Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-04-25
POOR SERVICE is CAUSE
OF FIGHT ON BURLEs0N
Director of Publishers Advisory
Board Declares Postmaster
General Needs Defense.
PUBLIC KNOWS THE FACTS
So-Callcd Organized Propaganda Is
Expression of Sentiment Of Hun
dreds OF Responsible Business
Organizations, Says johnson Post.
PUBLIC KNOWS THE FACTS
!By Associated Press. ]

NEW YORK. April o4.-Replyins in
Il statement tonight to the charge of
Postmaster-Gcneral Burleson that he
is the victim of an organized propa-
sanda" Charles Johnson Post. director
ot the Publishers Advisory Board. de-
clared that 1t was not the publishers
o. the country who needed defense
but the Postmaster General himself
He asserted that decentralization OF the
postal service was i fact which every
business man and American home was
able 10 Judge out OF their own cN-
pcricnce.
The publishers advisory board con-
sists or the Periodical Publishers As
sociation OF America. The Associated
Medical Eaitors' Association. The New
York Medical Publishers Association,
the Agricultural publishers Associa
Psn,nr 9n Gf sss rsass cosns c5sTs 'hs and Asa sa
Authors League Of America.
ChnlicnGc TO Americans.
The amazing official statement by
PostRaster-G General Burleson in his
own defense, following his refusal TO
New York World. because such dis
i,atch reflected upon his incapacity. Is
challenge TO every serious thinking
..mer!can-cv though he rcscinde1
Mr.. Post. THAT such q Prussian and
vicious one man censorship can be cs-
tablishcd in the Post Office Depart
nent by Mr.. burleson OF anyone else
reveals II menace TO our nation ana
american ideals tar beyond Mr. Burlc-
sons point that he thinks inc has been
criticised too harshiy'
Whether the postal service is good
or bad is not matter OF argument or
CT Mr.. Burleson's personal opinion. Ths
public knows from its own experiences,
suffered day by day, from the camps
a., hp m
ard as evidenced by the impartial in
Scsiigations and the resolutions Oh
the most reliable business orsaniza-
tions OF the country.
Br.iness Sentiment Expressed.
What Mir. Burieson calls organized
propaganda is the expression OF senti-
ment OF hundreds and hundreds of re-
sponsible organizations with iheir
chambers OF commerce. educational IN
sti,utions. labor organizations. re- re-
lisious organizations and cultural or
that have formally con.
dcmncd the various inefficient poStal
methods and principles which he cham
"Me specifically uphelds 10. vicious
and un- American postal zon- law with
its unfair postage increases aSalnSt
distant GHun5fei Of the a"a eoun
try, newspapers and periodicals. arc in
Il conspiracy to ruin him. Those whom
Post ne A. 6up,eson @ Is nreann rennt
publishers, but they are, the reading
men and women. the reading homes of
this nation. For by this postal zone
law he demands that any periodical
shall cost moro in postage 10 an Amer
lean reader because of, and in proper
tion to. that readers accidental re-
moteness from any point OF publica-
ton. And when public-spir,ted and
representative organizations; such as
the American Federation of Labor. the
Merchants Association OF &cw York.
the General Federation OF Women's
Clubs, the National Grange, the Ma,
tional Education Association, and
hundreds of others protest against this
vicious and American law, he says
that such expression Of opinion does
not have for its real purpose any de-
sire for Improvement in the postal or
wire service, but is intended to aid in
81 reduction Of the rates
of postage on Sccond-class mail (ncws-
papers and magazincS).'
''On the contrary, the publishers of
the country are lighting in order that
every American shalt pay the same
postage for the same American period
ical or newspaper, no matter where he
happens TO live Publishers are fight
ing for equal postage TO every Ameri-
can everywhere.