The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-08-09
UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE
IND OFFICIAL .7DYERTfSER.

UNITED STATES FOSIAL GUIDE
and OFFICIAL .iDvERTISER.
L To sio'o 'ohai is done, and phat should be done
, IA 9ttce.sET
CHARIxs M W.T. W.T. Editors and Propvisters
IERMs. =" The United States Postal Guide and
Wlc'at advertiser" containing about 80 sppsrroyat
octave pages IS published monthly for ONE DOL
LAR ONLY, per anntm, payable in aduancs---or FIVE
dollars for sir copies ordered at any one time.
PREPARATORY NOTICE.
| The enterprise in which We now embark, AMI
Of which this paper Is at once the comm encemert
and IL sample OF the papers that are to follow as
for it's 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 teen no vehicle for the regular and proper
commu nication Of information of this kind. The
publication Of the Laws and the issue of instruc
tons, 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 yoluminous
and are printed in quantities too small for general
circulaton; 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
| marty ends, and to matters of national policy
| These publications in their various forms are
highly useful in themselves far as they 60, and
some Of them Indispensable; but there is much
that do 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 easy, whether in respect to the incumbent hini
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 necessItie8.
If we succeed in rendering the functions of the
primary offices more uniform, methodical, 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 70 40, 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 WINS 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 by letter. lie 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 fatters himself he has
preserved the respect and regard Of most OF the
present incumbenia of the departments, and is on
, becoming terms of intercourse and civillty with
them all The Junior Editor has been asssiduously
q engaged for several years, in studying, by per-
j sonal inquiry and examination, the practical and
f daily routine and details of the Post-Ofice and
other branches Of the public business. tits with
this stock OF experience, and these advantages for
reaching the various sources of administrative ac-
ton, and for imparting minute and illustrative in
struction, 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, 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
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
fees in the tables which no longer in operations
and Offices in operation which not in the tablesy
Al this time there are perhaps over three thousand
Offices of the two descriptions. In like manner
laws hive been passed and regulations established
since the issue of the last volume of regulations,
of which many postmnsters 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 duQillOH5, CoIIcCuouSs
cations. made in each month, and by being filed
and preserved will afford to postmasters full and
exact information upon both subjects, up to and
! for time being. How much Of the present mlsdi-
rection, remang, doubt, confusion, error, and
impositon, will be saved by the progressive state
of full and exact knowledge, for which we have
provided, and for which we engage, every Intelli-
| gent postmaster estimate for himself
| These advantages alone and independently of all
others, are worth many times the price we charge
| - ,sh al induce
postmaster who feels just pride in his Office, or
| a 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 IL intended in
| resnect 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 pafsr. . .
A department Of our paper addressing itself not
merely TO p,,stmasters and other officers of the
Government bot to all other citizens who give at
tonton 10 the affairs Of the nation and the progress
and development of the {. untry, will embrace in a
condensed form the matters submitted to, or aris-
| ing in Congress. At each session n vast deal OF
| valuable information is communicated to Con-
gress. by the several departments and their subor-
dipate bureaus, and profound and comprehensive
| reports are made by committees of both Houses
| But the great mass of the community know moth
| inc 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, il only twelve hundred in the Senate,
| and fourteen hundred in the House of Representa-
ives. which at once shows the impraciicabity OF
| their dissemination. The Advertiser will con-
nam short abridgments analysis of all these
documents and reports, and the co mpend will
therefore only prove exceedingly ass'u; ana
instructive in itself, but will furnish an easy index
TO those interested whenever it is foun desira 10
to obtain and examine the documen at large
There is a large field before us, the materials are
ample IL will be our Jealous care IN collect and
arrange them in the prope form. We have every
confidence that the SUBSCRIPTIONS will be ample tc
enable us to accomplish it alt. The information
we propose to give, comprehending and ,con6ns'