The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-08-14
UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE

UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE
IND OFFICIAL ADVERTISER.
- $40" 'ohat Is done, and ,ohat should be done
PETER G. WAsHrserows
CHARLES M. WILLARD, Editors and Proprietors
lEhMs'- The United States Postal Guide and
aS,aro 49, containing about 80 scper-royai
oc'"oo pages Is published moathlv s,r onr nor
LAR ONLY, per ann'Im, payable in adpanes--or 6g.
dollars for sir copies ordered ''''
PREPARATORY NOTICE
The enterprise in which we now embark and
or which this paper is at once the commencement
and sample of the papers that are TO follow Las
for It's aim no less "A 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
lzation, decisions aud action of the Executive de-
partments 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 lnstrue
tons, or less comprehensive and at intervals
more or less extended, have proved wholly nade-
quate, i'm the absence of the construction Of those
Laws applied to particular cases, and Of details
and illustrations to make the regulations and in
structons Ineligible. The valuable documents
annually reported to Congress, are too vouminous
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
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
Piles, for the despatch Of the public business which
render the discharge of public duty either safs
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 necessites
| If we succeed in rendering the functions Of the
primary offices more uniform, methodical, 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 ev
| 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 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. 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
unders landing the arrangements Of business in al
the departments, and being acquainted with those
who carry it on. Since his official connection with
the Government ceased, he hatters himself he has
2 preserved the respect and regard Of most OF the
present incumbents of the departments, and is on
becoming terms of intercourse and civty with
them all. The Junior Editor has been asssduouslv
\ engaged for several years, in studying, by per-
II sonal inquiry and examination, the practical and
e daily routine and details of the Post-Of,ice and
other branches Of the public business 1t is with
this stock Of experience, and these advantages for
| reaching the various sources of administrative ac-
tion and for mpartng minute and illustrative in
struction, and valuable periodical and statistical
information, that 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 or made
by them during the preceding month. Tables a.
: Post Offices, and compilations of the Laws ana
Regulations are issued by the Pos, 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
fees in the tables which longer in operations
and offices in operation which not in the tabIesl
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 modf-
| cations made IN each month, and by being filed
and preserved, will afford to posmasters full and
: exact information upon both subjects, up to and
for time being. How much of the present msdi-
rection, remang, 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 engage, every intelli-
/ gent postmaster estimate for himself
| 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 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 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 i'm
| respect to them. Notices Of the decisions of the
/. Supreme Court, in turning upon questions
of official duty national interest, viii find place
r in this paper.
| A department of our paper addressing itself not
merely TO pustmasters and other officers of the
Government but to all other citizens who give at
tenton 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 aris-
ing in Congress. AT each session deal OF
| valuable information is communicated to Com
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 moths
/ 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-
lives which at once shows the impracticabiIity of
4 their dissemination. The ADVERTISER will con-
/ tam short abrdgments or analysis of all these
documents and reports, and the co npend Wi
| ,ro~ocore moi only prove exceedingly useful nna
| instructive in itself but will furnish easy index
10 those interested, whenever II is found desrai ie
| to obtain and examine the documen Mt large.
| There is a large field before us, the materials are
| ample II will be jealous care To collect and
arrange them in the prope form. We have every
| confidence that the subscriptions will be ample To
| enable as to accomplish it all. The information
| urn r,rnnnae rive. cnmnrehendinr and confiner