thus relieving those gentlemen from the toils of a correspondence as irksome as it is useless? If business should require, no man will hesitate to pay his two cents to obtain or impart information connected with his own interests. In the debate which took place in the British Parliament when the penny postage, prepayment, and the abolition of the franking privilege were adopted, in 1839, Mr. Francis Baring, a member of the celebrated firm of Baring Brothers, of London, said:

"Undoubtedly we may lose the opportunity now and then of obliging a friend; but on other grounds, I believe there is no member of the House who will not be ready to abandon the privilege. As to any notion that honorable gentlemen should retain their privilege under a penny postage, they must have a more intense appreciation of money and a greater disregard of the value of time than I can conceive, if they insist on it. As to official franking, my idea is, that, with some few exceptions, which may be considered hereafter, the business of the departments ought to be conducted on the principle that each shall pay its own postage. I am aware that it may be said this will practically amount to taking money out of one pocket and putting it into another; but I think it will tend greatly to diminish the amount of postage paid in these offices, if each is called upon to include that postage in its own contingenc es."

In the same debate Sir R. H. Inglis-a high tory, if the committee are not mistaken-denounced the scheme, as "a plan in itself for the benefit of the great traders. He thought it was introduced partly on political grounds, to gain popularity, but mainly for the purpose of benefiting great mercantile houses. Before the franking privilege was limited, they had heard it was worth to a mercantile house three hundred to eight hundred pounds a year: at present it could not be worth less than three hundred pounds. The great advantage, therefore, which this plan held out to mercantile houses, was the cause of the numerous petitions which had emanated from them, and of the meeting at the Mansion House two or three weeks ago. He did not see why, because a tax was to be taken off others, a tax was to be imposed on members. It would be, to those who had much correspondence, at least fifteen pounds a year at the reduced rate of a penny a letter. The saving to the revenue would be so very small, that he hoped the House would not consent to rescind that privilege.'

Sir Robert Peel, on the other hand, "did not think it desirable that members of this House should retain their privilege of franking. He thought if this were to be continued after this bill came into operation, there would be a degree of odium attached to it which would greatly diminish its value. He agreed that it would be well to restrict in some way the right of sending by mail the heavy volumes of reports, and said there were many members who would shrink from the privilege to load the mail with books. He would also require that each department should specially pay the postage incurred for the public service in that department. If every office be called upon to pay its own postage, we shall introduce a useful principle into the public service. There is no habit so inveterate connected with a public office as the franking privilege."

These remarks, as the committee think, apply as well in this country as in England, and even better.

On the subject of the franking privilege, as far as details are concerned, the committee would respectfully refer the Senate to Postmaster General Collamer's report, 1849; Postmaster General Johnson's report, 1848; Senate

committee's report in 1844, by Hon. Mr. Merrick; Mr. Dana's report, House of Representatives, first session twenty-eighth Congress; Postmaster General Wickliff's report, 1842; Hon. J. M. Niles's, 1840; Mr. Kendall's report, in 1836; Mr. Plitt's report, 1840; and Postmaster General Barry's report, 1834 The following table shows the condition of the department during the years 1843 and 1849, and proves conclusively that the reduction which took place in 1845 has, even under the numerous disadvantages arising out of the credit system and the franking privilege, been attended by the most salutary consequences.

If, under existing circumstances, the mail service has more than sustained itself in all respects, what may not be anticipated when the burdens imposed on behalf of the other departments of the government shall have been removed? It may, and probably will be the case, that for a year or two the revenue of the department will be somewhat diminished; but the experiment of Great Britain has clearly demonstrated that, should such be the case, the deficiency will be of short duration. The opponents of the measure will probably ask, "How is this deficiency to be supplied in the mean while?" A ready answer to the question is at hand. Let the deficiency be met by the reimbursement to the Post Office Department of at least a small portion of the millions contributed to the national treasury since the commencement of the government in the form of cash and gratuitous service. There can certainly be no hardship in paying money which should have been paid as it became due. If there should be a

deficiency for a few years, will not gentlemen be willing to appropriate from the treasury as much as will be required to carry the blessings of knowledge to their constituencies, wherever they may be situated within our wide domain? But there is good reason to believe that, the service being relieved from the cost of extra clerks, losses on dead letters, and the transportation of matter gratuitously, there will be more than sufficient revenue to meet the expenditures of the department.

