TO PREVENT THE SENDING OF POISONS OR ARTICLES AND COMPOSITIONS CONTAINING POISON THROUGH THE MAILS FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 1926 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICE AND POST ROADS. Washington, D .C. The committee met, pursuant to call of the chairman, at 10.30 a. m., in the committee room, Capitol, Senator George H. Moses presiding. Present: Senators Moses (chairman), Oddie, Stanfield, McMasters, Heflin, Ferris, Blease, Bratton, and Frazier. The CHAIRMAN. A quorum of the committee being in attendance, the committee will now come to order. This meeting is called for the purpose of considering the bill S. 2657, introduced by Senator Frazier. The bill is here printed in full, as follows: A BILL To amend section 217, as amended, of the act entitled "An act to codify, revise, and amend the penal laws of the United States," approved March 4, 1909 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 217, as amended, of the act entitled An act to codify, revise, and amend the penal laws of the United States," approved March 4, 1909, be amended to read as follows: SEC. 217. That all kinds of poison, and all articles and compositions containing poison, and all poisonous animals, insects, and reptiles, and explosives of all kinds, and inflammable material, and infernal machines, and mechanical, chemical, or other devices or compositions which may ignite or explode, and all disease germs or scabs, and all other natural or artificial articles, composition, or materials, of whatever kind, which may kill or in any wise hurt, harm, or injure another, or damage, deface, or otherwise injure the mails or other property, whether sealed as first-class matter or not, are hereby declared to be nonmailable matter, and shall not be conveyed in the mails or delivered from any post office or station thereof, nor by any letter carrier: Provided, That the Postmaster General may permit the transmission in the mails from the manufacturer thereof or dealer therein to licensed physicians, surgeons, dentists, pharmacists, druggists, and veterinarians, under such rules and regulations as he shall prescribe, of any articles hereinbefore described which are not outwardly or of their own force dangerous or injurious to life, health, or property: Provided further, That poisons prepared for use as disinfectants, fungicides, germicides, or insecticides, when packed in containers according to specifications of the Postmaster General shall be accepted for mailing: Provided further, That all spirituous, vinous, malted, fermented, or other intoxicating liquors of any kind are hereby declared to be nonmailable, and shall not be deposited in or carried through the mails. Whoever shall knowingly deposit or cause to be deposited for mailing or delivery, or shall knowingly- cause to be delivered by mail, according to the direction thereon or at any place at which it is directed to be delivered by the person to whom it is addressed, anything declared by this section to be nonmailable, unless in accordance with the rules and regulations hereby authorized to be prescribed by the Postmaster General, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both; and whoever shall knowingly deposit or cause to be deposited for mailing or delivery, or shall knowingly cause to be delivered by mail, according to the direction thereon or at any place to which it is directed to be delivered by the person to whom it is addressed, anything declared by this section to be nonmailable, whether transmitted in accordance with the rules and regulations authorized to be prescribed by the Postmaster General or not, with the 1 design, intent, or purpose to kill, or in any wise hurt, harm, or injure another, or damage, deface, or otherwise injure, the mails, or other property, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both." The CHAIRMAN. Senator Frazier, do you have witnesses present who wish to appear in behalf of your bill? Senator FRAZIER. Mr. Chairman, I should like to have you hear Mr. Tierney. The CHAIRMAN. Give your full name, address, and occupation to the official reporter of the committee. STATEMENT OF JOHN I. TIERNEY, SECRETARY OF THE MANUFACTURING CHEMISTS' ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES, WASHINGTON, D. C. Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, this bill proposes an amendment to the existing statute, and will be found on page 2 beginning with the proviso at line 17. It reads: Provided further, That poisons prepared for use as disinfectants, fungicides, germicides, or insecticides, when packed in containers according to specifications of the Postmaster General, shall be accepted for mailing. I will briefly trace the history of this matter. The need for mailing privilege for these materials was indicated several years ago during acute prevalence of the smut disease in the spring wheat country. There had been demands upon our manufacturers for unusual supplies of formaldehyde and other disinfections, and when an attempt was made to send them by mail we were informed that they were not admissible. We then sought to get an amendment to the law, and Senator Sterling, your predecessor, Mr. Chairman, two years ago introduced a bill and it was passed by the Senate. However, it was not referred to the Post Office Department by the Senate. It went over to the House, and that body referred it to the Post Office Department, and an adverse report was made. There it was hung up and failed of passage. Prior to convening of this Congress we tried to anticipate possible objections of the Post Office Department. We had a conference with Postmaster General New, and he appointed the Third Assistant Postmaster General to hear argument of our manufacturers, at which hearing representatives of farm organizations were present and very strongly favored the proposed legislation. We were led to believe that we had made some impression upon the post-office officials. The CHAIRMAN. Was any appearance noted at that conference of any persons in opposition to such legislation? Mr. TIERNEY. None by any element of the public at all. In all the proceedings and in all the developments of this matter there has not been an adverse voice from any element or section of the public. The only opposition to it, which I shall come to later with your permission, is in the Post Office Department. The CHAIRMAN. Very well, you may proceed. Mr. TIERNEY. It was a matter of extreme disappointment to us that the Postmaster General could not see his way to support of the purposes of the