The southern press., 1851-09-05
UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE

UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE
AND OFFICIAL ADVERTISER.
u 10 sAoso sohat is done, and ui.at should be done
- tst office. = u
PETER u WAsHrEGroN, -,
ICnAhLEs M WILLARD, ~""o'' '""aI 'P'ei"'s
Official .adperer, coaiai,,ing about 10 sgnsyyoal
ocfaoo pages IS published monthly for ONE poI.-
Lar ONLY, per arsr',sa payable in aduance--or fps
dollars for sir copies ordered.
PREFA RATORY NOTICE
! The enterprise in which we now embark and
Of which this paper is at once the commencement
| and sample OF the papers that to follow az
for its aim no less purpose, than TO impart in
structon, in the general and detail, 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-
apartments Of their Government. There has hith
erto teen no vehicle for the regular and proper
communication of Information of this kind. The
| publication of the Laws and the issue of instrur
ions, 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 voluminouH
and are printed in quantities too small for general
circulation; whilst the debates in Congress and
the commentaries of the press upon their proceed
ngs, 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
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
ples for the despatch of thep 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, 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 Ieast-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 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. He en-
| tered the department fourteen years snce 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 natters 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 civilitv with
them all. The Junior Editor has been asssiduously
engaged for several years, in studying by per-
sonai 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 nc
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 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. 1t is a
matter of inconvenience and complaint for which
hitherto there has been remedy, that in one
month from the time of these issues, there are off
fees in the tables which no longer in operationi
and Offices in operation which are not in the tablesl
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 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 fled
and preserved, will afford to postmasters full and
exact Information upon both subjects, up to and
for time being, How much of the present misdi-
rection, remaiing, 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 intelIi-
| cent postmaster can estimate for himself.
sla nd linda nt., IN
/ 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
a patriotic regard for the credit, prosperity and
efficiency of the whole Post Office system-at once
| To silbscribe. The same considerations applv To
the orders and notices, decisions, and instruction
of the War, Navy, Treasury, State, and Interio
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 natlona interest, VIII hnd place
; i'm this papsr.
Department Of our paper addressing itself not
}, merel, TO postmasters and other officers of the
!, Government but to all other citizens who give at
ention TO the affairs OF the nation aud the progress
and DEVELOPMENT Of the {, untry, will embrace in
condensed form the matters submitted to, or aris-
inc in Congress. At each session a vast deal of
| valuable information is communicated to Con-
eress bv 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-
. norris except the brief notices of them, which
from time TO time appear in the public papers
The standing number printed of each docume t
and report. is only twelve hundred in the Senate
and fourteen hundred in the House of Representa-
tives, which at once shows the lmPracucabty of
,ho;r denomination The ADVERTISER will con-
,.;n short abridgments or analysis of all these
documents and reports, and the co mpend 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
20 obtain and examine the documen at large.
There is a large field before us, the materials are
nmple 1t will be our Jealous care to collect and
arrange them in the prope form. We have every
| confidence tiat the subscriptions viii be ample to
| enable us to accomplish it all. The information
we propose to give, comprehending and confined
To the action Of the Government, is solid, useful