ATTRIBUTABLE COSTS

Miss COOKE. When the Postal Service proposed an increase of 130 percent in the library rate, we recommended that this rate be based on 50 percent instead of 100 percent of attributable costs. In our opinion, the legislative history amply demonstrates that Congress intended that the library rate be based on no more than the costs attributable to this class of mail, that is, attributable cost is to be a ceiling, not a floor, in setting the library rate.

We believe that the legislative history is replete with evidence to indicate that Congress desired the Commission to consider the educational and cultural values to be derived from use of the library rate.

The Commission, however, did not agree with our interpretation of the statute and its legislative history, and the recommendation of the Postal Service for a 130-percent increase, based on 100 percent of attributable cost, has been approved by the Commission. We therefore strongly support provisions of S. 1404 that will mitigate the undue burden to be placed upon libraries and their patrons by clarifying the congressional interpretation of the attributable cost provisions of the law with respect to mail of educational and cultural value.

At this point, I would like to call attention to what I believe is a typographical error in S. 1404 (on page 3, line 22) in section 2(7) (c), after the reference to section No. 4554. The (a) should be dropped because, judging from Senator Humphrey's introductory statement (Cong. Rec., Mar. 28, 1973, p. S5923), voicing concern over the fiscal plight of libraries, I believe he fully intended that the 50 percent attributable cost ceiling apply to the library rate which falls under former section 4554 (b), as well as the book rate under 4554(a).

EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL VALUE

We believe, also, that Congress should reemphasize its intent that the postal rates reflect the special value to our society of materials mailed for educational, cultural, scientific, and informational purposes, which I believe you alluded to this morning when Mr. Klassen was testifying. In our judgment the legislative history of recent years, and indeed the legislative history of the postal laws over many decades, should have conveyed the congressional attitude regarding these materials to the Postal Service administrators. Since this particular message somehow does not seem to have registered, we endorse section 4 of S. 1404 which would add still another criterion to be observed in setting postal rates "the educational, cultural, scientific, and informational value to the recipient of mailed materials."

TRANSITION TO HIGHER RATES

We believe, further, that the legislative history of the Postal Reorganization Act clearly shows that Congress intended an orderly period of adjustment to higher rates with respect to those classes of mail for which 5-year and 10-year phasing of rate increases are permitted. This legislative history, however, is being disregarded by the Office of Management and Budget omission from the President's budget of a requested appropriation for certain subclasses of mail. Therefore we endorse the provisions of S. 1404 that would assure

successive periods of adjustment to higher postal rates by libraries and others. Appropriations to libraries are on a fiscal year basis, and in some cases they are on a biennial basis. Since their receipts from other sources are negligible, they cannot adjust quickly to heavy and rapid increases in their costs, which are burdensome in any event. The 10-year phasing period for special fourth class mail would permit educational institutions and public libraries to adjust to higher rates.

IMPACT OF HIGHER RATES

In response to interrogatories from the Commission and the Postal Service, when we were acting as intervenors, in 1971 we asked a number of representative libraries and State library agencies throughout the country for information about their postal costs and the magnitude of these costs in relation to their budgets. Although the data furnished in response to this survey deal with 1970 and 1971, believe they are instructive and will lend some perspective to the committee's consideration of S. 1404.

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The University of Wyoming, for example, stated that 61 percent of the books received by its library were delivered by mail and all of the interlibrary loans were sent by mail. Increased postal costs would necessarily be charged against the library's book budget, thus reducing the number of books they could buy.

The CHAIRMAN. I do not know how you could have introduced a more significant statistic than that.

Miss COOKE. The State Library of Ohio spent $1,860 on library rate fourth class in 1970, and sustained a 37 percent increase the following year as $2,555 was expended. The Alaska State Library in Juneau spent $1,723 on library rate postal costs in 1970, which were increased by about one-fourth, to an estimated $2,154 the following

year.

The CHAIRMAN. He will get that message too, we will see.

Miss COOKE. In other States, the impact of higher postal rates can be even more damaging to the primary mission of the libraries. even though their scale is smaller. In 1970, for example, the department of libraries of the State of Vermont reported library rate postal costs of $988 which were increased more than 50 percent by an estimated $580 during 1971. The Vermont Department of Libraries has started a bookfetch program because so many rural citizens lack easy access to a public library. The program is assisted under the Library Services and Construction Act. An inexpensive circular is mailed to postal patrons who can then order any three titles for free delivery by mail and for return to the library by mail. The director of this books by mail service has said, "We frankly shudder at what the increased library rate will do to this project."

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, we appreciate this opportunity to present the views of the American Library Association on S. 1404, and we urge its enactment as a means of assuring wide distribution among our people of the many materials of enlightenment that are available from the libraries of the United States.

I urge you to help enactment of this legislation that would assure broaden dissemination of information.

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The CHAIRMAN. We thank you. As you well know, the members of this committee feel the library is an institution that has a unique roll of its own that is not matched by other nonprofit groups, certainly not by profit in most cases, Those of us who have come up through a kind of a dependence on the library and books are doubly conscious of the penalties of increased costs; namely, it comes first out of books. Because of the difficulty and because of that encroachment, we are especially sensitive in preserving the options for the aquisition of more printed materials.

I can assure you that you will get a very understanding approach as we seek to come to grips with this question. In a sense you are sort of in a class by yourself.

Miss COOKE. Thank you, Senator.

