The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-11-18
THE
UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE

y
TERMS =" The United States Postal Guide and
Official .adrertiser," containing about 81
octduo pages, is published monthly for ONE DOL
LAR ONLY, per ailnuIa, PAYABLE in ddUance-Or fire
dollars for sic 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 lis ann no less purpose, than to impart in
struction, in the general and detail, to the Officers
and Agents 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
ization, decisions and action of the Executive de-
partments of their Government. There has hith-
erto Keen no vehicle for the regular and proper
communication Of information Of this kind. The
publication of the Laws and the issue of instruc-
lions, more or less comprehensive, and at 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 are printed in quantities too small for general
circuation 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
HlSHly uSeIul Ill themselves as taf as lneV
| 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 of the public business which
can render the discharge of public duty either safe
or eosy, whether IN respect to the incumbent him
SELF or The department or bureau under which he
acts. We shall make an honest effort to supply
tins vacuum, and to provide for these necessities
If we succeed in rendering the functions Of the
| primary Offices more uniform, meih0dcal, 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 10 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 he sent, that the Senior Editor was Audi
tor of the Posl-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. He en-
tered the department fourteen years since, and for
many years previously, had been, first in the War
Department, al d 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
who carry 1t on Since his official connection with
the Government ceased, he hatters himself he has
preserved the respect and regard Of most Of the
present incumbents of the departments, and is on
| becoming terms of intercourse and civlty with
them all. The Junior Editor has been asssiduousy
engaged for several years, in studying, by per-
sona inquiry and examination, the practical and
daily routine and details Of the Post Office and
other branches Of the public business. 1t is with
this stock OF experience, and these advantages for
reaching the various sources of administrative &C
ton, and for mparting minute and illustrative M
| structlon, and valuable periodical and statistical
| Information, that we challenge your confidence
and solicit your support and patronage.
We have fixed upon the 18th Of 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
| by them during the preceding month. Tables OF
Post Offices, and compilations of the Laws and
Regulations, are issued by the Post Office Depart
ment only once in two or three years. Ii is Il
matter of Inconvenience and complaint, for which
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,
and Offices in operation which are not in the tables
At this time there perhaps over three thousand
offices of the two desert ptions. In like manner
| laws have been passed and regulations established
| since the issue of the last volume Of regulations,
of which many postmasters and others are wholly
| 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
ana preserved, VIII dHOTu DOSIildSterS lu ana
exact information upon both subjects, up TO and
for time being. How much Of the present n isLi-
rection, remailng, doubt, confusion, error, and
! imposition, will he saved by the progressive state
Of full and exact knowledge, for which we have
! provided, and for which we engage, every inelIi
| gem postmaster can estimate for himself.
| These advantages alone and independently Of all
others, are worth many times the price we charge
for the paper, and will, it is hoped, induce every
postmaster who feels just pride in his office, or
II patriotic regard for the credit prosperity, and
efficiency Of the whole Post Office systenl-at once
to subscribe. The considerations apply to
| the orders and notices, DECISIONS and Instructions
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 cases turning upon questions
of official duty or national interest," will find place
! in this paper.
de- artment Of our paper addressing itself not
merely to postmasters and other officers of the
Government, but to all other citizens who give at
tenon to the affairs Of the nation and the progress
and development Of the country, will embrace IN u
condensed form the matters submitted to, or arts
ing in Congress-. At each session vast deal Of
valuable information is communicated to Con-
gress, by the several departments and their subor-
dnate bureaus, and profound and comprehensive
reports are made by committees of both Houses.
| But the great mass of the community know moth
| ing Of the contents of these documents and re.
| ports, except the bret notices OF them, who
from time to time appear in the public par RS.
The standing number printed Of each doc n en-
and report, is only twelve hundred in the S ate,
and fourteen hundred in the House Of Repre-,
tives, which at once shows the impracticabiIIty o
their dissemination. The Advertiser will con
tain short abridgments analysis of all these
documents and reports, and the compend will
therefore not only prove exceedingly useful and
instructive in itself, but will furnish an easy index
to those interested, whenever it is found desirable
to obtain and examine the document at large.
i There is large field before us, the materials are
ample. /, will be our jealous care to collect ant
arrange them in the proper form. We have every
| confidence that the subscriptions will be ample L
enaLle us to accomplish it all. The information
we propose to give, compromising and confne'
to the action of the Government, is solid, usefu
and 1--WE might almost say necessary to the off
cer--If not to the citizen. II is intended for all
and put at price which can constitute no obstacl'
with any. Fiat the end Of the year, any subscribe
shall find that he has not received the full value o
his money, in intellectual enjoyment and in tn
increased light and aid afforded him, for the dis
charge of his official duties OF in exercising by hi