The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-12-28

DISTRIBUTION offIcEa
The subject INC ulstrru,iou' letters having en-
gagged the attention Of the department order was made
the 30h OF April last, disseminating irteeaa tho
therefor the practice Of direct mailing The high oomms
sons allowed for the process Of distribution have proved
only heavy burden upon the Of the depart
nent, but also strong incentive TO abuse But while
the order mentioned was important as q measure Of
economy, ard as q means Of preventing frauds, it
mails Offices Of this description formerly very
valuable and in fact Indispensable element in tho postal
pidy with which population spread into new districts,
causing cities, towns and villages to struggle for exist
with the forest and PRAIRIE and rendering mposs
bic TO keep pace with the and locations Of the
berless new Offices demanded by the habits Of people
accustomed to the constant interchange Of thought n
teligence Some Offices, therefore, had to be designated
the reeopsces Of correspondence from section Of
tguous country and for remaDg and sending it in pack
ages others Of similar functions or less distant,
thence be distributed s destination In this manner
these Offices situated in the East and West the North and
South, mutually acted upon each other and performed
useful service This when the mails carried 10
stages and other vehicles, and when pauses
riy made for tho refreshment Of passengers and the
change Of anmas allowing at the same time OF distrbu
tion" at tie post Office But the country has become
populated the necessity for these guides to distant
points has fncasufably ceased; and In proportion
railways have become carriers Of mails, and have
yielded to the public demand for ceaseess motion, has
!, become impossible Tor the process Of distrbuhon"
be maintained without subjectng the correspondence OF
the country charged with its commercial and political in
tegence and its social mpathies frequent and
warrantahle delays
The expense attending the distribution OF letters, even
when honestly performed, and tho legitimate and proper
commission only charged abstracts no inconsidcrablc
snrn from the postal revenues aud this uucp swollen
by the second and third process Of the kind which they
are exposed, often by necessity sometimes by accident
and ignorance, and more frequently 1t is feared by de-
syn But, already ntima,ed this Is the only or
by any neans the most serious evil whchis sought be
remeded The primary object OF the whole mail system
Is to insure speed with certainty and safety the
sit OF correspondence nnd effect this great end no I'M
possible to dispense with the distributing system alto
eeher, is problem yet TO BIO Solved exists In other
country, and would be unnecessary In this, but for
great extent Of Territory and immense number of Offices
is evident that the list Of Offices Of distribution should
be reduced as much as possible from year TO year. and
that they should be established continued only popu
lous cites and towns, where travel concentrates and
where mails and passengers have q temporary rest.
The following resolution was adopted by the United
States SeE ate, March 0, 1866
Resolved, That the Postmaster General is hereby re-
quested to state, possible in the annual
report Of the service Of tho Post Office Department tho
number Of letters consigned TO the dead letter office during
the ecat year, and what further legislation necessary
to diminish the number Of such letters, provide for
their return to the writers thereof.
dead letters during the last fiscal year Is estimated at
250o 600, including about 100000 "drop letters" and
he humber Of letters actually conveyed in tho mails and
falling 70 reach the persons addressed may be estimated
at less than two millions q 600 0oo) . year.
More than fifty per cent Ut the entire accumulation Of
dead letters occurs at about forty Of the 2 $50 post
oces inducing, Of COURSE large cities and towns
As to wLaf further legislation is necessary 10 diminish
the number OF such letters to provide for their return
to the writer's thereof am not yet fully prepared TO
report but Investigations have been and dill
gently prosecuted during the past several months which,
hoped may enable me hereafter to Offer some pracu
cal suggestions.
Particular efybrts have been made to ascertain
tho true why letters especially thoee
with valuable enclosures, failed to reach their
destination and il Ia satisfactorily established the large
majority Of cases, that the fault with the writer's them
sclvee either IN misdrecng illegbly directing their
communications The migratory habits OF the people must
also be considered among the prominent Of the
cumuation Of dead letters, particularly Ia the west
ern or newer portions Of the country.
BY way Of illustration, il il stated, az tho result Of in
qurics which have been made 70 limited extent, that
moro than sixty 80 per cent Of letters containing money
recently the owners failed reach their dee
tpation entirety from bong either msdrected held for
postage, or addressed TO transient persons.
And in reference TO dead letters with valuable encio
sur other than money the results have been found still
more ea ngover eighty 1907 cent having been either
mscireetea held for postage addressed 10 transient
persons These the proportions Of explained
Further Investigations this point progress the
result 81 which viii hereafter be fully shown.
Tie attempt has also been made sound public ecnti
mept Oh the subject Of restoring 70 the writer's dead let
ies which do not contain closures OF value and from
Information thus far received would that ia about
one third of tho the writer's willing TO pay for
recovering their let,ers At the time the fact s
shown that Of this cass OF letters forty 40) per
miscarry through fault Of tho wrters
The foregoing estimate OF tho whole number OF letters
consigned 10 the dead letter Office based upon actual
enumeration for one quarter, ended Both Juno last
further enumeration 70 Ia progress, and additional