New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-05-05
NEJY POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR
CALIFORNIA.

Mr.. Oliver Evans Woods under the sanction of the
Postmaster General and law of Congress, has issued
an important circular to all persons writing letters to
California or indeed any Of our Pacific territory that
is well calculated to lessen the enormous number OF
dead letters annually returned from that region The
plan amounts 10 a simple iDurance-which, however,
NAV failthat the letter sent shall reach the person
intended. Notwithstanding he may have changed his
residence The operation is simply this If the writer
is uncertain Of the residence of his friend, he may d.
rect his letter TO San Francisco, and at the same time
send a copy of the address to the Pacific Mail List,
New-York, in an envelope, postage aid, and incosng
three cents which will insure the address to be printed
and sent to every t-Ohice in California. BY
this means the person, whoever he may be, will be
likely to hear that there is letter for him at San Fran
cisco which he may get by wiring for it. Undoubt-
edly the plan is good one and if carried out would
prevent at least hundred thousand letters year be-
ing sent back as " dead when the persons to whom
they were directed were not So but had only taken up
their abode in some new locality, perhaps within ten
miles of their former residence to which the letters
had been directed The enterprise seems to be pri-
yate one and Mr. Woods depends upon the three cents
sent him to pay for insertion in the list for his compen
sation for publishing it, Now let us see whether it will
nav. We think not, because we think the letter
writers are both careless and unwilling to pay the extra
expense. In the first place the letter writer
must pay ten cents postage on his letter.
Then he must pay three cents the envelope ncosng
the address to the " Pacific Mail LIST" NewYork,
and nclose three cents Then if the recipient of the
letter sees his name published, he must write and pay
postage we presume, and if the letter is forwarded
there is another postage-making total of twenty
two cents upon one letter. And this plan has the
sanction of the Post Office Department Verify, the
old Land Turtle has changed to crab, and is going
backward If the plan publishing the list is good
one which fully believe, there is better plan OF
doing it, because all this expense can and should be
saved to the letter writers and letter receivers For
ten cents the Department should deliver every letter.
if the person to whom it is directed be found by
reasonable exercise of diligence. This can be
plshed in two ways We viii point them out, though
we have no idea they will reach the inteecs of
onv of the "Barnacles of the Crcumlocuton Office
Let all the postmasters in the country be instructed to
tell those who send letters to California that they can
have them put in the mail list if they choose. If they
do let them write these two words on the leter-Alail
List-aud at New.York, or New-Oreans-the only
offices that send letters to California let those letters
be separated and the address inserted IN the list and
let that list be sent t. San Francisco and printed and
sent TO every Office in the State and when letter IS
ordered forward le, it be sent without delay and with
| out further charge.
That is one plan. II is better than the expensive
nrivate one proposed and instead of being expense
TO Government would actually be a m0ney.making
operaon because it would save the transportation OF
dead letter-twenty cents pound across the sthmns
beside other expenses-and Il would cause many more
letters to be written
The other plan is for every postmaster in California
TO send the address Of every letter in his Office over
one month, to the Office at San Francisco, where It
should be published in list Of "uncalledfor letters,
and that list sent TO every other post-ofhce This
would probably save the necessity OF sending back
one half az many dead letters as are now sent. This
plan would positively cost less than the expense en-
tailed upon all letters sent as dead from San francesca
to Washington. Now let the public Judge if either
of these plans are not better than the one proposed
and certainly far less expensive TO those who pay for
what Government is pleased to call mail facilities.
But until Government viii do what they should do,
let us give the plan proposed fair trial under private
| management.