New-York daily tribune., 1859-12-28
POST-OFFIcE Reform.
A LETTER TO THE POsTMAsTER-GEN-
ERAL,
FOR THE INFORMATION oP THE PEOPLE AND


4
SIR: As II appears by the public journals that oT
effort il making TO Increase the usefulness Of th'
Postal Department. by rendering the reception o.
written communications more certain by those fol
whom they had boon destined-in other words, re-
dHcing the immense number of dead letters, n0"
amounting to 1850, 600 per annum--l have taken
the liberty being only private citizen OF address
ing you this letter, believing that as nave ga'n.
cred some facts bearing upon the SUBJECT ana M az
different periods have given considerable reflection
TO il within two or three years lew
win be welcomed in the same spirit IN Wnicn .ae! ~
are Intended l. o. a disposition 10 improve 'n1s
branch of our internal economy which, before al
otbers under United States control, Is bne One III
which every man, woman, and enid is moro uccPV
Interested. .-A;.b -.
In the semi.ofhcial communication which ap-
,o.r,d IN TA, Yaskiaeioa Consultation OF June ~,
xon intimate that in this branch Of the public ser
xx;ca the advantage of the individual among the
people shall be paramount to the convenience OF tho
public servant. That Sir, Is the only true ana up
right guido for action in this case, ana na9 your
predecessors recognized the rule and enforced H. tne
number Of dead letters would, believe, Dc so small
that little labor would be required IN disPOshg Oi
them with their valuable contents.
II must be evident Sir, that, if there were dues
In be met on the letters, the matter would be IN
very different shape from that at present. Pecu-
pAry want. or careful weighing OF the inferred
value of letter against the postage required, used
to prevent thousands Of letters from being taken
from the Office. Now, there Is, as conceive, Dut
one goOd cause for a letter being dead that IL,
the death of the party addressed. Even that cause
ought NOS to prevail these regulations appro-
pirate 10 the case.
In the semi-oficial paper referred to, you state
"the evil Is almost entirely beyond tue control OF
"the Post Office Department. or OF Congress; that
the general impression is, that tho eyil Is owing 10
faults in the Postal system, or to careeSsness IN
Postmasters; and that you can easily demonstrate
that such & not the cas but that it is owing to in
dividual carelessness in the writers; and the at
tempt is made to prove this by alleging that out of
10000 bankers letters large number Is i0nnd MS
directed; and you mention one case IN point. L
SUPPOSE the number Of similar cases does not ex-
ceed one thousand, and you do nOt attempt to ac-
count for the remnant, 2,2i9,OOO AS the whole
tendency Of the paper referred TO Is 70 aud deec-
tive syStem, approve incompetent officers, and to
shirk The responsibility Of blame for stGpendous
evil. for which there Is not shadow Of excuse, l
will proceed to mention few omissions and COM
missions which produce this evil for which you do
not suggest anJ remedy but which can be cured
whenever you say the word. The first and greatest
mistake is not introducing the penny-post IN every
town where is would DO sustained. There are great
numbers of persons, each of whom inquire on every
succeeding day for letters who do nOt receive one
once n week. Ono - ildDAc W hiIlNo Ou ObO uay
as another, and they cannot and ought not to rest
easy without boing satisfied that one has not ar
rived The time wasted and labor misspent by this
class of persons living remote and waiting IN string
Of perhaps hundred, we frequently do at San
Francisco. is beyond estimation. Ii furnishes
sad rejection in every individual mind upon the
want of care, tact, and foresight manifested by
those whose duty il is to make this Improvement.
Tho reason il has not been made before is that Of
fcials, merchants and wealthy persons employ sub
Ordnates or servants part OF whose daily routine
n is to attend the mails. These classes OF p0stOf
fee patrons, relieved, personally, from the incsSsant
drudRery above described, never once imagine the
Inconvenience submitted TO by others, not 80 con-
Veniently situated. For want of u penny-pOst in
San Francisco, the letter carrying of the whole
State has been seized upon by two Express COmpa-
nies whose promptness is such that the United
States Post Office has become Of very little account
excepting semmOnthly on the arrival Of the At
lantc mail. These two Companies soil stamped
envelopes conVeyable TO any dwelling in California
at l0c, or in the Atlantic States at zoe. There IS
paid to the United States Sc. Of tho l0c., and Oc.
of the 2Gc. (i e. these envelopes already bear the
red or green United States stamp, SO that she
United States is NOT directly defrauded thereby; yet
the seven or ten cents is heavy burden upon let
ter-writing diminishing correspondence, impairing
the United States postal revenue as II exacted by
ne United States Government. You would be as
uished, Sir to witness the extent OF this private
tai system You would SEQ one of these c0mpa-
deliver in San Francisco more letters in day
the general delivery of tho largest Atlantic
t.)fice. The necessities of the people COM
I'd them to accept private enterprise for postal
.erIfe, until the habit Of taking letters IN at the
Se4 deeply rooted, that, to make sure that his
lau,r shall nos become dead man is forced to use
thExpress envelope. have just received letter
10 distance Of only sixty miles covered by a
4 .aEf h.. .tia xwhy h.
"a PC for what you stood ready 10 do for &c.
sthere arc few routes where tho extortion is so
esi) he would reply that the burden was one he
aid i'll afford to bear, nearly equal TO prohibition,
q that il il well known that the private postage
,xism has superseded the United States postage
stem on tho Pacific coast, aud that If 1t Is im-
srnnt to man to have his letter received there Is
alternative, however poor aud suffering he may
y This postal service lt Is tho bOunden duty OF
aosernment TO perform ySs we are compelled to
nv seven or ten cents extra; and, as in the case
boye mentioned even - cents extra for what is
st worth over two cents, and which Government
en- we'll afford TO do at that price. IL is in this
aate. of all others, that the Department can least
,aord 10 have its revenue embarrassed, where the
putes are long, the population sparse, and mail
carriage expensive. The Express Companies do
not encroach upon your right TO carry ranked mat
TER newspapers, and other heavy luggage as usual.
SecOndiy: Express offices and hotels should be by
law prohibited from retaining longer than one day
le.ten which in any way may happen to be in their
no,seson addressed to Others alter that time they
,AOuld be- deposited in the Post-Ohiee A large ac-
emulation OF such letters, at an express office, has
ias. been destroyed, at Marysvile, without exsmi-
yrahon. and believe that no other disposition Is
made of millions Of letters in this State, after hav
;ns lain for few months, OF perhaps weeks. Hotel
keepers and express agents, without right either
lsgal or moral, break open your letters and mine;