lands must be sent for to join the immigrant here. What formality is necessary to constitute this prerequisite, and how are the facts of relationship and that the relative is sent for to be established? Are the illiterate relatives of immigrants who have come here under prior laws entitled to the advantage of these exceptions? A husband who can read and write and who determines to abandon his illiterate wife abroad will find here under this law an absolutely safe retreat. The illiterate relatives mentioned must not only be sent for, but such immigrant must be capable of supporting them when they arrive. This requirement proceeds upon the assumption that the foreign relatives coming here are in every case by reason of poverty liable to become a public charge unless the immigrant is capable of their support. The contrary is very often true. And yet, if unable to read and write, though quite able and willing to support themselves and their relatives here besides, they could not be admitted under the provisions of this bill if the immigrant was impoverished, though the aid of his fortunate but illiterate relative might be the means of saving him from pauperism.

The fourth section of this bill provides "that it shall be unlawful for any male alien who has not in good faith made his declaration before the proper court of his intention to become a citizen of the United States to be employed on any public works of the United States, or to come regularly or habitually into the United States by land or water for the purpose of engaging in any mechanical trade or manual labor for wages or salary, returning from time to time to a foreign country." The fifth section provides "that it shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, company, or corporation knowingly to employ any alien coming into the United States in violation of the next preceding section of this act."

The prohibition against the employment of aliens upon any public works of the United States is in line with other legislation of a like character. It is quite a different thing, however, to declare it a crime for an alien to come regularly and habitually into the United States for the purpose of obtaining work from private parties, if such alien returns from time to time to a foreign country, and to constitute any employment of such alien a criminal offense.

When we consider these provisions of the bill in connection with our long northern frontier and the boundaries of our States and Territories, often but an imaginary line separating them from the British Dominions, and recall the friendly intercourse between the people who are neighbors on either side, the provisions of this bill affecting them must be regarded as illiberal, narrow, and un-American.

The residents of these States and Territories have

separate and especial interests which in many cases make an interchange of labor between their people and their alien neighbors most important, frequently with the advantage largely in favor of our citizens. This suggests the inexpediency of Federal interference with these conditions when not necessary to the correction of a substantial evil affecting the general welfare. Such unfriendly legislation as is proposed could hardly fail to provoke retaliatory measures to the injury of many of our citizens who now find employment on adjoining foreign soil.

The uncertainty of construction to which the language of these provisions is subject is a serious objection to a statute which describes a crime. An important element in the offense sought to be created by these sections is the coming “regularly or habitually into the United States." These words are impossible of definite and certain construction. The same may be said of the equally important

words, "returning from time to time to a foreign country."

A careful examination of this bill has convinced me that for the reasons given and others not specifically stated, its provisions are unnecessarily harsh and oppressive, and that its defects in construction would cause vexation, and its operation would result in harm to our citizens. GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, March 2, 1897.

March 3, the House reconsidered the measure and passed it over the presidential veto by a vote of 195 yeas to 37 nays; but in the Senate the subject was merely referred to the Committee on Immigration.

Postal Matters.-Dec. 8, 1896, the measure providing for limited indemnity for loss of registered mail matter was called up in the House. It is as follows:

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Be it enacted, etc., That section 3926 of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows: "SEC. 3926. For the greater security of valuable mail matter the Postmaster-General may establish a uniform system of registration, and as a part of such system he may provide rules under which the sender or owners of first-class registered matter shall be indemnified for losses thereof in the mails, the indemnity to be paid out of the postal revenues, but in no case to exceed $10 for any one registered piece, or the actual value thereof when that is less than $10, and for which no other compensation or reimbursement to the loser has been made: Provided, That the Post Office Department or its revenues shall not be liable for the loss of any other mail matter on account of its having been registered." In support of the measure the argument of the Postmaster-General for such a policy was read:

"In the report of last year, submitted by my predecessor, attention was called to the expediency of a law authorizing the payment of an indemnity, not exceeding $10 in any case, for losses of registered matter in the mails.

"I beg leave to renew this recommendation. It is part of the system of registration in most of the leading countries of the world, and would add to the popularity of our own system if adopted. It seems, besides, but equitable that after matter has been put into the mails, at an increased cost over ordinary matter, and with a special view to its security, the Government should, to a limited extent at least, guarantee its safety. In addition to this, I am of the opinion that such a modification of the system would prove so popular that in a short time nearly all valuable matter to be sent through the mails would be registered, so that but few losses would be likely to occur, and these could be much more satisfactorily investigated and located than is the case when losses occur in the ordinary mails. The saving to the Government in the investigation of such losses would probably more than repay it for the amount expended for indemnity.

