Second-class postage rates are at the present time restricted to publications which are described by various laws as to both physical characteristics and purposes. These laws when applied to the publications published by The American Legion require, among other things, that the publications must be originated and published for the purpose of disseminating information of a public character, or that they be devoted to literature, the sciences, art, or some special industry. Our publications are also required by the law to have a legitimate list of persons who have subscribed by paying at a rate above nominal for copies to be received during a stated time. Our publications must not be designed primarily for advertising purposes.

The historic policy of low postage rates to encourage the dissemination of current intelligence to benefit the public welfare has always, and does now, include limitations upon the publishers' scope of operations. We have developed our publications with the

understanding that cases of distribution by mail would be governed by the character of our publications and the limitation of their circulation to paid subscribers.

We are not aware of any past proposals having been made by the Post Office Department to the Congress of the United States, nor the Postal Service, in connection with the current regulations calling for a relaxation of the restrictions which publishers must meet in

order to qualify for second-class postage rates.

The Postal Service, as recommended by the Postal Rate Commission, seems to have taken a position which approves that portion of the historic policy requiring publishers to serve the public welfare, but disapproves of that portion of the policy which provided preferential second-class postage rate treatment. Our publications have been developed over many years on the basis and the integrity of the entire policy and the laws which the Congress enacted from time to time to implement the entire policy.

For example, the Congress recognized early in this century that some publications were carrying more advertising pages than During the period of World War I, in 1917, when in

textual pages.

creased revenues were being sought, the Congress prescribed a higher rate of postage for the advertising portion than the rate for the textual portion of commercial publications. At that time the Congress recognized the desirability and equity of providing a special rate of postage for second-class publications lower than the rates for com- . mercial publications.

It exempted various categories of non-profit

publications from the higher rates on the advertising portion and at the same time authorized a flat rate for both textual and advertising portions lower than the rate for textual matter in commercial publications. The Congress has traditionally continued the policy of reduced

second-class rates for authorized non-profit publications since that time. The publications of veterans' organizations and associations are included in the list of organizations entitled to these special

rates.

II.

THE EXORBITANT RATE INCREASES ARE IN CONTRAVENTION OF THE
TRADITIONAL CONCEPT OF THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF PREFERENTIAL SECOND-CLASS MAIL
RATE TREATMENT FOR QUALIFIED NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS AND
ARE IN CONTRAVENTION OF THE POSTAL REORGANIZATION ACT.

Section 101 (a) of the Postal Reorganization Act, herein

after referred to as the Act/1 enunciates Postal policy. The second full sentence of the aforesaid section of the Act provides:

"The Postal Service shall have as its basic function
the obligation to provide postal service to bind
the Nation together through the personal, educational,
literary, and business correspondence of the people."
(Underscoring ours)

Section 3622 (b) (1) through (8) inclusive, of the Act, enunciated the criteria observed by the Postal Rate Commission in the course of making its decision on requests for changes in rates or fees submitted to it by the Postal Service. These criteria are to be considered in pari materia with Section 101 of the Act.

The language appearing in Sections 3622 (b) (1) (4) (7)

and (8) of the Act, and Section 101 of the Act, in our judgment,

1.

Citations hereinafter refer to Public Law 91-375,

August 12, 1970. Reference to the Act shall mean the new
Title 39 United States Code, as provided in Section 2 of the Act.

Indeed, the

clearly supports the proposition that the Congress of the United
States had no intention of abandoning the traditional treatment
accorded second-class authorized non-profit mailers.
language contained in the aforesaid section of the Act appeared to
mandate the Postal Rate Commission to accord preferential rate
treatment to second-class authorized non-profit mailers just as the
Congress of the United States had done over the past 54 years. As
a matter of fact the House of Representatives at one point in its
consideration of H.R.17070 was of the firm opinion that any change
in rates or categories for free or reduced rate mail entailed
questions of policy that were "less appropriate to the expertise of
a rate-making commission than to a Congressional determination of
the public interest."

In spite of the obvious traditional preferential second-class mail treatment for authorized non-profit organizations by the Congress of the United States and its apparent mandate to the Postal Rate Commission in the above-cited Sections of the Act, an examination of the current Postal Service rates applicable to second-class qualified non-profit mailers reveals that this class of mailers has been assigned the second highest rate increase of all classes of mail. When the rates are fully phased in, the increase approximates 235 percent.

93-910 O 73-9

Further examination of the current schedule also reveals that

there is an apparent effort to "close the gap" in the second-class

rate structure for the publications of authorized non-profit organizations as opposed to regular rate publications.

To exemplify this assertion, we cite below a comparison

between the second-class rate structure of regular rate publications and publications of authorized non-profit organizations, employing the postal rates applicable January 1, 1971, and the new rates: RATES AS OF JANUARY 1, 1971