Evening star., 1953-01-11

-plTeyS \eAtreme leIL), puDllc
Pratt, MIR. Summerfield's per.
paign. And after the election
Gen Eisenhower appointed two
Michigan LIen to the cabinet
C. E. Wilson. president of Gen.
eral Motors, and Mr.. Summer.
field, and a third, Joseph M
Dodge, a Detroit banker, to bt
Director of the Budget, the mos
important administrative job il
the Government. AS for Gov
Fine. he can hardly take much
satisfaction in the only appoint.
ment of Importance that went tc
his State. Harold Stassen, the
president of the University o1
Pennsylvania, whose po,itica
strength is in his native state OF
Minnesota. was made head o1
the Mutual Security Administra.
ton, the Marshall Plan agency
Polled Popular Opinion.
Mr.. Summerf1eld talked al
some length on the effort mis- or.
ganiZation made to find out
whom the people wanted as the
Republican candidate.
1--WE asked gasoline station
men and mailmen to talk to peo-
plea and see whom they were
for" he said. I'VE told them we
didn't want names; we Just
wanted to get the popular senti-
ment."
He told the county leaders, he
said, to make sure that the high.
est,type men and women in theil
communities were named as DEL
egates.
1t was about two weeks nefore
the convention. he said when il
became apparent to him that
Gen. Eisenhower was to be the
nominee. He brought no pres
sure to bear on any of mis- dele
gates, he said, just kept them in.
formed.
At any rate he ran the dele.
cation very successfully. HI
alone addressed it's caucuses anc
in the end he brought the Michi-
gan force in on the winning side
at a time and in a manner thai
was appreciated.
Anticipates New Job.
He talked with anticipation
about his new job-about the
wonderful spirit of the people ir
the postal service, the biggest
asset of the institution.
He had spent three hours with
his predecessor, JESSE Donaldson
going over the immediate neces-
sites of the department and the
recommendations for the Post
Office made by the Herbert
Hoover Commission on Reorgan-
ization of the Government.
Mr.. Summerfield is aware o1
the enOrmity of the problem the
Post Office presents to any in
coming postmaster general al
this time. No businessman car
be expected to bring to it the
methods by which business es-
tablishments survive - charging
enough for the goods or services
sold to make a profit
He didn't say so, but the post
Office is an operation that could
drive a businessman crazy. II
went $500 million in the rec
last year and is headed for a
deeper dive. What it charges
for It's services is fixed by Con-
gress-sometimes with no regard
to the cost of those services
What it is charged for transpor-
tation is fixed by the Interstate
Commerce Commission and the
Civil Aeronautics Board, some
times without regard to the cost
as in the case of airplane rates
that amount to subsidies. The
pay of the postal employees also
is fixed by Congress and the only
way a Postmaster General can
save large amounts is to let the
number go down. as Mr.. Donald
son did when he reduced mail
deliveries to one a day.
The cost rate of operating the
department for a year has in
creased almost SIS billion since
1945 and the increase of annual
revenues is less than $400 mil
lion. So it takes herculean effort
to keep the deficit from going
beyond the billion mark. The
way it was done was by cutting
the service provided in 1945.
No wonder Mr.. Sun1merfleld
has been a bit cautious since
his appointment about predict
ing restoration of two deliveries
a day.
Good Word From Mailman.
When speculation began in
the press that Mr.. Summerfield
would be named Postmaster
General. A. T. Wright, a post
man whose route is in Flint's
west end. had a talk with Mrs
Summerfield. He said he hoped
her husband would take the job
because a man of his ability
could do so much for the postal
service.
When Mr.. Summerfield &C.
cepted the appointment, he asked
how many employees the Posl