"This is a matter that will no doubt be brought before the Postal Union Congress, which is to meet in this city in 1897; but before that time a law should be enacted authorizing the introduction of this reform into our domestic postal system.

"Five thousand two hundred and eighty complaints pertaining to the registered mail were received during the year. Of this number 2,513 alleged the rifling or abstraction of the contents of the letters or packages, and 2,302 announced the entire loss of the letter or package and contents. Only 19 complaints of carelessness by postal employees were received.

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A comparison of the office records for the last two fiscal years shows that the total number of complaints affecting the registered mail during the fiscal

year 1895 was less by 646 than the total number of complaints of the same character received during 1894, a ratio of decrease of nearly 11 per cent. It is worthy of note that the total number of actual losses which occurred in the registered mail during the last fiscal year was 435 less than those determined during the previous year, or a decrease of a little more than 24 per cent. The statistics of the department show that the employees of the postal service handled, approximately, 14,428,081 pieces of registered mail during the last fiscal year, with the inconsiderable loss of 1 piece in every 21,305 handled.

"The number of pieces of mail matter registered during the year was 14,428,081, of which 11,744,525 were paid registrations and 2,683,556 were official or free. This shows a falling off in paid registrations of 5.7 per cent. The decrease in the aggregate of fees collected is $57,353.04."

In explanation of the bill and the results which it was designed to accomplish, Mr. Loud, of California, said:

"Mr. Speaker, an investigation of the registration branch of the post office will show that we are gradually losing our registration business, while we are still maintaining the expensive machinery which that branch of the postal service demands. The express companies throughout the country, which guarantee indemnity in case of loss, are gradually absorbing all this class of business, which was formerly done by the Post Office Department, and to those who have looked into the matter it seems quite clear that the time has arrived when we ought either to go out of the registration business or else provide 'some such system as is here proposed, whereby the people may have a guarantee of the safety of such matter as they confide to the charge of the department, or some measure of indemnity for its loss. The Government charges a very liberal fee for registration for packages and letters, 8 cents, and the registration department is one of the most profitable branches of the service. For several years past Postmasters-General have called the attention of Congress to the necessity of providing for some limited indemnity for losses incurred by persons who send registered matter through the mails. Now, on the basis of the packages lost in the year 1895 (and the amount of loss upon packages is being continually reduced) it would have cost this Government not more than $25,000 had we paid $10 for every package that was lost.

"The Post Office Department is becoming more perfect in its operations day by day-more careful in the execution of its business; and, as I have remarked, the number of lost packages is decreasing year by year. We therefore have no right to assume that the ratio will increase. But we do assume that if we can give a guarantee of the safe delivery of matter confided to the care of the Post Office Department our registration will increase to the extent not merely of $25,000 a year, but $50,000 or $75,000 a year, and of this amount at least one half would be clear profit to the Government.

The measure passed the House without serious opposition, and was taken up and passed by the Senate, Feb. 24, 1897, without a division. It was approved by the President, Feb. 27.

A bill concerning delivery of letters in towns, villages, and other places where no free delivery exists was reported and passed the House, Dec. 8, 1896, as follows:

“Be it enacted, etc., That whenever not less than 20 persons who receive their mail matter through the same post office shall petition the postmaster at such office to appoint one or more letter carriers, who shall be at least sixteen years of age, for the delivery of letters and other mail matter therefrom

to the persons addressed, at their respective residences or places of business, and for the collection of letters and the conveyance and delivery of them to the post office, said postmaster shall appoint a suitable number of letter carriers for that purpose, and it shall be their duty to report at least once a week to the postmaster appointing them the number of pieces delivered and collected by them and amount paid therefor.

