are reenacted they will cost in the neighborhood of $110,000,000 which will reduce the surplus by that amount. If they are not reenacted it will be necessary to appropriate for additional clerks, carriers, etc., to offset the shorter workweek which would be in effect: so, in any event, the postal surplus for 1946 will be considerably less than the present estimate. This surplus is, of course, brought about by the abnormal amount of mail incident to wartime civilian activity as well as mailings to members of the armed forces.

ITEMIZED COMPARISON BETWEEN APPROPRIATIONS, ESTIMATES, AND

RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE BILL

The following table shows comparatively the amount appropriated for 1945 under each heading for all purposes other than overtime or other wartime additional compensation, the amount of the Budget estimate, which contemplates a 48-hour workweek but which does not include any fund for payment of overtime or other additional compensation, and the amount recommended in the bill which is on the same basis as the Budget estimate. In the text of this report comparisons between appropriations and estimates are based on the figures in this table.

The amounts recommended in the bill for the various departmental salary items will maintain through 1946 the numbers of personnel now on the rolls and such increases as seem absolutely imperative. With present manpower shortages increases in personnel should be held to the minimum required to keep essential work current. The largest increase is provided for the Bureau of Accounts where additional personnel is required on account of additional accounting work incident to the volume of business and the enactment of Public Law 364, requiring agencies of the Government to pay the cost of handling penalty mail. The committee has not approved the amount requested by the Bureau of Accounts for employment of 56 temporary employees to bring up to date the retirement records of postal employees. These records have been neglected and it is now necessary to search old files in order to build up the retirement credit of each employee of the Postal Service who applies for retirement. This is admittedly a wasteful operation and all records should be developed and maintained on a current basis as soon as practicable. However, the committee

believes the project should be deferred-the existing conditions have continued for a number of years-until the manpower requirements of the country will permit the employment of properly qualified personnel on a temporary basis which, more than likely, would not be possible under present circumstances.

INSPECTION SERVICE

The committee has approved the number of inspectors requested in the estimate, but has reduced the amount of appropriation requested from $3,143,500 to $3,050,000 inasmuch as it appears that the original estimate did not make sufficient allowance for probable turn-over, which will result in less expenditure to carry the number of positions provided.

Travel and miscellaneous expenses.-The amount carried in the bill, $950,000, is $12,133 less than the appropriations for 1945 and $25,000 less than the Budget estimate for 1946 but is an increase of about $30,000 over actual expenditures in 1944.

Clerks. The amount carried in the bill, $950,000, is an increase of $25,554 over appropriations for comparable items for 1945 and a reduction of $40,000 below the Budget estimate for 1946. The number of positions estimated for, 365, was increased by the committee to 367 to allow for 2 additional positions which the Department has found it necessary to establish since the original estimate was prepared. Here, again, it appears that the savings resulting from turn-over should permit the number of positions to be carried on the amount of money appropriated.

This appropriation formerly carried only salaries of clerks at division headquarters, and clerks at other posts of duty of postal inspectors were borrowed from the post office rolls but for the past 3 years it has included all full-time clerks in the field service of the inspection division. It has been the practice of the Department to detail such additional clerks as are found to be required from the post office rolls and transfer them to the regular appropriation item in the succeeding year after provision therefor by Congress. The committee is making provision for all full-time clerks found to be necessary at the date of hearings and feels that the number provided should be adequate. No additions to the full-time staff should hereafter be made until appropriated for.

BUREAU OF THE FIRST ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL

ASSISTANT POSTMASTERS

The amount carried in the bill, $10,071,000, is a reduction of $437,000 below the Budget estimate and an increase of $70,900 over appropriations for comparable items in 1945. The committee has not approved the amount requested, $315,000, for 200 additional assistant postmasters as the present number, 3,423, should be sufficient to provide assistant postmasters at all offices where actually needed. The remainder of the reduction below the Budget estimate, $122,000, probably can be absorbed through turn-over inasmuch as there were savings on this account in 1944 of about $167,000 and the 1946 estimate contemplated only $34,500 of such savings.

UNUSUAL CONDITIONS AT POST OFFICES

The amount carried in the bill, $500,000, is a reduction of $100,000 below the Budget estimate and $300,000 below the appropriation for 1945. For many years this item amounted to $75,000 per annum but with the dislocation of postal service due to war conditions it was necessary to appropriate larger amounts. Much of the adjustment to war activity has now been made and the burden on the appropriation to meet unusual conditions is reduced to such a degree as to lead to the conclusion that $500,000 will be adequate in 1946 with more marked reductions possible in future years.

