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Show oo Burleson Turns On His Critics in Public Address ATLANTIC CITY. X. J. Oct. 15 Vigorously turnlnp against Ills CTltlci m th? first public address he has delivered since entering the cabinet, Postmnscr Gencnil Burleson today told the National Hardware Manufacturers' association, in session here, tho postal administration was "remarkable In d-evelopnient, wonderful wonder-ful In orpani7jtlon and its standard Ol efficiency borders on the miraculous." Speakimr of his policies and efforts made to obtain a reversal, tho postmaster general declared: "A record has been made of what I land for and the record ii not goin to be changed " Burleson divided his critics into two classes, those who were honest and those who were actuated by uUerier motives. The former, hf admitted frankly, included the bulk of the poo- ! pie, because they have not understood the difficulties, undpr which the postal pos-tal service has worked. Th la'ter were said to be thoe interests affected af-fected bv economies made for the benefit of the people, the express companies com-panies which suffered in the developments develop-ments of the parcel post, the railroads rail-roads which objected to space payment pay-ment for carrying the mails, the 'Owners 'Own-ers of pneumatic tube systems wotd were abolished and the newspapers and magazines which fought an in- rrrrirv In thp srrnnd rl.ic;' nnstal rat OS In his first public account of his stewardship after nearly seven years I In office, Mr. Burleson said the average av-erage tenure of postmasters general had been only two years "When the entire world was readjusting read-justing itself to war." he said, "v'ji n our splendid railroad system broke down completely, is It any wonder that there was some slight disarrange ment of thp postal service? Yet there were people who complained thy didn't receive their mail with i"u-larity i"u-larity and dependability. I don't blame them for complaining. It is human, but it was unjust. " "As the only government department depart-ment with a nation-wide organization, the postal service was called upon by all other departments to aid them In war work,'' Mr. Burleson continued,! "ir,d this in spite of the fact that cens of thousands of trained postal eni- pi 03 68 had been called to the colors or been put in cantonments to give soldiers efficient mall service. "In one month, also there were 97,- 1 000 missed train connections." For - I the treasury, Mr- Burleson said, bia ! department distributed tens of ihou- j sands of tons of Liberty loan propi-ganda, propi-ganda, sold 82 per cent of all savings Btams, sold and distributed new tax stamps which included tho auditing j fifts thousand accounts. The postal pos-tal service also distributed millions of questionnaires and acted as a re- ! cmiting service for the war depart-mi depart-mi i r. aldl d in marketing the food con Bervation measure effective and played play-ed a leading part In administering the 'spionage act and registering alien enemies. 1 "Exclusion of seditious matter from the mails was a very unwelcome i task," Mr. Burleson said feelingly. "I was denounced as suppressing free speech, an autocrat and Prussian, but 1 moved on In the even tenor of my j way performing my duty with moder.v Hon. enforcing the law as written. It is a great satisfaction that In every J case where my action was contested tho courts have upheld me." Declaring he was not going to be harsh, the postmaster general turned j I to individual policies which he had J I been attacked. In reducing parcel post rates and increasing the weight limit of parcels, he said he turned a deficit into a surplus but encountered ; opposition from the express compa- 1 nies which came within one vote in 3 the senate of repealing the law. I 00 |