Show II I USUAL IN POSTOFFICE Compelled t to Ca Carry Mis Mils Fee Free for Other Branches of the Government NEW PLAN IN PHILIPPINES FRANKING PRIVIlEGE HAS BEEN ABOLISH ED Special to The Herald Washington D C March postal administration of the Philippines has taken the step advocated so 50 strong strongly ly by Edward C Madden third assist assistant assistant ant for the United States government towi the frk frank lug ing privilege has been entirely abol abolished abolIshed on te the islands ad and every piece of mal mail wh whether ter private or official must bear a a postage stamp The motives actuating the insular government in taking this step steD were the tat that suggested to General Maden Madden the desirability of abolishing the franking privilege in the United States a deficit in the postal bureau Te The Philippine officials were satisfied that at te the postal Dostal department of the Isi islands ands would take care of itself provided it could be bc placed on a business basIs Under the old regime vast quantities of official mal mail ws was being transported and handled rom whIch 10 revenue wa was derived the mater matter simply bore the usual penalty card and was as car carried ned ried free Stamps Now Affixed The Insular bureau is in n a sense a law to itel itself ad and ha has authority to han ban handIe bandie dIe it Its postal affairs according to the desires of te the department without in invoking yoking legislation by congress The postal department wear weary of it its regu regula regular la lar anual annual deficit and the unfavorable coment comment tat that naturally followed tok took te the mater matter into it Its ow own hands and Is 15 Issued sued an order that hereafter aU all man mall manof mallof of the isula Insular government must carry the requIsite stamps The order went ent into effect nd te the various bureaus of ofte te the insular government are paying their good money to the postoffice de department of the island and afing affixing postage stamps to eer every piece of mai mall deposited In tile the office whether i It be do domestic or foreign mi miNot mail Not Losing Anything The method employed Is this The bureaus pf the insular government buy quantities of various denominations and with a rubber stamp overprint them wih with te the initials 0 B which signifies official business Money Ioney to purchaSe the stamps Is taken from the insular treasury paid to the postal de department whIch in turn deposits the money in te the Insular treasury I It is literally a ce case of taking money out of one pocket and putting It into an another another other yet et i It enables the postal depart department department ment to obtain credit for the business it actually does and requIres the other departments to charge themselves wih with legitimate expense Tile The insular gov a whole has not mae made nor lost a cent beyond the actual cost of printing the postage stamps which is about 10 cent cents per 1000 stamps Would Shift the Burden In Ids his anual annual report to to congress Gen General General eral Madden recommended that the franking privilege be abolished and of and officials that members congress ad in the departments be required to affix poste postage stamps to al all mai mail sent out out He proposed that specific which cover the amount of the tons cost of the stamps used by members of congress and the departments in of official cal cial correspondence or for prepayment nt of postage on documentary mal mail It was not expected that this scheme would result result In ay any net saving to the government but i it would enable the e department to wipe out its annual deficit or about and this amount would be added to tile the ex expenditures of the other department departments ac according according cording to the amount of postage stamps required I It is not expected that acton action wi will be betaken betaken taken along this line Une by congress at thi this sessIon but the mater matter ha has bad attention at th the hands of the house postoffice committee and it is acknowledged acknowledged edged that there is geat great force In the recommendation of the postoffice de department The campaign in this direction direction tion wi will be continued and it is only the queston question of a few years ears when al all de departments and officIals wl be using postage stamps Another Suggestion It has been suggested that officials now I enjoying the franking privilege be required to obtain from the postoffice department stamped envelopes for use of correspondence and a specially d de designed signed postage stamp for use on docu document documents ments Upon the opper rIght hand ment corner would appear the embossed stamp as in ordinary stamped envelopes envelopes and In the left hand cor cornor r the name and adress address of the member of bureau congress or department or with tile the words beneath Within mall mallIs wih is official This would obviate the ob objection that might might be raised to tile the la Ia labor bor required to affix stamps stamps upon pon let letter letter ter mai mail and while it would require some addItional hel help and there would be smal small expense for th the embossing of ofte the stamp on te the envelope this hIs expense te would undoubtedly be smal small compared with ith the saving savings in oUter other directions Members of congress would exercise more care in te the use of stamped en envelope envelopes cre whIch would be charged to them and a record kept which would be comparable with the records of other and the same would be true in the ce case of the use of special for document documents etc At lest least this system tern tem would 10 away wih wIth tile the sending of of speeches broadcast dur during durIng ing a a campaign ad and the frank franking ing ing of iron safes furniture and farm farmhouses farmhouses houses housesIt It is proposed that tile the adhesive I for documentary mai mail shall be beof beof of varIous ous denominations from 1 cent to 1 of distinctive deign design and shape and an all of one color preferably black These stamps would be unavailable for use on ordinary private mai mall and of no money value except as they might be desired for use in violation of law to save the us use of regular postage stamps of the Tile THe entre entire additional expense plan would be more than met by the increased re revenues from mater matter now believed to be transported by te the hun hundreds hundreds of tons for whiCh which at present the government not a cent Mean Meanwhile while the deficit Increases |