OCR Text |
Show Government Encroachment Upon Private Business Fcr many years the Government has sold embossed stamped envelopes envel-opes with and without the return card printed matter on a corner of the envelope. The Government does not make the envelope or do the embossing and printing, but lets the job as an entirety to the lowest low-est bidder and usually for a period of four years. A plant in Dayton, Ohio, now does the work. Requisitions from every post office in the country are received at Washington, where they are audited and sent to Day-ten Day-ten to be filled. In 1931 the post offices throughout the country sold 1,078,688,683 plain embossed envelopes and 1,756,723.688 embossed em-bossed envelopes with the usual printed return card. The Government Govern-ment paid $3,264,809.65 for the envelopes en-velopes and printing. It added a.- a cost of distribution, which includes in-cludes a margin of profit, $3,426,-560.44. $3,426,-560.44. The public said at the rat-; of $2.11 per thousand for the envelopes en-velopes without the printing, and $2.48 per thousand for the envelopes envel-opes and printing, both exclusive of printing, both exclusive of postage. post-age. It is claimed by some that the merchandising of these envelopes by the Government is an encroachment encroach-ment upon private business; that the sale as well as the manufacturing manufac-turing and printing should be left to private industry; that it is unfair un-fair to local communities where the envelopes are used to have the work done somewhere else. Others claim that it would b? impracticable to have local printers print-ers do all or any part of the work, both from the standpoint of expense to the Government in the cost of small jobs, compared with large ones, and the great amount of detail which it would involve. But. say others, the Government could go out of the printing and envelope business and leave the detail of placing stamps on the envelopes to the individual users. Thus the sale of 2,834,000,000 en velopes and the printing on part of them would have gone to local dealers and printers where the envelopes en-velopes are used. It is pointed out by those who favor the present plan that it saves the general public pub-lic much time and expense in its very conveniences; that it enables the Government, by ordering large quantities, to sell envelopes at a much lower price than private dealers could afford to sell them and at the same time make a good profit which goes toward maintaining maintain-ing the cast cf government. Furthermore, Fur-thermore, it is maintained that the printing jobs would be negligible negli-gible in small or even the larger communities as it would be done by manufacturers of envelopes and sold to stationers at a cost les-. than the local printer could do the work, yet at a price higher than the Government charges. Other features of the postal service ser-vice objected to as an encroachment encroach-ment upon private interests are the postal savings system, the postal pos-tal money order system and tho-parcel tho-parcel post system. Some bankers claim that the postal savings system competes with their business. Those who favor fa-vor the plan maintain that the competition is comparatively little-despite little-despite the increase of postal savings sav-ings deposits from $153,000,000 as cf June 3, 1929, to $866,000,000 as of October 30, 1932; that these deposits de-posits being actual money and not deposits based on credit balance , or bank loans, are immediately re-: re-: deposited an banks which give col-lateral col-lateral security in the form of U. , S. state and municipal bonds. The Government pays 2 per cent to the depositors and receives 2 per cent from banks. The proponents further claim that these postal . savings are long-time deposits upon up-on which the banks usually pay 3 to 4 per cent, which they say is . advantageous to the bank. Moreover, More-over, these postal deposits now constitute con-stitute a large stable volume of money upon which a vast credit structure may be built and which will do much to stabilize the fiscal affairs of the country. Some are of the opinion that a goodly portion of the money deposited de-posited in postal savings would otherwise be hoarded. As it is the money gets into the banks by re-deposit, re-deposit, where it forms a wide basis of bank credit in the form of loans to the people. The postal money order service of the Government, both domestic and international, aggregated $1,-621.000,000 $1,-621.000,000 in 1931, upon which the Government collected $15,529,000 in fees. Some complain that this is an encroachment on the business busin-ess of express companies and banks and should be discontinued. Others claim that the postal money order service facilitates exchange in many ways, increases confidence in such matters, lessens the cost of exchange to the people, gives the Government a small profit and is in line of social progress. Those who favor the parcel post service admit that it encroaches - upon the once domain of private , enterprise but regard it as they do other social services, in the inter -, est of the public weal. They say t that this question was fought out l in Congress over a period of forty years, with the people on one . side and the express companies on 1 the other and that the history of the service justifies its continu-i continu-i ance. |