The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-03-31
OurGoverumeut
How 1t Operates
BY William Bruckart
OUR POSTAL SERVICE

L some complaint to make last July
when you had to place a three-cent
stamp on your letters instead Of the
red two-center that sufficed prior to
that time, but l will wager you did
not make much noise about 1t after
all. / think that 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 a 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 you were paying was
to be raised 1919 per cent you would
have sworn vengeance.
I have wondered since that rate
Increase went into effect whether pos
sibly 1t was not a 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 S600.000000 and
S70O,OO0,OO0 to operate that fariung
| system known as the postal service
each II 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 it is run by the fed
eral government. It never has been
quite able to pay its own way. hut
| at the same time 1t never has been
much of a 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 1t should
not be an agency for profit. In other
words. congress always has chung to
the idea of having the postal service
do its Job just as cheaply tfor the
people) as It can and that it Is better
for 1t to fall just little short OF
making expenses than to take from
| those who use that service more than
| Is needed. If there Is a deficit at the
end of the year, as there nearly al.
ways has been, congress has been
willing to take care of it with an ap-
preparation from funds received by
general taxation.
But In the last several years when
| the volume of letters fell off as II
always does when there is not much
business, the amount of the deficit
grew to a size which congress de-
cided was a little too large. So II
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
ticipated 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, / am told that the
deficit from last July to the end Of
next June would have approached
5000, 100000.
And that brings another thought.
As a people. Americans have al.
ways stood against the government
engaging In business. OF course. there
are exceptions. vet that has been our
general conception. We have always
said as a people that government was
not created for any other purpose
than to govern. 1t was not a bust
ness institution as we know business
Yet, there are not many greater bust
nesses than the postal service. and
It is not an agency that governs our
conduct or our relations with our
neighbors 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 it's written com.
munfcations.
Those men recognized more than
a century and half ago that the in.
dividual states must not be allowed
to control the means of communica-
ton; that when a letter was once
started on it's way, 1t must go on,
and that only one, agency could be
made responsible IL success were to
be attained.
The post master general occupies
the post of head of the post office
department. Embodied in 1t are dozens
of supervisory agencies. filed 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 l have said relative to the
machinery of the postal service does
not apply, however, to several thou.
sand post masters who gain jobs by
appointment from the President, not
after an examination of their qualifi.
cations but after they have qualified
with the politicians. Fortunately for
patrons of the mails, however. the
machine runs on without squeaks be
cause 1t was organized on a sound
basis. as we later shall see.