(12) That in July and in November, 1907, three civil suits (Nos. 5474, 5515, and 5516) were instituted in the name of the United States to collect alleged back postage from the company on copies of its Woman's Magazine and Woman's Farm Journal at the nonpublishers' rate of 1 cent for each 4 ounces or fraction thereof, it being alleged that the mailing of said copies at the publishers' rate of a cent a pound was unlawful, etc.; and It is charged and complained that these civil suits were spurious and, like the indictments, misrepresented the form of the statute; that they were without probable cause; that on their face they were absurd and never intended to be tried; that they were not in good faith, but for the ulterior purpose of intimidation and overwhelming the company in its distress, and to emphasize and intensify in the public mind the false impression that the company was lawless and conducting an illegitimate business; and that all public money spent for services of preparation, filing, and otherwise in this connection was unauthorized by law. (13) That on April 20, 1907, sixteen days after the closing of the mails altogether to the company's magazines and creating thereby substantial grounds for complaint and dissatisfaction among its hundreds of thousands of substcribers, patrons, advertisers, and others, because of the forced defaults on the part of the company, there was sent from the post-office at St. Louis by post-office inspectors an alleged official inquiry, addressed to all or a great part of the subscribers, readers, advertisers, and patrons of the company, a communication naively asking whether their transactions with the company were satisfactory; that those communications artfully invited complaint of dissatisfaction and furnished a free penalty envelope for the return thereof to the inspectors; and It is charged and complained that the sending out of such communications was not required in the orderly administration of the mail-classification laws; that it was not done in good faith; that it was for the ulterior purpose of furthering the objects and purposes of the whole official campaign of ruin herein complained of, and for the purpose of emphasizing and intensifying the public impression, assidiously cultivated for years, that the company was conducting a lawless business; and that all public funds spent for printing, paper, and otherwise in this connection was unauthorized by any law. (14) That since the establishment of the Woman's National Daily, in November, 1906, the company's business in connection with that paper has been subjected to substantially the same sort of treatment as that in the case of its magazines; that it has been harassed and annoyed by continuous investigations during which it was deprived of the use of its records for considerable periods of time to the hindrance of its business, and which when returned to the company were in such a topsy-turvy state that its whole business was thrown into confusion for months of time, which it required to restore them to such order that business could be transacted properly; that there has been similar frequent official circularization of the subscribers, readers, and patrons of the Woman's National Daily, now National Weekly, as in the case of the magazines; that these inquiries were of an intimidating, threatening, and annoying character to the patrons of the company; and that unlawful and prohibitive nonpublishers' rates have been assessed against hundreds of thousands of outgoing copies, which it was the right of the company to mail at publishers' rates; and It is charged and complained generally in connection with the company's entire publishing business that for the most part of five or six years it has been subjected to a substantially continuous course of alleged official investigations, which were not in good faith, which were not required or necessary in the proper administration of the mail classification laws; that for a great part of the time its offices and plant have been practically in the possession of postal officials, ransacking its books, papers, and records and throwing them into confusion, to the embarrassment and distress of the company in transacting its business; that its subscribers, patrons, and advertisers everywhere have been harrassed, annoyed, and irritated by a substantially continuous course of alleged official inquiries, which were not required or necessary to the proper administration of the classification laws, but which in reality have undermined the company's business; that by the processes enumerated and otherwise the company has been forced into the position of defaulting upon its subscription contracts, advertising contracts, and otherwise; that by the processes enumerated and others, which will be shown during the course of investigation, the company's business has been wantonly ruined, the one remaining remnant is the Woman's National Weekly; that the company has suffered the loss of millions; that no publishing company in the United States ever before or since has been subjected to such a course of despotic, lawless, and malicious treatment at the hands of public officials of the Post Office Department or any other department of the Government; that the same was accomplished by disregarding the orderly course of procedure in the administration of the mail classification laws and by the taking of this one publishing company's case alone out of the experienced hands in which all other cases of the entire country were placed and by the putting of this one case into the hands of inexperienced persons conspiring together and with others for the ulterior purpose of ruining the company's business, by direct and indirect methods and by abuses of authority and power, in an alleged administration of the mail classification laws; that the administration of the mail classification laws did not then require, and do not now require or authorize, the doing of any of the things complained of; that all these matters were unauthorized or unlawful or unwarranted and public money spent for services and expenses of every kind and nature in that connection was without warrant of law. The foregoing charges and complaints are submitted in response to the resolution of your committee, embodied in your letter of May 27, addressed to the president of the company. It is believed that they furnish sufficient basis for a comprehensive investigation of the case of the Lewis Publishing Co., covered by that resolution. The specifications by no means contain all that might be alleged as grounds for complaint. However, it is believed they are ample to show the nature of and the persistency of the official campaign of ruin against which the company was helpless to defend itself. As the evidence will show, the purpose of the officials was designed to be accomplished expeditiously and decisively at the beginning in 1905; that the plan failed in that regard; that it was worked out on other lines; and that there has never been from the beginning an intention that the company's business should be permitted to survive, if by the processes employed it could be strangled or suffocated. The presentation of the case will show that the shadow of the menacing official hand has for years followed into the homes of subscribers, patrons, correspondents, and advertisers every letter and every copy of the publications sent out. At the same time the home offices and plant of the company were overrun by post-office inspectors and their assistants, examining into and criticizing every act, browbeating the company's officers and employees, and adroitly throwing the records and files into confusion. The company has never been able to get the presidential ear to listen to its complaint. That official evidently relied upon his Postmaster General, the chief actor and chief conspirator in the work of ruin, and without whose approval and cooperation, the matters complained of could not have been done. For the information of your committee, it is stated that at the very beginning of the official campaign the company advised the department that if its business or any feature of it, or any conduct on its part, violated any law or regulation the same would be promptly corrected; that so far as it knew it violated no law, no regulation, no ruling, and did not intend to do so, and that it was conducting its business exactly on the same lines as other publishers. The department never notified the company that anything done by it was in violation of law or regulation and should be corrected, although it was customary in dealing with publishers, when in some way they infringed the law or rules, to notify them and give them an opportunity for correction. This company has been given little or no chance to defend itself or to make correction of anything which was deemed irregular by the department, whether so in fact or not. The official blow was always struck without warning, without regard to law, without regard to practices, without regard to morals. At the hearing before your committee evidence will be submitted, either documentary or oral, or both, to substantiate every one of the charges and complaints. But it is anticipated that you will regard it as necessary to thoroughness to send a subcommittee to St. Louis to examine the plant and publishing business on the ground in order to get a proper conception of its character and magnitude and to hear the initial part of the testimony, which can best be submitted here. The submission of further evidence in the case and consideration of the whole matter would, of course, follow in Washington. It is assumed here that the purpose of your committee in taking this case up is along the line of a general purpose of Congress to make inquiry to ascertain with what fidelity the laws have been administered and whether there have been abuses, and that if the results warrant, your committee would recommend legislation to protect the interests of the Government in the future and to protect citizens, if it be shown that any have been made to suffer wrongfully. It is believed that the development of this case will serve your committee well in the matter of throwing light upon such matters and upon maladministration and how it operated, and that it will convince you of the great need of some such legislation. As stated before, I represent the company in this matter and assume that your committee will permit me on behalf of the company to suggest witnesses to be called, and to interrogate all witnesses. Anticipating that you will in due course advise me when your committee will take this matter up and how and where I am to appear, I am, Very respectfully, EDWIN C. MADDEN, Attorney in fact. (Address: Edwin C. Madden, Box 145, Winner Station, St. Louis, Mo.) |