Progress Above Politics

Larry O'Brien, who made his name as an astute political strategist and for the past 17 months has been one of the most progress-minded Postmasters General in history, last week put progress above politics by urging that his department be reorganized from top to mail drop. In the process, he proposed the abolition of his own job.

Before a joint meeting of the Magazine Publishers Association and the American Society of Magazine Editors in Washington, O'Brien advocated a radically new setup under which 1) a government-owned corporation would replace the present Cabinet-level department, 2) responsibility for operations would be vested in a board of di rectors nominated by the President and confirmed by Congress, and 3) the board would select a professional administrator to run the service.

Sweet & Pungent. Any less stringent reform, O'Brien argued, could only be "painful and difficult" because of the "restrictive jungle of legislation and custom that has grown up around the Post Office Department." If the telephone system were run as the mails are, he said, "the carrier pigeon business would still have a great future." In view of the postal service's snowballing problems (TIME, Dec. 30), the idea of a quasiindependent agency similar to the Tennessee Valley Authority offers some compelling advantages.

Congress has long relied on the postal service as a tub of sweet-and-pungent pork. Instead of using the patronage system, which has hurt morale and impeded efficiency, the corporation could promote on merit. Another major problem has been the Post Office's archaic technical facilities; with construction programs pressured on one side by budget vagaries and on the other by congressional logrolling, it has tended to be more interested in concrete than com puters--though even its buildings are inadequate. The agency envisioned by

O'Brien would sell bonds for capital improvements and help amortize them by including commercial space in Post Office buildings.

Under the present setup, the Postmaster General has only limited control over his department. Congress sets rates, wages and other regulations, sometimes with devastating results. The 89th Congress adopted a rule governing employees' work schedules that had the unintended effect of adding 45,000 men. Under O'Brien's scheme, Congress would do no more than establish broad guidelines to determine how much of the postal service should be financed by general appropriations and how much by users' fees. After that, the corporation would be on its own.

Testing the Wind. The changeover would not be easy. One obvious problem would be the status of nearly 700,000 employees now under the civil service system. Another prickly question would be whether, under a corporate system, postal strikes could be outlawed, as they are today.

While earlier proposals for reorganizing the postal service have been shelved, this one--developed by an

O'Brien study group--has some chance of fruition. The initial reaction from Congress, the postal unions and major postal users was generally favorable. President Johnson has accepted O'Brien's blueprint, at least to the extent of testing the wind, and last week appointed a commission to study it.

Meanwhile, the Administration must make the present system work. Last week Johnson sent to Congress his recommendations for increases in both postal charges and employee compensation. First-class mail would go up 10 an ounce, while the cost of second, third-and fourth-class mail would increase between 21% and 28%.-When fully effective, the increases would bring in an additional $800 million a year. Pay for employees would go up 4.5%.

As for O'Brien's reorganization scheme, a top Post Office official remarked that "if anyone can put it across, he can." Which would make the Postmaster General not only the best of his breed but also the last.

-Some congressional critics argue that in the case of third-class mail--now amounting to 20 billion pieces a year--the increase is insufficient, since such mail includes a great number of unsolicited brochures and advertisements and needs a yearly subsidy of $265 million as the Post Office now allocates costs.

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