The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-02-17
THE
UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE.
AND OFFICIAL ADVERTISERS ae
THE

y
THE
UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE.
AND OFFICIAL ADVERTISER. n
II To shoW What Is done, sad ,ohat should be done,
~ Office.
csIs. - w1 W,' Editor. and Prsprietors
TxaMs. -" The United States Postal Guide aud
Q1<isi .adreysiser" containing sbous ~ srperroyal
ociaro Pggss, is pubiiyhed monthly for ONE poL-
Lar ONLY, per enn,'n, payable IN adpanes-or fire
dollars for sir copies ordered at any one time
PREFA NOTICE.
The enterprise IN which we now embark, and
Of which this paper is at once the commencement,
aud sample OF the papers that are TO follow, has
for ito aim no less purpose, than to impart in
strucon, ia the general aud detail, to the Officers
and Agents ofth American public, in respect both
to their duties and their rights, and to make them,
and the people at large, acquainted with the organ
ixaton, decisions and action Of the Executive de-
partments of their Government. There has hlh-
er,o been no vehicle for the regular and proper
con,snu aication Of information OF this kind The
publication of the Laws aud the issue of instruc-
tioKs more or tens comprehensive, and al intervals
more or less extended, have proved wholly made
quate, in the absence Of the construction OF those
Laws, ms applied to particular cases, and of details
and illustrations to make the regulations and in
structions Ineligible. The valuable documents
annually reported to Congress, too voluminoas,
and are 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
marty 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
pes for the despatch OF 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 an 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, methodcal, 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 purity or personal interest or question what
ever. elu ftsi t4 ett
! II is known to most OF those TO whom this pa
per will be sent, hnt the Senior Editor WAS Audi
tor of the Post Office 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
who carry it on Since his official connection with
the Government ceased, he fatters himself he has
preserved the respect and regard of most OF the
presert incumbents Of the departments, and IS on
becoming terms Of intercourse aud civility with
them all. The Junior Editor has been asssiduously
engaged for several years, IN studying, by per
r tl,nt nd
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 fol-
reaching the various sources of administrative ac
lion, and for irnpartng minute and illustrative IN
istruction, 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 to
afford time for obtaining from the departments,
all the orders, notices and changes issued, 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 a
matter of Inconvenience and complaint, for which
hitherto there has been no remedy, that in one
month from the time Of these issues, there are Of
fees in the tables which no longer in ope alton,
and Offices in operation which arc not in the tables.
At this time there are perhaps three thousand
4
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
my increase Of the evil of either kind, and from
| The time another issue shall be made, our paper
viii furnish the additions, corrections, ana modiii-
| cations, made 10 each month, and by being filed
| md preserved will afford to posmasters full and
| exact information upon both subjects, up to and
| for time being How much of the presen, mstl-
rection, remaiIing, doubt, confusion, error, and
| imposition, will be saved by the progressive state
| OF full and exact knowledge, for which we have
provided, and for which we engage, every infel'i-
| rent postmaster can estimate fos himself
\ These advantages alone and indeuendentiy ot Il
. others, worth many times the prre we charge
for the paper, and will, It is hoped, induce every
postmaster who feels q lus PRIDE IN his office, or
patriotic regard for the credit prosperity, and
I efficiency of the whole Post Office system-at once
to subscribe, The same 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 papsr. go 1U,, .pa.
A department of our paper addressing itself no,
| merely 10 postmasters and other officers of the
| Government but to all other citizens who give at
tention TO the affairs of the nation and the progress
and development Of the {, untry, will embrace in a
condensed form the matters submitted to, or ars-
ing in Congress. At each session vast deal of
valuable information is communicated to Con-
gress, by the several departments and their subor-
! dinate 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 brief notices of them, which
! 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-,
tiyes, which at once shows the impracticabllty of
their dissemination. The ADVERTISER will con-
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 an easy index
to those interested whenever il is found desirable
to obtain and examine the document ut large.
There is large field before us, the materials are
ample. 1t will be our Jealous care TO collect and
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
we propose to give, comprehending and confined
4 A Cove ia soltd. uaefii1-