Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1866-12-22
[voL. mo. II.
Curlositics of the Post Office Department.

people should commit errors in directing or
mailing their letters. The pressure Of busi-
ness, personal distress, national trouble or
general state Of blues" will give good cx-
cusc Tor an occasional mistake, but it is hard
to realize that in the course Of the year. end
ing june 80 1866, ,/our and a huT MT
ttonS of letters should have been placed in the
post offices which could not be delivered as
addressed. Some were INSTRUCTED, thousands
of others were perfectly iIlcgiblc, and tens Of
thousands were mailed without any address at
all. Nor were these letters of triling mpor-
tancc orof little value, for thirty four thous-
and of them contained an aggregate amount
OF nearly quarter of million of dollars, and
twcnty-sx thousand OF them contained bills
OF exchange and other vauablcs representing
about S713O0C0. The Postoflice Department.
arc diliScnt III tcrrcting out mistakes and pro-
tcctIng careless people against themselves, and
value of S7,250, coo in dead letters" was
returned safely to the persons by whom it was
originally sent.
Among the contents of the dead letters"
were bills Of exchange, photographs, rings,
ambrotypcs, lockcts, dress patterns, pencil ca
scs. scrmons, tradcslncn's bills, wedding cards,
invitations to funerals, soldiers discharges
love letters and every description of general
nonsense, interesting perhaps to the sender,
but only puzzng and burdcnsome to the pa
tlcnt clerks of the Posto1icc Department.
| The entire revenue of the Department for
the year was $4,000, 900, or more than the
entire income Of the United States under Pres.
idcnt ADAMS administration. TO make up
this little sum three hundred and fortyscven
million postage stamps were issued exclusive
of about eight millions of stamped envclops
and wrappers. The various letters travelled
! han 49,, 90 l.
| and water, at total cost to the Department of
eleven cents per mile. A small army of six
thousand contractors is in the employ of the
Department, and it is some consolation to know
that in the Southern States there are now
torty-onc thousand eight hundred and seventy
two miles of postal service in operation, in
November |, 1865.
Reconstruction in the Postotiice Depart
mcnt is progressing rapidly, and if before
long the little irregularities of which VIC occa-
sionally complaiA cease altogether, there will
then be no reasonable excuse for grumbling
at all.
CoNcnIATIoN-Th Raleigh Progress"
thus dscourscs on Cancellation
"lt is the duty of the press everywhere,
as well in the South as the North, to use its
| influence for the cxtinguishment of those Sec
! tional prciudices which have caused so much
misery and distraction in the country. It is
natural enough that the Southern people
should be profoundly inccnscd by the stndious
Interpretations which arc made Of their
character and conduct by mendacious cores
pondents of the radical press, especially the
the outrageous SANDERS which are invented
about crucltcs to the negroes, which, it they
ever occur, arc as rare and exceptional as the
| &C IL.
eliminating in murder, which occasionally oc-
cur i'll the North. But, if calm rcfuta:ion
Of these SANDERS is not likely to neutralize
their poison, still less is an angry and violent
one. In any event they should not provoke
to general and indiscrilninatc rctort, for that
would be as unjust as it is impoitic. Human
nature is the same in all sections, and the pco-
pie of this country, whether North or South,
arc the same race, spring from common an
ccstry inhcriting the virtues and defects of
their ancestors only modified by the different
circumstances in which they have been placed.
Neither section can claim monopoly of cour-
age, generosity or any of tho great heroic
qualities of the Anglo.Saxon race, and any
assumption by either, to that effect, is simply
ridiculous, and is never INDUCED by those who
have met each other in tho fierce tug of bat
tie. If the organs of public sentiment in
both sections would take us their models GEN
cral Grant and General Lee, and induce the
people OF the different sections to entertain
the same intelligent and respectful estimate Of
each other that is held by those distinguished
leaders, powerful influence would be cxer-
ted upon the restoration of national harmony
aud good feeling"
The TINES ON THE MEXICAN SITUATION.
The "I.ondon Times has no doubt that
Maximlian has abdicated, and looks forward
to tho intervention Of tho Washington Gov
eminent as the next step. That intoryen-
ton will bc popular instead Of unpopular, and
cheap instead Of costly. The Americans will