Show n Balancing The T he P. P O. O Budget The Post Office ff ice department is running in the r red That is not news because for many years the P. P P O. O 0 c department department de- de has has- ended nearly every year with a deficit O One item on which the department loses money is second ch class classIna Ina matter er newspapers and magazines A very low rate was set for these publications long ago as a means of o encouraging them t m in their work of disseminating information to the pc peo- peo pie Some of this information is good some bad but on the whole the newspapers and magazines of the country ha have done a very good job in keeping the American people wi well informed on local and world events and in helping mo mold public in the American way Such publications hain ha have in fact been termed the post-graduate post teachers of the Ar American Am- Am p people ople And any kind of schooling costs money Now the P. P O. O 0 department proposes a bill which would greatly increase ase the postage rates on such publications Tl The proposed rate would be so high as to put many publications out of business and to so increase the subscription rates of others that millions of people would have to forego reading them This low postage rate has been considered a service servit by the government not to the publishers but to the poop people who read the magazines and newspapers Competition in tt the publishing field is very keen and few indeed are the pul publishers pub pub- lishers Ushers who have made great fortunes Most of them e especially es- es of smaller newspapers newspapers and magazines are able tomake t to tom m make ke a very modest living But most of them do render rende a very v ry real service to the public It is almost universally ad admitted that the low postage rate is therefore a service to the public And most government government government govern govern- ment services to the people cost money much more mone money than does this service of distributing second class mail t to the people at a a. a cost greater than the amount of postage charged Now if the Post Office department really wants to balance balance balance bal bal- ance the budget we suggest that the present policy of carrying carrYing car free of charge the mail of government officials an and government agencies be stopped Let each congressman senator cabinet member and other government official who wh now has free mailing right keep accurate account of every piece of mail sent out and at the end of the year or oftener let the house or senate or other agency send to the Post Pos PostOffice PostOffice Office department the actual amount of postage so required for the letters and materials sent out postage free Let the same be done with the Department of Agriculture Agriculture Agriculture Agri Agri- culture the Department of Labor the Army Navy CoastGuard Coast Coas CoastGuard 1 Guard Marines and all other government departments anc and agencies which now use the mails entirely free Let these agencies compensate the Post Office Department and we dare say the he P. P O. O 0 D. D would then become a very profitable agency 1 Of course the other departments of the government would have to foot the bill And where would those departments departments depart depart- ments get the money to pay this postage Why from the people of course And who is the government Again why the people of course So the people are called on to pay the Post Office deficit which results from carrying millions of tons of mail mailat mailat at a low rate of postage and other millions of tons entirely postage free The people who are really the government should be permitted to have a voice in saying which type of mail they prefer to have curtailed through a higher rate of postage Do they want to lose their weekly newspapers and their farm home literary and other magazines for any great increase in postage on these publications would cause many of them to go out of business and most others would have to boost their subscription rates to almost prohibitive prohibitive prohibitive pro pro- heights for most people to pay or do the people want to have less of the free documents and sent out by w government officials M j and agencies UA and depart- depart ments ments' I Which is most eagerly and thoroughly read Which renders the greater public service Which does the best job in in giving post-graduate post education to the people of the country We are of the opinion that the people who are the government would much prefer to have their newspapers newspapers newspapers news news- papers and magazines We suggest therefore that the Post PostOffice PostOffice PostOffice Office department continue to render a public service in distributing at a low rate of postage the second class mail matter that has kept and now keeps America so well vell in in- formed To offset th the thc small loss caused by this service to all the people who read vwe we suggest that the other government government government govern govern- ment agencies pay the Post Office department for the service service service ser ser- vice rendered by the P P. O. O D. D to those ag agencies in distributing ing their mail Do this and there would be no P. P P O. O deficit although the people would get a much clearer picture of the actual f cost of all these other agencies Government service always costs money but we daresay daresay dare daresay say that no other service unless it is the schools gives such l high value for lor or the money expended as does the distribution of second class mail at a low rate and at a comparatively small cost to the government the people |