Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-20
- OSTMASTER GENERAL
y WALTER F. BROWN ap-
parently has stirred up o


- WALTER F. BROWN ap.
parently has stirred UP Q
- hornets nest with his
speech on the airmail situation
delivered in this city before The
Advertising Club Of washington
His utterances there are the cause
of a great deal of amazed Specula-
ton in the aeronautical world
constituting as they do an appar-
ent reversal Of the policies upon
which the airmail system has been
founded and developed.
In his speech the Postmaster
General calmly lays aside the long
campaign of the Post once De-
partment to build up the airmail
service and suggests restriction
of the system. He apparently
would scrap all the placards use
the Airmail" which appear in post
ohices, on the tops Of postal trucks
and in other conspicuous places all
over the country, adopting In
place of this system of encourag-
ing free use of the modern method
of. speedy mail transportation a
policy of diScouraging what he
terms "promiscuous" use of the
airmail.
"'The department" says the
Postmaster General, "does not
recommend the promiScuous use
of the airmail service and does
not approve bally-hoo campaigns
designed to make all mailings by
plane.
"Our reasons" he continues,
fare two: First, promiSeuouS use
of the airmail service is not good
business for the mailer; second. 1t
is not good business for the de-
partment."
Reverses Old Policy.
Why this apparent right-about-
face on the part Of the head of
the postal service? The depart
ment, since the time the airmall
service was founded, has encour-
aged the use Of the airmail. Upon
what grounds does the Postmaster
General base his conclusion that
the airmail service sis not good
business for the mailer? These
questions are being asked by aero
nautical people.
Eve estimate" Mr.. Brown con-
tinued, "that about IS per cent of
the matter carried by mail does
not require extraordinary speed.
How does the Post once De-
partment determine what mail
m tier requires extraordinary
speed? Surely if the mailer Of an
alrmail letter must pay the extra
8 cents postage required for air.
mail transportation 1t would seem
that he is the one to judge wheth-
er that additional speed is worth
while to him.
Would it not be as logical for the
Post Office Department to request
that the public curtail use OF spe-
cial delivery facilities on the
ground that many such letters do
not require extra expedition in
handling?
Express or Freight?
eff you men are conducting q
direct mail advertising campaign"
Mr.. Brown told his audience of
advertising men, lit, is Of no i'm
portance whether the persons TO
whom you send your advertising
appeal receive the same tomorrow
or day after tomorrow"
It would appear reasonable that
If advertising men and business
firms, who are not in the habit of
throwing money away idly, are
willing to pay the extra price for
airmail service, they must have
some well founded reason for their
expenditure. If the Postmaster
Generals line of reasoning were
followed out we might expect to
find the heads of great railroad
systems advising their patrons not
to use express, but to make their
shipments by freight.
again" continued Mr.. Brown,
sit is Of no consequence whether
statements of account sent out by
merchants the first of the month
reach their patrons on the second
or third because remittance ordi-
narily is not made until the 10th
or 18th of the month"
If merchants are willing to
spend an extra cents postage tc
speed up their collections they
certainly must be convinced that
they are benefiting by the extra
expenditure.
Rail Growth Cited.
A little later in his speech Mr.
Brown pointed out that while
there are only IS airmail routes
under contract there are 4,70s
railway and steamboat mail route;
In the United States" WoulC
there have been so many if the