The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1933-02-25
Our Governments
How Il Operates
OUR POSTAL SERVICE
By William Bruckart


TT is possible that you felt you had
! 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 suiiiced prior
to that time, but | will wager you
did not make muen noise about ii
! 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 yolir
rent 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 pay
ing was to be raised 1913 per cent,
you would have sworn vengeance.
have wondered since that rate
Increase went into effect whether
possibly it was not good thing from
the standpoint of patrons of the
postal service as we'll as assuring
to the federal government some
thing near the amount of funds it
has to have to pay operating eX-
penses. The fact that there was
an increase in rates, especially on
letters, brought to the attention of
all of rs the benefits we had been
enjoying through years and years of
that service which we accept as
matter of course.
1t costs between $G00,000000 and
$700.000,000 to operate that farfung
system known as the postal service
each 12 months. The principle was
inculcated in our governmental
structure when the nation was
formed that this service should be
self-sustaining, though it is run by
the federal government. 1t never
has been quite able TO pay its own
way.
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 (for the people) as it can,
md that it is better for it to fall
just little short of making ex-
penses than to take from those who
use that service more than is need
ed. If there is deficit at the end
of the year, as there nearly always
has been, congress has been willing
to take care of it with an appropria-
ton from funds received by gen.
eral taxation.
But In the last several years when
the volume of letters fell of as 1t
slways does when there is not much
business, the amount of the deficit
| grew to a size which congress de-
| tided was a little too large. So 1t
| turned TO the increase in the post
| age rate on letters to make up part
of the loss. That one-cent increase
probably will not be enough to off,
set the anticipated deficit complete
| IL, but 1t will reduce the difference
between the income and the ex-
penses to a comparatively small
SIM. If there had been no rate IN
crease, am told that the deficit
from last July to the end of next
June would have approached $780,
100000.
And that brings another thought.
| AS a people. Americans have al
says stood against the government
engaging In business. OF course
| there are exceptions, yet that has
been our general conception. We
have always said that government
was not created for any other pur-
pose than to govern. 1t was not
a business institution as we know
business. Yet. there are not many
| greater businesses than the postal
service, and 1t Is not IN agency that
governs our conduct or our relations
with our neighhors except indirectly.
Why, then, should not private cap
ital and private industry perform
the service and enjoy the profits
therefrom?
The answer Is simple. The rea-
| son is that those who conceived our
form of government and envlsioned
the magnitude Of our nation. at the
same time, saw the necessity of a
uniform system Of handling its writ
ten communications.
Those men recognized more than
a century and half ago that the
individual states must not he al
lowed to control the means of CON-
munieatlon; that when q letter was
| once started on it's way, 1t must go
on, and that only one agency
| could be made responsible Ii success
were 10 be attained.
The postmaster general occupies
the post of head of the Post Office
department Embodied In II are dog
ems OF supervisory agencies, filed
for the most part By men and won-
| en- who have moved up through the
| ranks OF workers who gained ap-
pointment in the service only after
| meeting civil service tests. They
/ were promoted on merit.
What I have said relative to the