Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-04-17
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post oInceS mas, nope, served
to arouse some interest on the
part Of the usually lethargic
public toward the conduct of
our public business. In this
respect. Mr.. Summarized has
done the country a service, and
! hope more Of the same kind
will be forthcoming.
The American public needs
the shock treatment to get it
to do something about any,
thing which requires the least
amount Of effort on the part
OF the individual. In other
words. this seems to be the
only way to crystalline public
sentiment in this country.
Public affairs are left to poll
ticians and "busybodies." The
average citizen does not know
what 1t takes to run his local
or village government. much
less the more complicated,
larger facets Of our public life.
Most Of the time when he
wants some service or other
OF his local government he
does not know nor care where
the money Is coming from.
This lackadaisical attitude has
LED to many abuses in govern
ment. mainly on the financial
end. So, when the Post Office
announces policy Of restrict
ing certain services to make
ends meet until the next quar-
ter. what is the reaction from
John @. Public? Well, from
what I have heard and read,
1t generally reflects ignorance.
or at best partial knowledge
OF a situation which should
have been understood at the
outset. John @. should read
the papers and current events
magazines. evaluate the mate
rial and form his own opinion.
Then when he speaks he can
inform his Congressman in
such a way that that worthy
Will recognize that his opinion
Is worth something
So let's have some more
shock treatment. Let's find
out why Government agencies
and departments are always
needing and getting more ex-
pensive buildings all the time.
Why 1t is necessary to build
two Senate Office Buildings
and three House Office Build
ings when the total number
OF Congressman cannot be in
creased unless we admit more
States to the Union? Why 1t
is necessary to evaluate the
office OF the vice presidency
70 the extent that the expenses
OF maintaining that dignitary
VIII be enormously multiplied?
How does the public ever ex-
pect to get taxes reduced? Are
not all branches of Govern
ment dedicated to the propo-
sition OF constant expansion
at the expense of the public?
II John @. Public wants to
md out why it is necessary
to close post Offices on Sat-
urday. or curtail advertising
services Il hope they cut them
out altogether), that's one
thing. But let's hope that
leads to bigger questions. And
you can't get the answers un-
less you keep asking.
William r. Thomas, Jr.
Webster defines Pyrrhic
victory as "A success gained
at too great a cost" The
phrase certainly fits Postmas-
ter General Summerfield's
achievement in forcing Con-
gress to approve a supple
mental appropriation of sal
million to help run the postal
establishment during the last
quarter Of fiscal 1857.
The superb automobile sales
man from Flint, Mich. former
chairman Of the National Re-
publican Committee. held a
gun to Congress- head in the
form OF drastic postal service
curtailment and won the day.
The fact that he has been
unable in the first four years
Of his tenure as Postmaster
General TO obtain realistic
postal rate increases would be
proof enough OF his unpopu-
larity with Congress. His
usefulness has been completely
destroyed and he will find 1t
impossible to attract the sup
port he needs to get realistic
postal rates and a undermined
postal service.
Mr. Summerfield seems TO
have attempted the impossible
the application Of the hard
sell tactic common TO auto
mobile statesmen to the polit-
ical arena. The jutted jaw,
the yelled threat and the ulti-
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