VILLAGE DELIVERY SERVICE

The amount carried in the bill, $375,000, is a reduction of $60,000 below the Budget estimate and $886,000 below the appropriation for 1945. The conversion of established village delivery services to regular city delivery has been at such a rapid rate that the amount recommended should be sufficient to meet all requirements. Conversions resulted in savings of $389,800 in 1944 and will approximate $125,000 in 1945 but the original Budget estimate contemplated only $32,000 in 1946.

CITY DELIVERY CARRIERS

The amount carried in the bill, $172,000,000, is a reduction of $2,000,000 below the Budget estimate and a reduction of $6,855,158 below the appropriation on a comparable basis for 1945. Of the 1945 appropriation, however, $9,222,900 will remain unexpended-so the amount recommended is $2,367,742 more than is required to meet all needs in 1945.

BUREAU OF THE SECOND ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL

STAR ROUTE SERVICE

The amount carried in the bill, $19,150,000, is a reduction of $350,000 below the Budget estimate and a reduction of $450,000 below the appropriation for 1945. Of the 1945 appropriation, $1,411,000 will remain unexpended. The increase over actual costs in 1945 contemplated by the estimate was predicated largely on probable higher rates resulting from new contracts to be let. It is impossible to predict accurately the amount of such increases, but, inasmuch as contracts have been rewritten on practically all star routes since the beginning of the war, it is logical to assume that in most instances the additional costs incident to war conditions already have been taken into account and that the contract rates should now be fairly stabilized.

BALANCES DUE FOREIGN COUNTRIES

The committee has eliminated this item, for which an estimate of $1,500,000 was submitted. This appropriation is used in settling accounts with foreign postal services after taking into account amounts due the United States, and the departmental officials testified that there is a sufficient balance on hand to meet all requirements without an appropriation for 1946.

FOREIGN AIR MAIL TRANSPORTATION

The amount carried in the bill, $4,836,000, is a reduction of $1,000,000 below the Budget estimate and an increase of $1,051,000 above the appropriation for 1945. The estimate included $2,320,530 for routes for which rates have not yet been fixed by the Civil Aeronautics Board. The estimates on such routes were based on the best information available to the Department but in some instancesnotably the Seattle to Fairbanks, Alaska, route-the available data was so meager as to furnish no real basis for an accurate estimate and the rates used in estimating probable financial needs appeared to the committee to be excessive. The amount recommended in the bill will meet all requirements on those routes for which rates are now established and should be sufficient to take care of obligations resulting from future rate determinations on other routes until such time as it is possible to submit supplemental estimates to Congress. No payment is made to a carrier until after the Civil Aeronautics Board has announced a rate.

Due to wartime development of the art and science of aviation and of potential fields of operation, former guides in determining fair rates are of little value. The committee is, of course, fully aware of the importance of developing the civilian air services, domestic and foreign, and, in the future as in the past, will cooperate sympathetically in the provision for appropriate measures of support, but desires to urge upon the Civil Aeronautics Board that in determining post-war rates the subsidy feature in the rate structure should be restricted to minimum levels commensurate with adequate governmental support of air services flying the United States flag. It would look with disfavor upon any other course.

BUREAU OF THE FOURTH ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL

EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES

The amount carried in the bill, $4,900,000, is a reduction of $1,000,000 below the Budget estimate and an increase of $660,000 above the appropriation for 1945. The estimate included $1,000,000 for the purchase of stamp-vending devices and omnidenomination machines. For a number of years the Department has been experimenting with various types of such machines and now finds that they have been perfected to such degree that their general use in the Postal Service is recommended. However, the committee believes that the program should proceed more slowly than contemplated by the Department and is therefore recommending $500,000, which accounts for one-half of the reduction imposed. The remainder of the reduction is applicable to the amount included for purchase of equipment for post offices. The Department proposed to purchase standard equipment for a number of small offices which heretofore have not been furnished with Government-owned equipment. It is the desire of the Department to purchase all equipment for third-class post offices as rapidly as available funds will permit. The amount recommended for appropriation will permit the Department to meet the most urgent situations.