Evening star., 1950-06-19
By Crosby S. Noyes

service cuts. it win be tackling a mucn
deeper issue than. whether the postman
should ring once or twice a day. The
main issue is whether postal economy or
postal service is the more important
thing to the American people.
The Post Once committees of both
houses have recently plunked for service.
rather than economy. in approving bills
10 restore the cuts. But the final de-
cision still remains with the full Con-
gress.
Economy was the peg on which the
recent reductions in postal service were
hung. It was a decision made in the
face of the cold fact that the Post
Once Department-one of the biggest
businesses in the world-was operating
in the red to the whopping depth Of
$500 million a year.
Postmaster General Donaldson had
tried other methods of meeting this sit
uation. He had asked Congress for
raise in postal rates that would bring
in an extra $500 million in yearly rev.
enues. When the House whitfield that
figure down to 500 million, Mr.. Dom
aldson called the sum wholly mad
equate" and took his battle to the Sen
ate.
He had even less luck with his annual
appropriation. When the House ap-
proved its one-package $29 billion spend
ing bill, it Topped 5000 million of what
Mr.. Donaldson had asked for, once again
leaving the next move up to the SEN
ate.
To many people, in and out of the
Post ONCE, it seemed inevitable that
postal service would have to be cut to At
this pattern of national economizing. It
also seemed inevitable that cutting the
postal service would cause a fuss.
The fuss got under way as soon as
Mr.. Donaldson issued his retrenchment
order on April 18. From Capitol HILL
came the wall that the move was a
sham. designed to put the heat" on
the Senate to give the Post Office all
the money it wanted And in the proc
ess. trumpeted one Senator, "150 million
tired taxpayers have been hit in the
mailbox"
Protests from the public started roll
ing in as soon as the order was put
into effect. They accumulated in swell
ing files at the Post Office and at news
paper Offices. Some of them were legiti-
mate beefs. Others, obviously, were the
WA n Va OA1AS COAAAPAoA1lC1o.
Many of the complaints came from
small business organizations, located out
side the strictly business area" of cities
which continued to get their regular
three daily deliveries. One Washington
firm, in the 1900 block of H street NV.
protested that the Postmaster's orders
were virtually forcing us to seek Offices
elsewhere
Mr. Donaldson voiced the official
attitude OF the Post Office when he
suggested that most of the protests
came from organized groups with axes
to grind-notably the powerful National
Association of Letter Carriers (AFL),
whose voice was raised shrilly against
the cuts from the very beginning.
To this organization was laid much
of the inspiration for moves that were
soon under way in Congress to force the
Post Office to restore its former service
The union, meanwhile, has made no
bones of the fact that its well-greased
lobbying machinery is rolling at top
speed in preparation for congressional
showdown.
Association spokesmen deny that their
sole interest is in restoring the jobs of
postmen laid off in the economy drive.
They point out that the temporary
Post ONCE employees who lost their jobs
are not members of their organization
anyway.
The association does admit speaking
for it's 100000 members, including
nearly the entire active national
force of letter carriers. This mem
bership. says the union. is solidly
opposed to the new work schedules put
into effect with the service cut.
But the associations chief argument
against the reductions in the postal
service is not made on grounds Of
special interest. Its Spokesmen main
tain that the prime responsibility of
the Post Office Department is service
to the public. They argue that If any
thing Is characteristic of our national
development, it is an increasingly rapid
and dependable system of communica-
tions; that mail is a basic and vital
part of this communications system.
In setting economy ahead of service
in making the mail communication sys-
tenn worse instead of better-the Post
Office Department is charged with abdi-
eating its responsibility.
There are, of course, other suggested
solutions to the Post ONCE dilemma
For one thing, there is the possibility
that Congress may see At to give Mr..
Donaldson the raises in postal rates he
has asked for. Many observers, how
ever. think that the Postmaster has
worked himself into weak position on
this issue by cutting the service first
There also is the possibility that the
present furore over the whole Post
Office situation may do something to-
ward breaking the congressional log jam
on legislation to institute some Of the
major Post ONCE reforms suggested
by the Hoover Commission
That commission found that many OF
the troubles and much of the deficit
could be attributed to inefficient organ
ization of the department. antiquated
bookkeeping methods, and the fact that
the Post Once, more than any other