The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-12-31

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UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE.

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UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE.
/ AND OFFICIAL ADVERTISER.
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cHAsnss NJ W "s.s0' Editors and Proprietors.
Terms. Sc The United States Postal Guide and
Official Advertiser" containing about 80 spper-royai
oefapo pages, is published monthly for ONE DOL
LAR ONLY, per annuni, payable IN aduanee-or ire
dollars for ser copies ordered at any one time.
PREPARATORY NOTICE.
The enterprise in which We now !embark, and
Of which this paper is at once the commencement,
and sample OF the papers that are to follow has
for its aim no less purpose, than to impart in |
strucen in the general and detail, to the Officers
and Agents of the American public, in respect both
TO their duties and their rights, and to make them,
and the people at large, acquainted with the organ
izaton, decisions and action of the Executive de- |
partments of their Government. There has hth- |
erto Teen no vehicle for the regular and proper
communication of information OF this kind. The
publication of the Laws and the issue of instruc
tions or less comprehensive, and al intervals
more or less extended, have proved wholly made
quate in the absence Of the construction Of those
Laws, applied to particular cases, and of details
and illustrations to make the regulations and in
structions Ineligible. The valuable documents
annually reported TO Congress, are too voluminous,
and printed in quantities too small for general
circulation; whilst the debates in Congress and
the commentaries Of the press upon their proceed
ings, and the proceedings of the Executive branch
Of the Government, besides turning mostly upon
general principles, address themselves only TO
party ends, and to matters of national policy.
These publications in their various forms are
highly useful in themselves far as they go, and
some of them indispensable; but there is much
that do not reach the hands Of ALL nor if they did,
do they furnish those rules, methods, and exam
pies, for the despatch the public business which
can render the discharge Of public duty either safe
or easy, whether In respect to the incumbent HIM
self, or the department or bureau under which he
acts. We shall make all honest effort to supply
this vacuum, and to provide for these necessities.
If we succeed in rendering the functions Of the
> primary offices more uniform, methodca, and ex
act, we shall make the administrative duties of the
departments more easy and effective, and thereby
promote the real and substantial interests Of the
country. And this we expect to do, to some eX-
tent at least-apart from, and independently of
any party or personal interest or question what
ever.
1t is known to most Of those to whom this pa
per will be sent, that the Senior Editor was Audi
tor of the Post-Ofice Department until the month
of November last with by far the larger portion
Of both postmasters and contractors, he has had
direct intercourse, in person or by letter. lie en-
tered the department fourteen years since, and for
many years previously, had been, first in the War
Department., ard subsequently In the Treasury.
He has therefore had the best opportunities for
understanding the arrangements Of business in all
the departments, and being acquainted with those
8 who carry it on. Since his official connection with
the Government ceased, he aatters himself he has
: preserved the respect and regard Of most Of the
present incumbents of the departments, and is on
s becoming terms Of intercourse and civillty with
n them all. The Junior Editor has been asssduousy
e engaged for several years, in studying, by per-
: sonal inquiry and examinations the practical and
. daily routine and details of the Post-Ofhce and
other branches Of the public business. Ii is with
this stock OF experience, and these advantages for
reaching the various sources OF administrative ac-
ton, and for imparting minute and illustrative IN
= structon and valuable periodical and statistical
n information, thai we challenge your confidence
and solicit your support and patronage.
j. We have fixed upon the 18th or each month as
the day for the publication Of our paper, so as TO
afford time for obtaining from the departments,
all the orders, notices and changes issued, or made
n by them during the preceding month. Tables of
n Post Offices, and compilations Of the Laws and
n Regulations, are issued by the Post Office Depart
n ment only once in two or three years. 1t is a
n matter of inconvenience and complaint, for which
n hitherto there has been no remedy, that in one
month from the time of these issues, there Of
fees in the tables which are no longer in ope alton,
n and Offices in operation which not in the tables.
fl At this time there perhaps over three thousand
T. offices of the two descriptions. In like manner
n laws have been passed and regulations established
since the issue of the last volume Of regulations,
Of which many postmasters and others are wholly
n ignorant We propose to prevent, for the present,
any increase Of the evil Of either kind, and from
the time another issue shall be made our paper
will furnish the additions, corrections, and modif-
!. cations made in each month, and by being filed
D and preserved, will afford to postmasters full and
: exact information upon both subjects, up to and
' for time being. How much Of the present misdi-
rection, remailing, doubt, confusion, error: and
imposition, will be saved by the progressive state
y OF full and exact knowledge, for which we have
provided, and for which we engage, every intelli-
W ipent es
U These advantages alone and independently Of all
U others, are worth many times the price we charge
y for the paper, and will, it is hoped, induce every
. postmaster who feels just pride in his Office or
patriotic regard for the credit, prosperity, and
efficiency of the whole Post Office sysem--at once
to subscribe. The same considerations apply to
5 the orders and notices. DECISIONS and Instructions
U Of the War, Navy, Treasury, State, and Interior
: departments, and the same course is intended in
respect to them Notices Of the decisions Of the
Supreme Court, in turning upon questions
of official duty or national interest, will find place
in this Isps
A department of our paper addressing itself not
0 merely TO postmasters and other officers of the
0 Government, but to all other citizens who give at
tenon to the affairs Of the nation and the progress
and development of the unry, will embrace in n
condensed form the matters submitted TO, or arls-
ing in Congress. AT each session a vast deal Of
valuable information is communicated to Con-
t sress by the several departments and their subor-
= dnate bureaus, and profound and comprehensive
reports are made by committees of both Houses.
t But the great mass of the community know moth
ing of the contents of these documents and re-
! ports, except the brief notices Of them, which
8 from time to time appear in the public papers
The standing number printed Of each document
and report, is only twelve hundred IN the SENATE
and fourteen hundred in the House Of Representa-
tives, which at once shows the impractcabty Of
their dissemination. The ADVERTISER will con-
D tain short abridgments or analysis of all these
documents and reports, and the compend will
, therefore not only prove exceedingly useful and
instructive in itself, but will furnish easy index
to those interested, whenever it is found desirable
to obtain and examine the document at large.
{ There is large field before US, the materials
, ample 1t will be Jealous care to collect and
3 arrange them in the proper FORM We have every
confidence that the subscriptions will be ample to
: enable us to accomplish it all. The information
5 we pro pose TO give, compromising and confined
10 the action Of the Government is solid, useful