delegate, Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of 

 the House shall be written thereon, with the proper 

 designation of the office he holds, and the provisions 

 of this section shall apply to each of the persons 

 named herein until the first Monday of December 

 following the expiration of their respective terms of 

 office. 



" There is one provision in reference to con- 

 gressional documents. Then there is a provis- 

 ion relating to the Agricultural Department, 

 as to how Senators and Representatives may 

 transmit seeds, etc.. through the mails. Then 

 we have the ' Congressional Record ' and ex- 

 tracts from that, which go free : 



" The ' Congressional Record,' or any part thereof, 

 or speeches or reports therein contained, shall, under 

 the frank of a member of Congress, or Delegate, to be 

 written by himself, be carried in the mail free of post- 

 age under such regulations as the Postmaster-General 

 may prescribe. 



" That by the laws is put under regulations 

 to be prescribed by the Postmaster-General. 

 Now, we have gone further, and provided 

 that letters, etc., on Government business may 

 go free : 



" It shall be lawful to transmit through the mail, 

 free of postage, any letters, packages, or other mat- 

 ters relating exclusively to the business of the Gov- 

 ernment oflthe United "States : Provided, That every 



