Milford chronicle., 1950-03-03
WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?

Congress should act promptly and vigor-
Ously on the measures introduced to Stream
line" the Post Office in confornnance with the
recommendations of the bipartisan Commits
sion on Organization of the Executive Branch
of the Government. Such action can arrest
the constantly mounting deficit of this de-
partment, now in excess of S555. .OOO. 900. The
Post Office is big business and as a business
operation it is potentially self-sustaining. It
is far from that An archaic structure. od5-
sOlescent procedures and outmoded equip
ment are responsible together with the fact
that maze Of laws and regulations fetter
the personnel and hamper efficiency. Poli-
tics, hidden subsidies and a cumbersome
budgetlng and accounting system contribute
TO the hopeless confusion. The Hoover Com
mission found that the people who work in
the Post Office Department are not to blame
IN any sense for these conditions. Postal en-
plOyeeS are conscientious workers as rule.
and their salaries are not high. But "ambi-
tion is discouraged and efficiency reduced by
the political selection of Postmasters," the
Commission found. The latest audit shows
that:
The revenues of the Post Office are 81 g
billions year. 1t employs 100000 persons.
1t operates $4,000 branches and maintains
$4,000 buildings. 1t maintains a fleet of
lO,OOO vehicles; transports and delivers more
than 81 billion pieces of mail annually: con-
ducts 800 million transactions in money
orders, collect deliveries, etc.. and runs a
"bank" of four million depositors and ac-
counts totalling $3.4 billions. The Hoover
Commission found that about $40 Millions
a year could be saved by moderning the or
ganlzatlon, methods, and equipment of the
Post Office. Annual losses could be curtailed
an additional $114 millions a year by fixing
new rates on specialized items. This is a lot
OF money. 1t is part of the SO billions a year
which the Commission revealed is being spent
needlessly by the federal government as
whole
Now before Congress are three bills that
would ettectuate the recommendations of the
Commission. They are S.2212 and S.2213
ana H.R.5775. The recommendations are
I'D The Post Office should be taken out of
politics; Senate confirmation of Postmasters
should be abolished the Postmaster General
should not be an official of political party.
W A Director of Posts should be named and
the Post Office recentralized into Is regions
under Regional Directors and District Su-
perlntendentS. (3) The principles of busi-
ness management, budgeting, accounting and
audit should be applied to the Post Office. (4)
Inc laws, regulations and other stipulatiOns
governing the Postal service should be sim
pllhed. (5) Hidden" subsidies to airlines
and other carriers should be made instead a
matter OF open" appropriation bv Congress.
C6) The Post Office should be authorized bv
congress to make rates for specialized SER
vices, IN order to make such services self-sup-
porting. II these recommendations as set
forth IN the Hoover Report are adopted. Won
stand to profit as a taxpayer It's up to Won
as citizen to demand action on them now
Write your Senators and Congressman
on how you feel about these measures to elm
mate waste, improve efficiency and increase
the services of the Post Office. Tell them Won
are IN favor of the Hoover Reports proposals
and tell them why.