"SEC. 2. That at all places where the foregoing delivery and collections may be authorized under this act the letter carriers thus appointed may receive of the person to whom he delivers letters or papers, or from whom he receives them for conveyance to the post office, such weekly, monthly, or quarterly compensation as may be mutually agreed upon; and when no such agreement is made, they may demand and receive not exceeding 1 cent for each letter or other package which they deliver from or convey to the post office: Provided, That the sum which each carrier thus collects shall be in full for his services; and none of such carriers shall have any claim upon the Post Office Department for compensation for services rendered as a letter carrier: Provided further, That no letter or other mail matter shall be given to such letter carrier for delivery unless addressed to a person who has lodged at the post office a written request that his mail matter be delivered to such letter carrier: And provided further, That if any person who shall have filed such written request shall refuse or neglect to pay the amount agreed upon or fixed by this act for the delivery or collection of any mail matter, the same may be returned by the carrier to the post office, and thereafter the carrier shall not be required to deliver or collect any mail to or from such person. Each person so appointed shall give bond to the postmaster for the faithful performance of his duties in the penal sum of $100.

"SEC. 3. That the letter carriers appointed by authority of this act shall be subject to all the provisions of existing laws not inconsistent with this act."

Mr. Sperry, of Connecticut, said in explanation of the measure:

"You know in many of our large agricultural communities it takes a man sometimes two hours to go to the post office. You take it in cold weather, when there is snow on the ground, or in harvest time, and the farmer can ill afford to spare those two hours, or one hour, as the case may be, to go to the post office for his letters, possibly nine times out of ten returning without anything, and yet his valuable time is lost. Under this system the carrier himself, who shall be appointed by the postmaster to serve the villages and towns in which the post office is located, can go and take from the office these letters or newspapers and deliver them to the various parties to whom they are addressed, and receive therefor the rate of compensation agreed upon between the carrier and the people served. Should they like to have a letter mailed, the letter carrier would charge the same price or whatever may be agreed upon. In my judgment, should this system go into operation, our income from the various country post offices and villages would be increased very largely. I remember the first street-lamp boxes that were put up in 1860. It was said when these boxes were put up that it involved a cost that the people would not submit to; that it was a great charge upon the Government. But I know from my own experience in the New Haven post office that in less than six months after these letter boxes had been placed upon the street corners, giving the people an opportunity to mail their letters at any hour or at any moment, instead of going one mile or two miles to the post office to mail the same, it was

plainly shown that the receipts doubled, or nearly so, and the letter carriers' department soon commenced paying for itself.

"Now, you not only give these people the accommodation they want, whether in villages or rural communities it matters not, but you will increase the receipts of the Post Office Department by giving people facilities, if you please, to mail and receive their letters. It is like running a horse car. If you run it once an hour you will not get nearly the number of passengers that you would get if you run it once in half an hour. If you can run it once in half an hour, and you change to once in ten minutes, you would get more than you would in the half hour. People will not wait. Give the people a chance, give the people facilities to receive their letters and to mail their letters, and according to the facilities given the increase will come. It is sure to come. There is no loss incurred at all by the Government. So long as the people want their letters carried in this way, let the farming communities-the villages and the towns of less than 10,000 inhabitants-have that privilege, they paying for it as agreed upon. It is the old penny-post system over again. There is nothing new about it. That penny-post system grew up into free delivery by and by, as you gave the people an opportunity to receive and mail their letters in the way convenient to themselves and without loss of time. Why withhold this privilege from the people so long as they are willing to pay for it, where it does not cost the Government one cent?"

Mr. Williams, of Mississippi, said:

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Now, Mr. Speaker, the proposed bill-the legislation it seeks to enact-is nothing but the development into law of a system which already exists in a part of this country. For example, down in my own country, in the State of Mississippi, there is a community of people-there are several of them, but I have in mind one community-who annually direct the postmaster to deliver their mail to a certain person selected by them to receive and deliver it. The carrier gets the mail from the post office and deposits it in boxes in front of the various plantations on his route, and takes from the boxes such mail matter as has been deposited by the planters, or the renters of the land, and carries it to the post office. So the common sense of a community in this country has already developed a scheme exactly that which the gentleman from Connecticut desires to put into the shape of law upon our statute books. And, in order to avoid the objection of undue expense, his bill provides that these carriers shall be paid by the people whose mail they deliver.

