Evening star., 1953-07-31
Post Office Deficit

Stars editorial indorsing proposed leg
iSlation to permit the Postmaster Gen.
eral to set the rates of postage on mail
matter.
With regard to granting permisSive
power to the Postmaster General in
the matter of rates, that is one side of
the picture only. You would give him
permission to control his revenues, but
nothing to say about his costs. If it is
desired that the Postmaster General
control the operations of his depart
ment as businessman would. you
should also grant him the authority
to set wages of postal employees and the
rates to be paid carriers for the trans
portation Of the mails.
What is the point of giving the Post
master General power to set the rates,
If that is going to result in his tagging
along behind Congress and the regula-
tory bodies every time they take action
which increases the expenses of the
Post Office Department?
In regard to the rates, the Post Of
f1ce's cost ascertainment system, which
has been strongly defended by the
present Postmaster General, shows that
the frst-claSs mail pays its way and
has been doing so for over 20 years.
1t further shows that by far the great
est part Of the postal deficit is caused
by second and third-clasS mail
periodical publications and direct mail
advertising.
The proposed bill provides that five
eighths of the increase requested shall
come from f1rst-class-already paying
itc uyoU-mhi1o uIoof oron,,ofe - roov,oi-
nal increases are made on second and
third-claSs
The general public does not generate
second and third-claSS mail. It Is
created by publishers and businessmen
engaged in commercial activities. for
gain. Why should the general public.
which is already shouldering a large
part OF the postal deficit, shoulder even
more OF 1t? James b. Cook, jr.
wish to take issue with the view
point advanced by William A. Walsh in
a letter concerning Post Office deficits.
When Mr.. Walsh talks Of reducing the
deficit, he necessarily had to come to
the problem of increasing postal rates.
This Of course raises the question of
ought to be increased, If any-an ex-
ceedingly complex problem. However, if
understand Mr.. Walsh's position cor
rectly, he lays the problem directly at
the door Of news publications which are
primarily delivered under second-class
rates.
Third-class mail. consisting in
the main Of circular advertise
ments addressed to Occupant" and
the like, produces revenues equal to
only one half of it's fully distributed
share of expenses. While it is true that
revenue from second-class news publica-
tions supplies only one-quarter of its
comparable cost, it should be remem-
bered that no consideration has been
accorded newspapers on the theory
that mail contributing to the public
store of information and knowledge
should be charged only at the rate of
additional cost it incurs and not at a
rate which will pay the Departments
overhead. The reason for this is that
the Post Office would have to maintain
most of its service whether or not news
papers were dispatched by mail. Mr..
Walsh and H. r. 6052 conveniently
4SI1O1C
AS citizen interested solely as a
consumer" of Post Office services, I
feel that one should not criticize a piece
of legislation unless one is willing to
offer some alternative. However, as an
individual who gets his share of un-
wanted advertising circulars addressed
to Occupant" I think the remedy
should not be at the expense of greater
increases on news publications moving
on second-claSs rates as long as it is
contemplated that third-class adver-
tising circulars remain at deficit pro-
ducing rates. To advocate such a pro-
gram is nothing more than assessing
the American taxpayer for subsidy to
fill wastebaskets. Since news publica-
tions are subscribed to by choice and
third-class advertising matter crowds
your mail box whether you like it or
not, think it is clear why H. r. 6052
and Mr.. Walsh should not enjoy serious
public support. John A. Quisenberry.