White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1933-06-01

How 1t Operates
By William Bracka,t
OUR POSTAL SERVICE

red tWO-center that Sut1ced prior 10
that time, but will wager you did
not make much noise about 1t after
all. l think that l can tell you the
reasons why you complained so little
about that increase Of one-third in
the postal rates: there is nothing that
gives you so much for so little as
does the postal service.
Had the landlord increased your
rent by third, you would have moved
right out; had the grocer raised any
price that much, you would have gone
Immediately to his competitor, and
had you been told by your bank that
the interest rate yov were paying was
to be raised 1913 per cent, you would
have sworn vengeance.
1 have wondered since that rate
Increase went into effect whether pos
sibly It was not good thing from
the standpoint Of patrons of the post
al service as well as assuring to the
federal government something near
the amount Of funds it has to have to
pay operating expenses. The fact that
there was an increase in rates, espe-
cially on letters, brought to the at
tention Of all of us the benefits we
had been enjoying through years and
years of that service which we ac-
cept as a matter Of course.
1t costs between $600,O00,0OO and
f7OO,OOO.OOO to operate that farflung
system known as the postal service
each IL months The principle was In
culcated In our governmental struc-
ture when the nation was formed
that this service should be self-sus-
tanning, though 1t is run by the fed
eral government. 1t never has been
quite able to pay its own way, but
at the same time 1t never has been
much Of charge on the government
itself.
The reason postal rates never have
quite succeeded in producing sufficient
revenue to pay all expenses of the
great organization that serves, is that
fundamental belief that it should
not be an agency for profit. In other
words, congress always has chung to
the idea of having the postal service
do it's Job Just as cheaply (for the
people) as 1t can and that it is better
for it to fall just little short of
making expenses than to take from
those who use that service more than
Is needed. IF there Is deficit at the
end Of the year, as there nearly al
ways has been. congress has been
willing to take care of 1t with an APP
propriation from funds received by
general taxation.
But in the last several years when
the volume of letters fell off as it
always does when there is not much
business, the amount of the deficit
grew to size which congress de-
cded was little too large. So 1t
turned to the increase in the postage
rate on letters to make up part Of the
loss. That one-cent increase probably
will not be enough to offset the an
tiripated deficit completely, but 1t will
!. reduce the difference between the in
come and the expenses to a compare
lively small sum- IF there had been
no rate increase, I am told that the
deficit from last July to the end OF
next June would have approached
S2OO,OOO0OO.
And that brings another thought.
AS a people, Americans have al
ways stood against the government
engaging in business. or course. there
are exceptions vet that has been our
general conception. We have always
said as people that government was
not created for any other purpose
than to govern. 1t was not a busi-
ness institution as we know business.
Yet, there are not many greater busi-
nesses than the postal service, and
1t is not an agency that governs orr
conduct or our relations with our
neiohbors except indirectly. Why.
then should not private capital and
private industry perform the service
and enjoy the profits therefrom?
The answer Is simple. The reason
Is that those who conceived our form
Of government and envisioned the
magnitude of our nation. at the same
time. saw the necessity for a uniform
system Of handling its written COM
municatlOns.
Those men recognized more than
century and half ago that the in
dividual states must not he allowed
to control the means Of communities
ton; that when letter was once
started on it's way, It must 90 on,
and that only one agency could he
made responsible II success were to
be attained.
The post master general occupies
the post Of head Of the post Office
department Embodied in It are dozens
OF supervisory agencies filled for the
most part by men and women who
have moved up through the ranks
Of workers who gained appointment in
the service only after meeting civil
service tests. They were promoted on
merit.
What / have said relative to the
machinery Of the postal service does
not apply, however, to several thou
sand post masters who gain jobs by
a,pointmpnt from the President moi