The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-03-02
UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE
AND OPFTCL1L ADVERTISER

UNITED STATES POSTAL GUIDE
AND OFFYCL4L ADVERTISER
AZ To shoio ,ohai is done, and phai should be done
in o0fce.=sT
PETER G, WAsHrNGroN, E,i;,ors,,J p.on-;.,o,.
CHARLES M. WILLARD, Wv" ''P'' o.
TERMs.- The United States Postal Guide aud
Official .qdvertiser," containing about 80 spperroyal
octave pages, is published monthly for ONE DOL
LAR ONLY, per annuns, payable in aduance--or Gps
dollars for SIR copies ordered.
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 are to follow, as
for its aim no less Il purpose than to lmpart 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-
parments of their Government. There has hith-
erto Ieen no vehicle for the regular and proper
communication of information of this kind. The
publication of the Laws and the issue of nstrur
tons more or less comprehensive, and at intervals
more or less extended, have proved wholly made
auate, in the absence of the construction OF those
Laws applied to particular cases, and of details
and illustrations to make the regulations and i'm Z.
structions Ineligible. The valuable documents
annually reported to Congress, are too voluminous:
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 poliey3
These publications in their various forms are
highly useful in themselves far as they 90 and
some of them Indispensable but there is much
that do not reach the hands of all nor they did
do they furnish those rules, methods, and exam
ples for the despatch Of the public business which
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, m ethOdica, and ey
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 ey
tent at east--apart from, and independently to
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-Ofice Department until the month
of November ast with by far the larger portion
of both postmasters and contractors, he has had
direct intercourse, in person or by letter. He
tered the department fourteen years since, and for
many years previously, had been, first in the War
Department, ard subsequently in the Treasury.
| He has therefore had the best opportunities fol
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 lntters 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 civility with
them ALL The Junior Editor has been asssiduously
engaged for several years, in studying, by per.
sonui inquiry and examination, the practical and
| daily routine and details of the Post-Office and
o.ner branches of the public business. 1t is with
this stock Of experience, and these advantages fol-
reaching the various sources OF administrative nc
tion, and for imparting minute and illustrative in
structon and valuable periodical and Statistical
information, that we challenge your confdenc.
and solicit your support and patronage.
| We have fixed upon the 18th or 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 ndchanges issued, or made
by them during the preceding month. Tables a
Post Offices, and compilations of the Laws and
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 no remedy, that in one
month from the time of these issues there are of
fees in the tables which are no longer in operation
and offices in operation which not in the tables
At this time there are perhaps 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 filed
and preserved, will afford to postmasers full and
exact information upon both subjects, up to and
for time being How much Of the present misdi
rection, remailing, 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-
| gent postmaster can 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 same considerations apply t O
the orders and notices, DECISIONS and instruction
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 cases turning upon question:
of official duty or national interest, will find plac
in this paper.
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