However that may be, Mr. Hitchcock has proved quite conclusively that there is no deficit--or, at least, no valid reason for one under present conditions. And here, again, I desire to say that our present Postmaster General is deserving the praise or commendation of every American citizen for having demonstrated, by a few economies here and a few betterments there in the operation of his department, that the service _can_ be rendered, and rendered efficiently, with an expenditure safely within the bounds of the department’s receipts or revenues. Especially is Mr. Hitchcock deserving of commendation for this demonstration, because in making it he has done what so many of his predecessors _talked of as desirable_, but failed to do. But with full acknowledgment of the splendid effort Mr. Hitchcock has made in converting a postal deficit of $6,000,000 in 1909-10 into a surplus for the year 1910-11, I desire to discuss, briefly, postal department deficits of the past--or the future--and the origin and cause of them. In the future pages of this volume little if any reference will be made to our vigorous Postmaster General’s attempt to put onto the Senate course a rider that would run down certain periodicals which were to him and certain of his friends, as it would appear, of obstructive if not offensive character. It is possible, if, indeed, not probable, that I may, in this somewhat hurried discussion of our Postoffice Department deficits and their sources, cause and origin, repeat something, in whole or in part, that I have said elsewhere in this volume. The discussion of the postal deficits leads us into the _Raider_ factor or feature of our general title--into a consideration of the political, partisan and business influences and interests which have for thirty-five or more years been conspicuously--yes, _brazenly_--looting the revenues of the department. I shall not be able to advert to all such influences, interests and persons. Especially can I not mention some of the _persons_. Many of them have gone to “their reward”--or to their punishment--as the Almighty has seen fit to assign them. As a matter of venerable custom and of current conventional courtesy we must leave them to His justice--to our silence. One by one many of the _dishonestly enriched_ from our postal revenues have dropped into “the dead past,” which Christ instructed should be left to “bury its dead.” In our treatment of this subject we shall obey the Master’s instruction--we shall discuss methods, practices, and _acts_, not men. In turning to our subject directly, I desire to make a few positive statements or declarations. 1. The Postoffice Department is a public service department--a department intended to serve _all the people all the time_. 2. The people are paying, have paid, and are _willing to pay_, for their postal service.