I want to point out that we were particularly concerned in this year ahead. If you look at the President's budget that came out January 29, for every library program that we have had written on the lawbooks in the last several years, he has recommended no funds in the coming fiscal year. This means that libraries will not only have to seek a new source of funds to make up for those programs that would have to be curtailed otherwise, but we also have the postage-cost concern, and it is a concern that is continuing.

When you asked Mr. O'Neil earlier whether he was looking for permanent assistance in this regard, I think he was saying no, but what I would like to say is yes.

The CHAIRMAN. He was saying "no," but he was asking for "yes". Miss COOKE. That is right.

The CHAIRMAN. You are being forthright by saying yes.

Miss COOKE. I think the importance of the Government's role in seeing that its citizenry is informed and kept up to date is so vital that it is something that Congress should look at very seriously and think of subsidizing on a permanent basis.

The CHAIRMAN. I agree with you very strongly on that, and we shall make every effort to persuade the Congress to concede that point.

Miss COOKE. Thank you, Senator.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you.

The next witness is Mr. Strackbein, legislative representative, International Allied Printing Trades Association.

Mr. Strackbein.

STATEMENT OF 0. R. STRACKBEIN, LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATIVE, INTERNATIONAL ALLIED PRINTING TRADES ASSOCIATION

Mr. STRACKBEIN. I have a very brief statement here.

The CHAIRMAN. They have all been very good. You adjust yourself as you prefer, or make your points, subject always to the caveat that when the bell rings I have to make a run for it.

Mr. STRACKBEIN. I understand.

My appearance before you is in behalf of the International Allied Printing Trades Association. This association is composed of the combined printing trades unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.

The unions are: The International Typographical Union, the Graphic Arts International Union, the International Printing Press

men's Union and the International Stereotypers and Electrotypers Union.

The membership of these unions is some 350,000.

We recognize the need for postal rate increases, including those on second-class matter. The general rise in costs and price levels makes increases in postal rates inevitable if deficits that could be regarded as unacceptable are to be avoided.

We are, however, concerned over the sharpness of the proposed increase in the rates on second-class matter. This is essentially the field of newspapers and magazines. That is why we are interested in S. 842.

Mr. Chairman, I simply go into the expansion of the 5-year period to a 10-year period, which we think would moderate the impact of these increases.

The publications that would bear the burden of an increase of some 127 percent in 5 years are the mainstay, so far as the printed word is concerned, of public information and culture development. They perform a vital function in our democratic society by providing news of public affairs, economic developments, civic and cultural activities, events in the physical world that are of interest to the people and possibly vital to their welfare, foreign relations, and much else that creates an alert and well-oriented public opinion. It is true that reliance on newspapers and magazines is not absolute today because of radio and television, but newspapers and magazines cannot be replaced by these other media without courting a serious public loss.

Moreover, the printed media are in competition with the electronic media, and if the former are to be preserved in a state of vigor and vitality great care must be exercised to avoid discrimination in terms of cost burdens placed on each class.

Circulation is the very lifeblood of the printed media, and may be adversely affected by excessive cost burdens.

There is no point in my going into the relation between high circulation and the subscription prices, and so on.

The CHAIRMAN. It will all appear intact in any case.

Mr. STRACKBEIN. There is one thing that I think is very important here, and that is the increase in subscription rates, and increasing advertising, and that is running into the problem of diminishing

returns.

When prices are raised, there is always the possibility of getting a smaller return in terms of readership and so forth, and also if you raise advertising rates, as we all know, these media are heavily dependent on advertising revenues, for their existence.

This is a question of fact, and we do not have the facts. We know of course that the Postal Rate Commission is looking at these matters and that the various witnesses for organizations, newspapers, publishers and so forth have made extensive studies on these matters. We do not purport to be experts on that issue.

We are concerned of course about the employment levels in these printing trades. That is our direct interest but we also as citizens have an interest in what has been expressed here before, and that is the informational value, educational value, of these various printed media.

We believe that the Government would be well advised, as it has in the past, if necessary to subsidize these activities so that the people will have the greatest opportunity of access to information and so forth.

So we are in support of the legislation that would moderate the increases that have extended over a long period of time.

That is about all I have to say, Mr. Chairman, and I thank you. The CHAIRMAN. We will have the full statement included, and appreciate your testimony in behalf of the four particular union groups that are gathered together: The International Typographical Union, the Graphic Arts International Union, International Printing Pressmen's Union and International Stereotypers and Electrotypers Union.

Your statement speaks for itself.

Mr. STRACKBEIN. I will say this, that there is some evidence that we are very close to the line. We have witnessed the disappearance of some important magazines from the scene.

The CHAIRMAN. We sense that also here. That is why we want to hear the full story in these hearings, and determine where the wisest place is for some kind of line to be drawn to keep them going.

Sometimes the postal rates are a cover for a great many sins, for other factors.

Mr. STRACKBEIN. That is very true, but they have come to a point where they are now of some economic importance, and where magazines or newspapers may be close to the breakeven point. It might be the straw that would break the camel's back, as we say sometimes. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much for your statement. Mr. Strackbein was our last witness on the agenda for today. The committee will reconvene at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. [Thereupon, at 4:05 p.m., the committee was recessed, to resume at 10:00 a.m., April 3, 1973.]

[The prepared statements of O. R. Strackbein and other interested parties follow:]