Now, it is wrong, inherently wrong, that the great cities of this country should have their free delivery of mail matter, while the people living in more sparsely settled communities can not have such an advantage. But I recognize at the same time the fact that the free delivery of letters in sparsely settled localities would bring about an expenditure to the Government far beyond a due proportion of the number of letters or mail matter delivered, and all that; and each of us has practically surrendered to the idea that all of the great cities of the United States should have this free delivery, and that the citizen of the United States living in Philadelphia, for instance, should have favors shown him by the Government which a citizen living in the rural districts of Kansas does not have, and which can not be shown to him. I understand that the argument is always made, in answer to that, that the mail of Philadelphia, for example, pays its own way; but that is not true, because for every letter they send out from Philadelphia a letter is received there from some more sparsely settled section of the country."

The Senate passed the measure Feb. 25, 1897, but there is no record of its approval by the President. Much greater interest was shown in what is called the Loud bill "to amend the postal laws relating to second-class mail matter." It was taken up in the House, Dec. 15, 1896, debated on various occasions with great spirit, and passed Jan. 6, 1897, in the following form:

"Be it enacted, etc., That mailable matter of the second class shall embrace all newspapers and other periodical publications which are issued at stated intervals and as frequently as four times a year, and are within the conditions named in sections 3 or 4 of this act: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to admit to the second-class rate publications purporting to be issued periodically and to subscribers, but which are merely books, or reprints of books, whether they be issued complete or in parts, whether they be bound or unbound, whether they be sold by subscription or otherwise, or whether they purport to be premiums or supplements or parts of regular newspapers or periodicals.

"SEC. 2. That publications of the second class, except as provided in section 25 of the act of March 3, 1879, when sent by the publisher thereof, and from the office of publication, excluding sample copies, or when sent from a news agency to actual subscribers thereto, or to other news agents, shall be entitled to transmission through the mails at 1 cent a pound or fraction thereof, such postage to be prepaid as now provided by law: Provided, nevertheless, That news agents shall not be allowed to return to news agents or publishers at the pound rate unsold periodical publications, but shall pay postage on the same at the rate of 1 cent for 4

ounces.

"SEC. 3. That all periodical publications regularly issued from a known place of publication at stated intervals as frequently as four times a year, by or under the auspices of benevolent or fraternal societies, trades unions, or orders organized under the lodge system, and having a bona fide membership of not less than 1,000 persons, shall be entitled to the privilege of second-class mail matter: Provided, That such matter shall be originated and published to further the objects and purposes of such society or order.

"SEC. 4. That the conditions upon which a publication shall be admitted to the second class are as follows:

"1. It must regularly be issued at stated intervals as frequently as four times a year, bear a date of issue, and be numbered consecutively.

"2. It must be issued from a known office of publication, which shall be shown by the publication itself.

"3. It must be formed of printed paper sheets, without board, cloth, leather, or other substantial binding, such as distinguish printed books for preservation from periodical publications.

"4. It must be originated and published for the dissemination of information of a public character, or devoted to literature, the sciences, arts, or some special industry, and must have a legitimate list of subscribers who voluntarily order and pay for the same: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to admit to the second-class rate regular publications, or any particular issue of any regular publication, designed primarily for advertising purposes, or for free circulation, or for circulation at nominal rates: And provided, That all extra numbers of second-class publications sent by the publishers thereof, acting as the agent of an advertiser or purchaser, to addresses furnished by the latter, shall be subject to pay postage at the rate of 1 cent for every 4 ounces or fraction there

of: And provided further, That it shall not be permissible to mail any given article or articles, or any part of any particular number of a newspaper or periodical, segregated from the rest of the publication, except at the third-class rate of postage. "SEC. 5. That publishers and others, whose publications shall be admitted as mail matter of the second class under the provisions of this act, shall be required, before depositing such mail matter in the post office, to separate the same into United States mail sacks or bundles by States, cities, towns, and counties, as the Postmaster-General may direct. "SEC. 6. That the act of Congress in regard to second-class mail matter approved July 15, 1894, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

"SEC. 7. That this act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1896."

