Putting a stamp on Rep. Cummings’ service

A cavalcade of commendations have come upon the passing of Congressman Elijah Cummings of Maryland. The first African-American lawmaker to lie in State at the U.S. Capitol, Chuck Schumer said of the Baltimore Representative, “our country lost a Giant.” Still, at 68, this great voice for civil rights in the U.S. House died too early for many of his reforms to be realized—particularly his quest to make the United States Postal Service secure financially, as well as in its ability to serve both the public and the civil servants within its own ranks on a six-day-per-week schedule.

Rep. Cummings remembered what many today forget—at least those under the age of 50. The post office provided the path to the middle class for countless African Americans.

Two decades ago, the longtime circulation director of this newspaper, Mr. Willis would council young reporters on our staff with this basic fact of Black history, “You don’t know how important it was! If your wife was a teacher and you worked for the Post Office, you were in high cotton!”

Postman and educator proved the only two available professions open to most educated African-American aspirants through most of the 20th Century.

The Black middle class was built—mostly—because of the United States Postal Service, and Cummings attempted to defend that quasi-governmental vehicle constructed upon civil service protections, defined benefits, small rural & urban post offices in nearly every township, and Saturday mail delivery. He did this in a time when basic “snail mail” has drastically declined, and packages/overnight letters essentially have been outsourced to FedEx.

The reduction in basic mail traffic in favor of online communication has presented a technological challenge threatening the very economic foundation of the Postal Service. The simple monopoly of having the exclusive right to put letters in mailboxes or P.O. Boxes no longer proved much of a benefit. Frankly, FedEx, UPS, and the other package services had little interest in picking up that dying market.

Democracy, though, depends upon an affordable method of paper communication, as does the printed press, political pamphlets, and the franking privilege. After all, the post office serves as the prime method of members of Congress to communicate with their constituents. So, Cummings championed an idea that would allow the U.S. Postal Service to maintain its current levels of staff, keep open “low performing” rural and urban post offices while not taking a dollar from the U.S. Treasury. (The postal service is one of the few self-funding federal agencies.)

Turn post offices into banks. Or, more properly, make them limited S&Ls with federal Credit Union aspects. In other words, in each office, provide services which the British Royal Mail and the Canada Post systems offer.

In Cummings’ role as Chairman of the U.S. House Oversight Committee (which has jurisdiction over the Postal Service), the 7th District Maryland Congressman proposed that post offices should be able to provide basic banking services, from money-transfer to money-orders to certificates of deposit to savings accounts—and perhaps even more. The UK and Canadian postal services have provided these banking services for generations, and it helps underwrite their offices in rural and disadvantaged communities. Moreover, many rural communities lack ANY retail banking services within a 70 mile radius, so the added financial services—even the ability to have a savings account at close hand—would provide a lifeline for many communities. When one considers that the U.S. has lost 5,000 bank branches since 1996, thanks to mergers, the change would simply restore the availability of banking outlets the nation once enjoyed.

This reform, championed by the Congressman’s ally, AUSPL Board member Gary Phillips, would also underwrite the cost of keeping small post offices open, and Saturday delivery active. Cummings authored a House Resolution to enact the concept into law, and countered GOP opposition with a constitutional “ace” in his political pocket—against which even strict constructionists have a problem in arguing. The U.S. Postal Service is one of the only executive agencies mandated by the U.S. Constitution, other than the State Department. (One can thank the last Colonial and first U.S. Postmaster General, Benjamin Franklin, for that. Not accidentally, he was a newspaperman.)

Regardless, the banking lobby fears the competition which the corner post office might provide, and has kept the reform bottled up, even in a Democratic House. If the statutory code governing the U.S. Post ever comes to allow basic banking services, the only fiscal solution other than massive layoffs or a taxpayer bailout, the customers empowered by the reforms—as well as the civil servants still employed—will have the late Elijah Cummings to thank.

This article originally published in the October 28, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.