CONGRESS DUPED BY THE EXPRESS COMPANIES. 
The People Pay Double Postage for the Benefit of the Express Companies. 
The last Congress, at its last session, in the dark hours of midnight, perpetrated an outrage upon 
he people that, alike for deception, dishonesty and general meanness, has seldom been equaled. 
The law permitted merchandise to be carried through the mails at eight cents a pound, in pack¬ 
ages of four pounds, and no law in our statute books was more popular or a greater blessing to 
the people. It enabled the pioneers on our frontiers, who are doing so much to enrich our coun¬ 
try and make the wilderness blossom, to obtain books and seeds and any little articles needed in 
the pursuit of their business or for the comfort of their families at a trifling cost over that paid by 
the people of our large cities and villages, and thus did much to lighten the hardships of pioneer 
life. It brought the remote corners of our land and the commercial centers into close connection, 
for the benefit of all. Tens of thousands of places never visited by an express agent were weekly 
receiving through the mails articles of necessity and luxury, and the hardy farmers on our western 
prairies rejoiced, and the hearts of their wives and daughters were made glad. 
This cheap postage was a blessing without any compensating evil. The postage more than 
paid the Government, for the mail carriers instead of carrying empty bags only had them well 
filled, without much, if any, additional trouble to the carriers or expense to the Government. 
Who would not have thought such a happy state of things safe from attack ; certainly from change? 
The Express Companies , however, were watching with their hawk-eyes, longing for an opportu¬ 
nity, and seeking for tools to crush the whole system. Of course, many packages were carried at 
a low rate by mail, that the express companies would like to have had in their charge, so that they 
might have exacted from the people three or four times what the work was worth. So these 
•companies employed lobby agents and besieged Congress all through the last session, stating that 
their receipts were lessened several hundred thousands of dollars a year by this system of cheap 
postage on merchandise. This may be true; but we do not know that the American people are 
bound to tax themselves to keep up the receipts of the express companies to their maximum, or 
that it is the duty of Congressmen to heed the petitions and prayers of these princely express beg¬ 
gars. If they wish to go into the begging business, there are plenty of vacant corners where they 
•can hold a hat or a tin pan, and hand-organs are not very costly; and educated monkeys are to 
be had for the seeking, we presume, and at no very great price. The grandest palaces in the 
land, the most extensive and elegant grounds, and the most luxurious stables, are in the hands 
•of these express men, and yet they whine around Congressmen to obtain special favors to benefit 
themselves and injure the whole country. 
In the second number of the Guide last year we warned our readers that an effort would be 
made by the express companies to obtain a change in the postage laws, that money would be used 
freely, and that it would be well for the people to watch their representatives. We knew this 
from the fact that foolish statements were beginning to appear in the papers that the mails were 
burdened and delayed by merchandise; that the deficiency would be unusally great, and that 
•some one had received a horned toad through the mails, and another person a box of bees — all 
•designed to cover an attack upon the system of cheap postage. These charges induced Mr. 
Bangs, the Superintendent of Railway Service, to make a thorough investigation, and as the 
result, published a report, showing that the deficiency of postal revenue was not chargeable to the 
•carrying of merchandise, and that it did not burden or delay the mails. He also showed that for 
every three hundred thousand pounds of third-class matter carried in the mails, not more than 
twenty-five thousand pounds (or one-twelfth) were merchandise. Not entirely disheartened, 
however, on the 23d day of February, an attempt was made in the Senate to restrict all packages 
of merchandise to twelve ounces. It did not, however, succeed, as it was so evidently inspired 
by the lobby agents of the express companies as to disgust the better class of Senators. We 
regret to say, however, that the following Senators, who ought to have known better and acted 
better, voted as the express companies wished them, and against the best interests of their con¬ 
stituents : 
Messrs. Bayard, Conkling, Conover, Davis, Dorsey, Eaton, Goldthwaitc, Hamilton (Maryland), Hamilton, 
(Texas), Hamlin, Johnston, Kelly, McCrecry, Merryman, Norwood, Pratt, Saulsbury, Stevenson, Stockton, 
Thurman and Wadleigh. 
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