Mr. Loud said in opening the discussion: "Mr. Chairman, many gentlemen here may assume, perhaps, that I have magnified the importance of this measure, but this measure received the commendation of the Post Office Department ten years ago. The officers of that department whose duty it is to carefully investigate the working of our postal system saw the gross abuses that had grown out of the laws of 1879 and 1885 and presented the question to Congress in 1887, and each year since that time they have begged and pleaded with Congress in no uncertain tones to give the administration of the Post Office Department some relief. The abuse has so grown in magnitude of late years that even the President of the United States in his last message called attention to the grievous evil which confronts us in the handling and carriage of second-class mail matter. I hope the House will pardon me while I read a few words from the report of the present Postmaster-General, a gentleman who has given this matter careful attention and study, aided and guided by the opinions of the officers who have gone before him for eight years. With that experience to draw upon, he took up the question and brought it down to the present time, and on page 6 of the report he uses this lan

guage:

So disheartening is it for the responsible head of the department to see this waste of its earnings, with its resulting impairment of the efficiency of the postal service, its absorption of the fruits of good management and of careful economies, that but for the hope that Congress would enact the bill now on the House calendar I should have taken the responsibility to modify and reverse the successive rulings through which this inroad on the service has been effected, and to exclude from the benefit of second-class rates the serial libraries and other publications not in the policy of the law, even if within the letter of its rather loose phraseology. This would have imposed upon those who profit at the public expense by existing practices the necessity of seeking through the courts or otherwise the restoration of their special privileges.'

"Mr. Chairman, I am satisfied that if the present Postmaster-General had another year to serve he would carry into execution the purpose set forth in this part of his annual report. For my part I do not believe that it was ever intended by Congress that serial novels should pass through the mails at pound rates, a privilege originally vested in the newspapers of this country, and confined to them up to 1879, when by a ruling of the Attorney-General at that time, Gen. Devens, it was held that a book issued in serial numbers was entitled to be carried at second-class rates under the rather loose phraseology of the law. With all due respect to the learning of the gentleman and to his honesty and integrity, I think he erred, because in the advertisements of these so-called serials throughout

the land even to-day they are not referred to as serial publications, but in their proper sphere, as books, and books alone.

"We all admit that this country is to-day in an unfortunate condition financially. While perhaps we may not all agree as to the remedy for the cure of the existing evil, we do all admit that from a financial standpoint this country is in an unfortu nate position. Now this bill presents to this body the opportunity to relieve the country from a deficiency of $10,000,000 already existing in the service of the Post Office Department, and give to it in addition a revenue of $10,000,000 more. At the lowest calculation there is involved in this bill a saving to the Government of $20,000,000 per annum, and if we may take the figures of PostmasterGeneral Wanamaker, acknowledged to be a good business man, and who was at that time in a position to know whereof he spoke-if we may take his estimate made in 1892, we must come to the conclusion that this iniquity-I will term it iniquitycosts our people more than $40,000,000 annually. That is not much money, gentlemen, I am willing to admit, to us who deal with hundreds of millions as some people deal with dollars."

Mr. Loud went on to say that the essential points in the measure were simply the exclusion of books issued as serials and sample copies of periodicals from second-class mail matter, and that these changes would relieve the Post Office Department. Mr. Quigg, of New York, who led the opposition to the bill, outlined his course of argument as follows:

"This bill is not only important, it is revolutionary; and it is not less reactionary than revolutionary. If this bill passes, for the first time since the Post Office Department was established Congress will have taken a step backward in the liberal policy it has maintained with regard to the public uses of the post office. If this bill passes, privileges and rights will be withdrawn and denied which have existed for half a century, privileges and rights so widely availed of that industries have been built upon them, trades and businesses established, and conditions of production and barter fixed. If this bill passes, a blow will be struck at every occupation connected with the art of printing and the business of publishing, circulating, and selling the product of the printing press. If this is so, and anybody can see at a glance that it is so, no argument is needed to enforce the assertion that we should be sure of our ground and be fully persuaded of compensating results to the public interest before we give our approval to such radical, such injurious and far-reaching legislation.

"Two pretenses are made with which to justify this bill. The first is that the mails are now being used in a way that the law did not intend or contemplate and that by this bill we are simply providing against abuses. The second is that its passage will save to the public Treasury the sum which the gentleman from California, by mathematical processes that are altogether bewildering, variously estimates from $10,000,000 to $40,000,000. If either of these pretenses could be established, if they were even credible, I should certainly support the bill in spite of the grievous injuries that its enactment must entail upon the industries and occupations to which I have just referred. But the facts in the case conclusively prove that the uses of the mails which this bill seeks to prevent were held in full contemplation when the law took its present shape, have since been repeatedly confirmed, and that the effect of the bill upon the revenue and expenditure of the Post Office Department is altogether problematical. Indeed, I think that the House will see before this debate is concluded that the inevitable loss of revenues in first- and fourth