The Washington herald., 1920-12-22
BY ALBERT SMALL.


Whether the s17.ooo,oeo Postofice
deficit is due to ineficiency. as the
public declares in thousands OF let
ters to members Of Congress, or to
salary raises. as Postmaster Gem
eral Albert S. Burleson explains.
probably will be settled March 1.
when the joint Congressional COM
mission. of which Senator Charles
L. Townsend, of Michigan, is chair
man. reports on the investigation
which has been in progress for
some time.
Discovery that facts concerning
the handling of mails are SO inter-
dependent that none can determine
any definite results without the
consideration of all, and that the
masses of data affecting the postal
system in all its multitudinous ac-
tivities must be carefully sifted
before any conclusions are reached,
has made il probable that Senator
Townsend will ask for a continue
tton of the commission when its
work is reported two months hence.
The chairman said yesterday il
could go on boring into the enor-
nous details of the department for
a year.
Data Is being supplied by an eff
cheney concern whose experts have
been searching every phase of the
work and submitting the facts in
black and white TO the commission.
The work of this firm has become
so extensive that il recently de-
cided to install an Office in Wash
ington. The charges that anti
Quated and expensive methods are
employed by the Postoffice Depart
ment is counterbalanced by the
claims of the Postmaster General
that system has been perfected
that cannot be improved upon.
Probe Is Impartial
We are not trying to convict
the Postmaster General" said Sem
ator Townsend yesterday. I'VE do
not charge that he is inefficient or
that there is any evil in the de-
partment. There are delays in the
mails and enormous losses from the
destruction of parcels. and there is
complaint that the savings business
Is not properly handled. There are
varfvYs other reasons for the inves-
tigation, hArause IL the department
is not conducted in a strictly busi-
ness way IL shocl1 be and IL must
be. 1t is supposed tn be self-sus-
tanning. yet there is a huge deficit.
The public should pay for .hA serv-
ice, and the service should be sat-
isfactory to the public. II IL is
found that the old methods still
in use are expensive, that new
methods being tested are hopeless
that officials are not efficient; If
anything is wrong the commission
shall recommend changes in accord
ance with its findings.
Our investigation is a huge job,
but once the essential changes are
made and expert methods are es-
tablished where they may be lack
ing, the saving will amount to
millions and perhaps billions in the
years to follow. In the same degree
that we; demand efficiency of the
department we of the joint COM
mission are making our investiga-
tion efficient. We are finding out
how the mails are being handled in
New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Chi
cago, Philadelphia and Detroit Are
the tube systems. less effective than
the motors cars? Should there be
another tunnel in New York be-
tween the Pennsylvania and Grand
Central stations?
Questions at Issue.
IF there is any reason why the st.
Louis tube should be abandoned for
surface dispatch of the mails, what
reason is it? Should parcels be sep
arated from the first class mail in
order. to save the hauling Of petty
loads bS big trucks in the city trans
fer of mails? should first class
mails be separated from all other
mails in the handling?
I'VE want TO know whether space
contracts with railroads for trans
portation are better than the weight
and whether sorting of
mails on the trains under the change
is so expensive as to make II profit
able to sort at terminals.
I'VE are trying to flnd OUT just