Paying for nonprofit postage

The editorial "Kinder, Gentler Postal Rates," Feb. 25, paints the wrong picture of our postal system and its relationship to nonprofits.

The United States Postal Service is not chartered to subsidize nonprofit corporations or civic-minded groups. As you note, in the past the federal government "chipped in to help with the cost of second- and third-class nonprofit mail." I think more accurately you could say that Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public, along with the government, helped out the nonprofits. The rise in the cost of sending a first-class letter is directly related to the level of subsidized second- and third-class mail. Bertie Lee Murphy, Great Falls, Va.

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