It may be asked why the charge of two cents for each half ounce has been adopted in preference to all others? The question is answered by stating that the committee were governed in this matter by the facts that it is the price asked for by the people of the United States; that in Great Britain, where the cost of transportation is much greater in proportion than in this country, the penny postage has been found adequate to the end. Another reason, which had its influence with the committee, was a desire upon their part to adopt the lowest rate that was likely to meet the end in view, and this rate, they believe, while it will facilitate and encourage business and social intercourse, will, as a permanent measure, fully meet the expenditures of the Post Office establishment. If it be objected that there is no coin in general circulation sufficiently small to pay this postage, the objection sinks into utter insignificance when it is remembered that stamps of two cents each can and will be used, instead of the five and ten-cent stamps at present furnished at all the large post offices in the country. Your committee wish to see the mail travelling by every man's door, and the poor, as well as the rich, participating in the delight of receiving intelligence from distant friends and relatives. They long to behold the prevalence of knowledge throughout the land, and to witness its blessings everywhere. If the service could be performed free of charge, they would prefer it; but as that is impossible, they wish to come as near it as may be. It is their earnest desire that in our happy country, intelligence may be as widely diffused as the sun light of heaven, or the air we breathe. If there ever was a time peculiarly fitted for the adoption of the reform in question, it is the pres

ent.

Our people happy and prosperous in all the walks of life-our country at peace with all the world, and enjoying to an extent unequalled in the history of the human race the blessings which free institutions can alone bestow, and marching onward in the path of true greatness with a giant's stride that startles while it commands the admiration of the nations of the Old World-all we require to reach the proudest eminence among civilized nations--an eminence not to be reached by achievements on the battle field, or victories won over an enemy's flag-is to develop the infinite resources which an overruling Providence seems to have treasured up for thousands of years on this vast continent, to supply the wants and minister to the enjoyment of a great race of freemen. And to succeed in this, we need only carry out the great principles contained in our national charter, and to encourage in its true spirit the spreading of knowledge and intelligence to every hamlet and cabin in the land.

The people from all quarters of the Union ask for this; and your committee say let them have it, unobstructed and unimpeded by the clouds of ancient prejudices or distinctions, unworthy of the high destiny of this great republic.

The committee respectfully recommend the passage of the accompanying bill.

1st Session.

No. 149.

IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

JUNE 8, 1550.

Submitted, and ordered to be printed.

Mr. BORLAND made the following

REPORT:

The Committee on Printing report that, on the 15th April, the following resolution was referred to them:

"Resolved, That the Committee on Printing be instructed to inquire and report to the Senate, whether the payment of twelve thousand five hundred dollars for printing ten thousand copies of the opinions of the Supreme Court in the cases ، Smith vs. Turner, and ، Norris vs. the City of Boston,' making a pamphlet of one hundred and eighty-one pages, made since the last session of the Senate, was made in pursuance of the existing laws on the subject of printing; and if it was, under what class of printing, as classified in the proposals for doing the public printing of Congress, the said pamphlet falls, and how much of the printing of the present Congress will have to be paid for at such rates."

That on the 3d May the committee received from the printer, Mr. William M. Belt, a voluntary communication, with a statement of the alleged grounds upon which the amount for the document in question was made out; which statement was submitted to the Secretary of the Senate, and, in a letter of the 8th May, assumed by him as embracing the grounds upon which that amount was allowed and paid.

The committee being thus in possession of the grounds of the charge, allowance, and payment, for this document, took up the existing laws on the subject of printing, and inquired, in obedience to their instructions, whether the payment was made in pursuance of these laws.

In the opinion of the committee, the contract made with the printer, under these laws, furnishes the legal rule for ascertaining the amount to be paid for this document. It came under the fifth class of printing; and recourse must be had to the contract for that class, to ascertain the legal amount to be paid.

The statement of the printer assumes the insertion of the words "per page" in the last clause of part C of the contract for the fifth class of printing. Upon examination, however, these words are not found to be either expressed or implied, in the clause referred to. This being the fact, the true allowance for the whole 10,000 copies of the document, under this view of the case, as admitted by the printer in the statement referred to, would be $200. But under his alleged construction, by which the words "per page" are to be interpo. lated and "understood," he claims that the allowance should be $2