s in a session of thirty-three weeks,
4,781,293.

Average weight of Public Documents, 1-{~VULGAR FRACTION ONE THIRD~} oz.

Of the 42,375 free letters, 20,362 were congressional, and 22,032, or 52
per cent. were from the Departments.

In the month of October, 1843, an account was kept at all the offices in
the United States, of the number of letters franked and received in that
month by members of Congress. The number was 18,558, which would give
81,370 for 19 weeks of vacation. To these add 223,992 mailed in 33 weeks
of session, and four-fifths as many, 179,193, for letters received, and it
gives a total of 484,555 letters received and sent free of postage by
members of Congress in a year, besides the Public Documents. The postage
on the letters, at the old rates, would have been $100,000.

From the same return of October, 1843, it appears that the number of
letters franked and received by national and state officers, was
1,024,068; and by postmasters, 1,568,928; total, 2,592,998, the postage on
which, at 14-1/2 cents, would amount to $376,073.

These calculations would give the loss on free letters, at that time,
$476,073. This is besides the postage on the public documents, 359,578
pounds, the postage on which, at 2-1/2 cents per ounce, would come to
$147,581.

Total postage lost by franking, $623,654.

Document No. 118, printed by the House of Representatives of
Massachusetts, 1848, gives $312,500 as the amount of postage on franked
letters, and $200,000 for franked documents, making a total of $512,500.

The report of the Post-office Committee of the House of Representatives,
May 15, 1844, contains a return of the number of free letters mailed and
received at the Washington post-office, during the week ending February
20, 1844, with the corresponding annual number, and the amount of postage,
at the old rates--allowing the average length of a session of Congress to
be six months. From this I have constructed the following table.

Departments Letters Letters Total No. Postage.
received sent Annually.
House of 1,882 1,505
Representatives
Senate 7,510 10,271
---- ----
Total of 9,392 11,776 550,368 $114,697
Congress
President U. S. 304 174 24,856 4,895
Post Office 6,041 3,615 502,112 102,474
State 1,989 2,253 220,584 41,600