The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-09-16
UNITED STATES POSTAL G uIDE

"a QDice.~S Is
casnlss Nj. S Wm.ssn Editors and Perpetrators
Terms. SO The United States Postal t,,,;J< o,x
ohc'at 1doer,ser, containing about 80 spper-rouak
ocfaro pages, Is published ,aonthlu s,r nrr no.
LAR ONLY, per annun., payable IN adpanesor fine
dollars for sir copies ordered.
PREPARATORY 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, + aa
for its aim no less purpose, than to impart 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 to make them.
and the people at large, acquainted with the organ
ization, decisions and action of the Executive de-
partnents of their Government. There has hith
erto Leen vehicle for the regular and proper
communication OF information of this kind The
publication of the Laws and the issue of nstrur
tons, or less comprehensive and at intervals
more or less extended, have proved wholly made
quale, in the absence Of the construction or those
Laws, az 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 voIuminous
and printed in quantities too small for general
crcuaton 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
These publications in their various forms are
highly useful in themselves far MS they go, and
some of them Indispensable; but there "a 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 whicls
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, meihodicai, and eY
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 least-apart from, and independently of
any party or personal interest question what
ever.
1t is known to most Of those to whom this ma
per will be sent, that the Senior Editor was Audi
tor Of the Post-Offce 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 by letter. He en-
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 being acquainted with those
who carry it on. Since his official connection with
the Government ceased, he latters himself he has
preserved the respect and regard Of most Of the
| presrit incumbents of the departments, and is on
| becoming terms of intercourse and civility with
| them ALL The Junior Editor has been asssiduounly
engaged for several years, in studying, by per-
sonai inquiry and examination, the practical and
daily routine and details of the Post-Ohice 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 /,
lion, and for impartInE minute and Illustrative in
| struction, and valuable periodical and statistical
hal. e
and solicit your support and patronage.
| We have fixed upon the 18th Of each month as
the day for the publication Of 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 or
| Post Offices, and compilations of the Laws ana
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 off
6ces i'm the tables which are longer in opefntion{
and offices IN operation which not in the tabesl
Al this time there are perhaps over three thousand
offices of tue two descriptions. In like manner
laws have been passed and regulations established
since the issue of the last volume Of regulations,
of which many postinasters aud 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 modih
cations made In each month, and by being fled
and preserved will afford to postInasters full and
exact information upon both subjects, up to and
| for time being. How much Of the present misdi-
| rection. remang, doubt confusion, error and
imposrtion will be saved by the progressive state
OF full and exact knowledge, for which we have
provided, and for which we engage, every inte-
oent postmaster can estimate for himself
These advantages alone and independently Of all
others, are worth many times the price charge
for the paper and will, it IL hoped, induce every
nostmaster who feels Just pride in his Office or
a patriotic regard for the credit, prosperity an
efficiency of the whole Post Office system--at one,
| To subscribe The considerations apply II
| the orders and notices, decisions, and instruction
of the War, Navy, Treasury, State, and Interio
| depsrtments 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 national interest, will find place
in this pavsr
merely 10 pvstmasters and other officers of the
Covernment but to all other citizens who give at
epfion to the affairs Of the nation and the progress
and development of the G. untry, will embrace in a
condensed form the matters submitted to, or aris-
inp in Congress At each session vast deal of
valuable information is communicated to Con-
press INV the several departments aud 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-
norris except the brief notices of them, which
rom time to time appear in the public papers,
The standing number printed of each documeat
and report, is only twelve hundred in the Senate,
and fourteen hundred in the House or Representa-
,;vss which at once shows the impracticabil,ty of
,ne;r dissemination. The ApvERusER will con-
tam short abridgments analysis Of all these
documents and reports, and the co mpend vii
therefore not only prove exceedingly. useful and
instructive in itself, but will furnish an easy index
go those interested, whenever it il found desirable
To obtain and examine the documen at large, n
There is large field before us, the materials are
ample IL will be our Jealous care collect and
arrange them in the prope form. We have every
confidence that the subscriptions will be ample to
enable us to accomplish 1t all. The Information
we propose to give, comprehending and confined
To The action Of the Government, is solsd. ussfal
and 1--WE might almost say necessary 10 the off,
cer-,f not 20 the citizen. 1t is intended Tor ali,
and put price which can constitute no obstacle
with any. Fiat the end of the year. any subscriber
ahalI find that he has not received the full value OF