Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-05-12
Burles0n and Burlesonism,.
From the Philadelphia Ledger.
Postmaster General Burleson has

Postmaster General Burleson has responded
to an offer of the New York World to open its
columns to him for reply to the widespread
criticisms of his administration and of himself
as a public official, and his defense is quite as
interesting for what it oinits as for what it con-
tains. In reviewing his reply, it is only just to
the accused that the indictment shall be con-
fined to the truth, as his accusers see the truth,
and that the ground shall be cleared of all ex-
traneous and confusing issues Mr.. Burleson
has just ground for complaint in that some of
his critics repeat charges which have been pub
licly proved as without foundation, as for in
stance the allegations that he was the hirer Of
convict labor, that he was an active instrument
in fastening prohibition on the country" that
he interfered in congress to prevent an appro-
priation for certain channel improvement at
New York and that he was personally respon-
sble for the super-serviceable and over-zealous
action of certain telegraph officials in New
York City in refusing transmission over the
wires of an article critcizing him and his adj
ministration.
All these things may be dismissed as in the
main groundless and irrelevant for the popular
dissatisfaction with the Burleson regime is based
on other and more substantial complaints. Mr..
Burleson is obessed by the notion that that
widespread dissatisfaction has its origin solely
in the resentment of periodical and newspaper
publishers because of his advocacy of the zone
system and increased postage for their publca-
tons, in the enmity of the railroads because of
his action in reducing the compensation for the
carrying of the mails and in the opposition Of
the express companies to the growth and eff
cheney of the parcel post. All these things
the undoubtedly factors in the popular estimate
of Burlesonism, but it is puerile for Mr. Burle-
son to pretend that the entire business COM
munity of the United States has been influenced
by these specific grievances and that the almost
universal condemnation of the mail and wire
services under his management has no other
basis.
If Mr.. Burleson's experts, who reported to
him that by every test by which the postal SER
vice could be measured high standard of eff
cheney was disclosed" had only resorted to the
simple and obvious expedent Of consulting the
users of the mails they would have had differ
ent story to tell. 1t is the everyday experience
in business circles, and in private use of the
mails as well, that deliveries are slow and I'M
certain and that the facilities afforded have been
VIGOROUSLY curtailed. Every one will be will
ing to admit that the exigences of the war
threw new duties upon the postohice, that its
labors enormously increased but Mr..
Burleson was apparently more concerned to
make a favorable statistical showing than to
secure efficiency, and the results were that
might have been expected. The changes in the
railway mail service alone were all in the drec-
ton of delay and a lowered efficiency, which no
economies" can justify Moreover, the des-
truction of the tube service in several of the
principal cities of the country was accomplished
I'M the lace or the unanimous protests OF the
business communities they served, and no mere
repetition by Mr. Burleson of his characterize
ton of the service as an incubus will serve as
a satisfactory explanation justification of his
arbitrary and autocratic method of dealing with
this question. Nor will his parrot-like reitera-
ton of the charge, based on figures long since
proved to have been the widest guesswork
that the users of the second class mails have
been Subsidized" to the extent of millions by
the government, carry conviction to the minds
of the people who have been benefited by a
policy which has yielded results of incaculable
value in the creation of national unity of
thought and action.
Mr.. Burleson's personality is the least i'm
portant feature of Burlesonism. He may be the
disinterested patriot he imagines himself to be,
but his influence politician upon the postal
service has been distinctly deeterious. 1t has
broken down the morale of that service to a
marked degree. 1t has led to the use of the
communications of the country for the purposes
of propaganda for government ownership,
the results of which have been to convert the
people to the futility of that policy Mr.. Burle-
sons contention that the conditions OF the
present government control of the wires have
made fair test of government ownership i'm
possible will not be convincing to a people
who are suffering under rule which has inn
posed new burdens of inconvenience and cost
and which has failed utterly to show any of the
benefits of coordination and economy claimed
for it. Mr.. Burleson's defense, so far as con-
Germs the main points of the popular indict-
ment, is no defense at all.