The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-03-24
f .s The
UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE.

.a.ND OFFICL1L ADVERTISER.
III 10 sh'D ,chas Is done, and ohat should be done,
slt IN Offices Is
PETER q. WAsHrNGroN,f ~.
CHARLES M. WiLLAnp, Editors and Proprietors.
TERms.- -" The United States Postal Cuide and
Official advertiser containing about 81 sppey-rouaI
ociavo pages, IS published monthly JtOr ONE DOL
LAB ONLY, per annuas, payable in adpance--or. fue
dollars for sig copies ordered at any time.
AZ 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 follow, has
for it's aim no less purpose, than To mpart in
struction, in the general and detail, to the Officer,
and Agents Of the American public, in respect both
to their duties and their rights, and 10 make them
and the people at large, acquainted with the organ
zation, decisions and action of the Executive de
partments Of their Government. There has hilh
erto teen no vehicle for the regular and prope
| commu nication of information Of this kind. Tn
publication of the Laws and the issue Of lnstruc
tons, 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 yoIumino,s
and are printed in quantities too small for general
circuIaton 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 10
party ends, and to matters Of national policy,
These publications in their various forms are
highly useful IN themselves az far as they co. 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
ples 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 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, methodical, and ex-
act, 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 Ieast--apart from, and independently Of
any party 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-Otfice Department until the month
Of November last; with by far the larger portion
of both posImasters and contractors, he has had
direct intercourse in person by letter. He
tered the department fourteen years since, and for
many years previously, had been, first in the War
| Department, and subsequently in the Treasury.
| He has therefore had the best opportunities for
understanding the arrangements OF business in all
the departments, and beng acquainted with those
| who carry it on Since his official connection with
the Government ceased, he hatters himself he has
preserved the respect and regard of most OF the
preset lncumbents of the departments, and is
becoming terms of intercourse aud clvility with
them ALL The Junior Editor has been asssiduously
engaged for several years, in studying, by per-
+ sona inquiry and examination, the practical and
daily routine and details of the Post-Ofiice and
otner branches of the public business. II is with
this stock OF experience, and these advantages for
reaching the various sources of administrative
ton, and for Imparting minute and illustrative IN
| nd yah npr nj nd ttpa1
information, that we challenge your confidence
aud solicit your support and patronage.
We have fixed upon the 18th OF each month as
the day for the publication of paper, to
afford time for obtaining from the departments,
all the orders, notices and changes issued or made
by them during the preceding month. Tables o.
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
matter of inconvenience and complaint, for which
hitherto there has been 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 not in the tables.
At this time there perhaps over three thousand
offices of the two descriptions. In like manner
laws have been passed and regulations established
since the issue of the last volume Of regulations,
, ! Of which many posmasters and others wholly
ignorant We propose 10 prevent, for the present,
any increase of the evil of either kind, and from
the time another issue shall be made, our paper
wall furnish the additions corrections, and modih-
cations, made IN each month, and by being filed
and preserved, will afford posln,asers full and
exact Information upon both subjects, up to and
for time being. How much of the present msdi-
reclion, rensaiIing, doubt, confusion, error, and
imposition, wilI be saved by the progressive state
OF full and exact knowledge, for which we have
provided, and for which we engage, every inteli-
gent postmaster estimate for HIMSELF
j 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 a Just pride in his Office or
patriotic regard for the credit, prosperity, and
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 turning upon questions
Of official duty national interest, will find place
I III this pspkr. I".
A department Of our paper addressing itself not
| merely to pvstmasters 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 {, untry, will embrace IN a
condensed form the matters submitted to, or ars-
| ing In Congress. AT each session vast deal Of
! valuable information IL communicated 10 Con-
gress, by the several departments and their subor
dinate bureaus, and profound and comprehensive
reports made by committees of both Houses.
/ But the great mass Of the community know moth
ING of the ccntents 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 douse Of Representa-
tives which at once shows the impractcabiity OF
their dissemination. The ADVERTISER viii 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 s found desirable
TO obtain and examine the document ut large.
! There is large field before us, the materials are
ample 1t Will be Jealous 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, compromising and confined
to the action Of the Government, is soild, useful
and 1--WE might almost say) necessary to the Off
tcer--if not to the citizen. II is intended for all
and put at price which can constitute no obstacle
with any. II at the endof the year, any subscriber