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The Anti-Government Competition Act
Dv How caih we materially cut the cost of government without imperiling or eliminating any activity which the coUntry really needs? N 1 v
There is one good answer to that all-important question. It is this: Py getting government out of tax-exempt business-type activities which can and should be earned on by taxpaying private enterprise. ' * . Bills designed to do just that are now pending in both House and Senate. They: are known as the Anti-Govern ' ment Act, jand they would direct all the Federal agencies to get out land stay out of most business-type activities not . specifically authoried by statutes.? \ ' ^ In a lettjer to members urging support of these bills, the - President pf the Chamber of Commerce of Del Rio, Texas, said our free enterprise system depends on you and me. ; Its very life is being snuffed out by subsidized government . competition.” That is not an exaggeration- government has • gonea into business on a far greater scale than is generally .understood, and the cost to the taxpayers runs far into the - billions. C< ogress could do no greater service to the coounreverse
that trend. try than tc
framed in
Grossly Misleading*
The Pont Office Department has issued a new release,
question-and-answer fashion, concerning postal^ leficits an $ prospective rate revisions. One question rea
parcel post a big money loser for the Department, And Wouldn't an increase in this class of mail help solve' deficit” The answer given is: ‘‘No. Parcel post rates are by law so that this class of mail service pays its own way.
That statement .has been described as “incorrect and grossly misleading” by a man who (knows—President A. L. Hammejll of the Railway Express Agency. And he backs his positioh up with an abundance of facts and figures. Tlife truth is, ajs Mr. Hammell shows, that parcel post has been a big monby loser, and its acumulated 1926-56 deficit totalad $1,2171486,822. Most of this loss-^- $903,841 651— occurred in the 1946-56 period. And the deficit figures do not include'certain indirect and other, losses which run into king-sized figures. , _ Mr. Hartnell states his case thus: “How would you like to have alcompetitor appear in your, line of business who Is furnished working capital without interest by the Federal government....who does not have to pay local state or Federal tixes of any kind....who does not have to be concerned with making a profit—who sets his prices below yours, not only by the1 amount thus saved, but at a level more that 15 per cent below the out-of-pocket costs, with Federal taxpayers making up that difference, too.”
Finally, Mr. Hammell and his company are not alone in this. The' Hoover Commission, along with many other or! ganizations of-high repute, have pointed to the parcel post . deficit and called for rate schedules sufficent to meet all costs including the indirect costs. And that is exactly what should be done, despite the Post Office Department's “No” answer. ■ \ * | ’
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