legislation proposed. Now, as to the need for such legislation, I take it, that will be admitted by everybody. The Department of Agriculture is continually pointing out to agricul turists, to that portion of the population which it primarily serves, the importance of proper seed treatment. In the Agricultural Outlook for 1926, issued by the Department of Agriculture on February 8, 1926, there was contained this paragraph: Severe losses due to discounts for smutty wheat are reported from the grain-market centers. The treatment of seed for smut this spring would seem to be particularly desirable if such losses are to be avoided. This week's press release, under date of March 1, being a digest of Farmers' Bulletin 1059, refers to the importance of disinfecting seed sweet potatoes with corrosive sublimate. Dr. L. L. Harper, pathologist in the Department of Agriculture, says: "And it pays financially to apply treatment," and so on; I will not read the entire press release. I mention it here just to show you how the Department of Agriculture regards the necessity for treating seed. Last week the Department issued another press release describing the remarkable increase in production of cotton which was obtained by treatment of cotton seed through the use of disinfectants and chemicals. I think it will be admitted by everybody that there is no more important process in agriculture than to start correctly at the very beginning of the farming operation, and that means cleaning the seed used. That operation is essential to every kind and diversification of farming-to the cotton farmer of the South, to the grain farmer of the Middle West and the Northwest, to the farmer who produces root crops; to the orchardist-in fact, there is no branch of agriculture but that is concerned with this proposed amendment to the existing law. After having established that proposition beyond any possibility of contradiction, the question then resolves itself into a measuring of the needs of agriculture, on the one hand, against the slight inconvenience resulting from the necessity for certain effort on the part of the Post Office Department, on the other hand; whether the little extra effort postal officials will be called upon to make to meet the requirements of the proposed amendment shall be held to outweigh the tremendous advantages that would come to the farming classes, is a matter for this committee and the Congress to decide. We think that there can be no question but that Congress should extend this service to the millions of our population who need it. The CHAIRMAN. Have you anything to show the distribution that is taking place in these commodities now? Mr. TIERNEY. One of our manufacturers is here, and he will tell you that if this service shall be provided he will distribute 1,000,000 one-pound cans of formaldehyde to wheat growers this season. And that is only one of the manufacturers of only one disinfectant. The Post Office Department takes pride in the following announcement carried generally in the newspapers, and which I shall read: R. F. D. SERVES 30,600,000 Nearly 500 new rural delivery routes were added last year, the Postmaster General tells us. This country has 1,225,000 miles of rural routes, serving 6,600,000 families, or 30,600,000. Illinois, with 2,600 routes, has the greatest number in any State And 30 years ago farmers had to go to the post office for their mail. The world "do move" these days. At the present time the farmer, lacking this postal service we are seeking, has to depend either on the general store or on express service, and you know that many of the smaller railroad stations lack express service. There is no clerk on hand to deliver or receive express packages. The consequence is that the farmer must take the time to go from his farm, his plantation, or his ranch into town, which may be a distance of 10, 12, or 20 miles, to reach the general supply store or the drug store to get the disinfectant that he requires for his needs. The container from which his supply is drawn is open, and has been open, probably, for some time. The contents having thus necessarily been exposed to atmospheric action, deterioration of the material naturally takes place. The CHAIRMAN. Is that true of all these disinfectants and insecticides? Mr. TIERNEY. Not all of them. I have in mind more particularly formaldehyde. Formaldehyde will lose some of its potency if the original package is opened. On the other hand, if a farmer could have a 1-pound container he could make his own solution. If he could get it by mail, with the material retaining its full strength and potency, in addition to the tremendous saving in time and expense by having it delivered at his door, he would have the advantage of material possessing full strength. As you gentlemen know, many farmers live in very remote places and, unfortunately, many of them will not give up the time, can not give up the time perhaps, required to go to town for the material. They therefore take the chance of planting seed without the proper and necessary treatment. The CHAIRMAN. Is it not possible for the seedsmen to treat the seed before selling it? Mr. TIERNEY. No, Mr. Chairman, for we have tried that. That was suggested to the Post Office Department in this correspondence: ROCHESTER, N. Y., July 3, 1925. E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS & Co. (INC.) Wilmington, Del. GENTLEMEN: As suggested by you in your letter of June 23, we wrote the Postmaster General at Washington with reference to sending through the mails semesan treated seed. Inclosed you will find his answer which is self-explanatory. This definitely dispose of the matter of our handling you product semesan. Yours very truly, GARDNER SEED Co. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, SECOND ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL, GARDNER SEED Co., Rochester, N. Y. MY DEAR SIRS: In answer to your letter of June 25, requesting to be advised if seed treated with semesan, a poison used in disinfecting seed for the prevention of various diseases, may be shipped by parcel post, I have to say that this office is of the opinion that seed so treated comes under the provisions of the law relating to articles and compositions containing poison and therefore can not be sent in the mails. Yours very truly, W. H. RIDDELL, General Superintendent. The Post Office Department representatives will probably say that there is danger to other materials carried in the mails from breakage of our packages with resultant contamination of these other ma |