74TH CONGRESS 1st Session } SENATE { REPORT TO PROHIBIT THE SENDING OF UNSOLICITED MERCHANDISE THROUGH THE MAILS JANUARY 30, 1935.-Ordered to be printed Mr. HAYDEN, from the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 12261 The Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1226) to prohibit the sending of unsolicited merchandise through the mails, having carefully considered the same, report the bill back to the Senate with the recommendation that the bill do pass with the following amendment: On page 2, line 5, strike out all of said section 3, beginning with line 5 through line 16. The text of the bill, as amended, is as follows: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter unsolicited merchandise which any person desires to send for the purpose of sale to the addressee shall not be accepted for mailing. The term "person", when used in this Act, means an individual, partnership, corporation, or association. SEC. 2. If such unsolicited merchandise is deposited in the mails and the addressee thereof refuses to accept the same, then, under such regulations as the Postmaster General may prescribe, such unsolicited merchandise shall be returned to the sender charged with postage due at double the regular rates to be collected from him upon delivery. On failure of the sender to pay such return postage the matter shall be disposed of as other dead matter. The object of the bill is to abate a general nuisance and annoyance to the public known as the "buy it or return it" plan of selling merchandise through the mails. The enactment of such legislation was recommended to the Seventieth Congress by the then Postmaster General in the following letter: Hon. W. W. GRIEST, POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., January 9, 1928. Chairman Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. GRIEST: I have your letter of the 4th instant enclosing a copy of bill H. R. 351, to prohibit the sending of unsolicited merchandise through the mails. This bill was introduced by Mr. Watson. You also enclose copy of bill H. R. 3991, a bill upon the same subject, introduced by Mr. Watson in the last Congress. The bill H. R. 351 makes some desirable changes from the provisions of the first bill and is approved by me. Your attention is invited to what is said in my annual report for 1927, at pages 58 and 59, on the subject of sending unsolicited parcels of merchandise through the mails for sale. This statement described the condition as it exists in the service. Sincerely yours, HARRY S. NEW, Postmaster General. The following is an extract from the Annual Report of the Postmaster General for 1927, above referred to: UNSOLICITED PARCELS OF MERCHANDISE SENT THROUGH THE MAIL FOR SALE The practice of using the mails for the purpose of sending unsolicited articles through the mails for sale is increasing to an extent which demands legislation. prohibiting the same. Under this practice articles and merchandise are sent to addresses unsolicited and in the absence of any order therefor for the purpose of sale and with the request to transmit a price therefor. This places upon the addressee a burden of the receipt and attention thereto without any solicitation on his part and the necessity of returning the article or remitting for it, neither of which he is under obligation to do, or of ignoring the matter altogether. Following this he is subject to receipt of follow-up letters from the sender, all of which are annoying and some of which are abusive and threatening. claim made by some that postage will be guaranteed or enclosed for the return of the article does not relieve the situation materially. It still puts the burden upon the recipient of keeping or returning the article, which is an uninvited annoyance to him. The The Department receives many bitter complaints from individuals who receive such merchandise and from retail merchants, also from organizations such as merchants' associations, chambers of commerce, and others. The Postal Service is a public service for the legitimate use of the people. It should not be made the instrument of a practice which works an univited hardship or inconvenience to recipients of mail matter subjecting them to annoyance and abuse. They have equal rights with the senders. The former Postmaster General twice recommended the enactment of such legislation, as shown by the following letters written in 1930 and 1931: Hon. LAWRENCE C. PHIPPS, POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., January 28, 1930. Chairman Commitee on Post Offices and Post Roads, United States Senate. MY DEAR SENATOR PHIPPS: Answering your letter of the 24th instant relating to S. 610, a bill to prohibit the sending of unsolicited merchandise through the mails, I will state that in our judgment the bill would be improved by omitting therefrom the exception made in favor of religious, charitable, and eleemosynary institutions. While merchandise emanating from such sources is less objectionable than merchandise handled purely for purposes of individual profit, yet to most addressees such shipments constitute an annoyance. Moreover, the administration of the law would be rendered somewhat more difficult by having an excepted class. Very truly yours, Hon. TASKER L. ODDIE, WALTER F. BROWN. OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL, United States Senate. Chairman Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, MY DEAR SENATOR ODDIE: The receipt is acknowledged of your letter of the 19th instant, requesting my views on S. 1663, a bill to prohibit the sending of unsolicited merchandise through the mails. In reply I renew my previous recommendation for the enactment of legislation to prevent the sending of unsolicited merchandise through the mails. The bill appears to be in acceptable form. Very truly yours, WALTER F. BROWN. The bill was referred to the Postmaster General for a report and it has his approval, with the above amendment, as stated in the following letter from the Postmaster General, of January 26, 1935: Hon. KENNETH MCKELLAR, POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., January 26, 1935. Chairman Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, United States Senate. MY DEAR SENATOR MCKELLAR: Answering the letter from your committee of the 23d instant relating to S. 1226, a bill to prohibit the sending of unsolicited merchandise through the mails, I will state that in our judgment the bill would be improved by omitting therefrom the exception made in favor of religious, charitable, and eleemosynary institutions. While merchandise emanating from such sources is less objectionable than merchandise handled purely for purposes of individual profit, yet to most addressees such shipments constitute an annoyMoreover, the administration of the law would be rendered somewhat more difficult by having an excepted class. ance. Very truly yours, JAMES A. FARLEY, Postmaster General. O Mr. FLETCHER, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. J. Res. 24] The Committee on Military Affairs, to which was referred Senate Joint Resolution 24, to authorize the acceptance on behalf of the United States of the bequest of the late Charlotte Taylor of the city of St. Petersburg, State of Florida, for the benefit of Walter Reed General Hospital, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that it do pass. An identical measure passed the Senate during the Seventy-third Congress, having been reported favorably by the Committee on Military Affairs June 1, 1934. S. J. Res. 24 is recommended by the War Department. The will of Charlotte Taylor, deceased, provided in part that the sum of $1,000 should go to the Walter Reed Hospital, Washington, D. C., for the purchase of radio equipment or similar means of entertainment for bed-ridden soldiers or other patients in said hospital. S. J. Res. 24 authorizes the acceptance on behalf of the United States of this bequest. War Department report under date January 22, 1935, follows: Hon. MORRIS SHEPPARD, Chairman Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate. JANUARY 22, 1935. DEAR SENATOR SHEPPARD: Careful consideration has been given to the joint resolution, S. J. Res. 24, a joint resolution to authorize the acceptance on behalf of the United States of the bequest of the late Charlotte Taylor of the city of St. Petersburg, State of Florida, for the benefit of Walter Reed General Hospital, which you transmitted to the Department under date of January 15, 1935, with a request for information and the views of the Department relative thereto. Under date of May 15, 1934, the Department submitted a draft of this joint resolution to the chairman, Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate, |