The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-12-05

opening the letter OF OtnefWlse, tne
writer, and return it, with a statement
of the cause of it's non-delivery in the
United States. All postage which, on
unpaid foreign letters, is charged
against the United States, is again
credited for such of these as arereturned
ms dead letters, and Uice Uersa with
regard to letters from the United States,
unprepaid, which return here dead "
from abroad.
Thus, it will be seen that the whole
system, so far as we have yet observed,
is eminently business-like and well ar
ranged, each clerk having a function of
his own, and doing nothing else, which
enables the whole huge machine to
work with the precision and accuracy of
clock-work. But, 50 far, we have
only seen half of what there is to see,
and are only beginning to understand
the mysteries of the Office. a great
many letters received here contain
money or valuables in the shape of
bonds, drafts, checks, receipts, deeds of
property, mortgages, coupons Of various
kinds often payable to bearer, etc, etc.
More numerous, even, are the letters
small amounts, from a ten or fifteen
cent stamp up to n dollar and also
postage stamps, sent either in place of
currency or to secure an answer. In
order to give an adequate idea of the
importance of this, the "money- letter
and "property" branch of the Dead
Letter Office, l shall here give a fev
figures which will serve to illustrate it
During the year of 1870 the total num-
Der of letters received at the Dead-Let-
ter Office, in Washington, amounted TO
4, 1872, AGO. OF this number, -, 1913, none
of which We're registered, contained
money to the amount of $72, 800 in
sums of one dollar and upward and of
the registered letters received here,
2,5SS contained $40, 327.73, making a
total of -, 32l letters, containing S92.-
S67. -. But for the Dead-Letter Office
this money would have been-where +?
Certainly lost to the senders, who now,
in nearly all instances, have it returned.
The number inclosing fractional cur
rency III sums less than one dollar was
%, IA, containing s., 1913. so; and of
this amount, So, O5S.72 (the contents of
20, 300 letters was returned to the
writer's, while the remainder, ?, 63S let
tiers, containing $734.SS were filed for
reclamation, there being no clue to as
certain the names or whereabouts of
the senders. Finally, as regards post
age and revenue stamps, these were
found inclosed, in various amounts, ii
10, 457 letters while the number of let
ters containing bank checks, drafts,
coupons, deeds, etc, etc., WAS II, $50, Of
the nominal value of -, 057, 54L9O.
But" it will very naturally be
asked, chow comes it that there are so
many dead letters-what is the cause Of
1t - The answer is, that the causes are
several, carelessness, however, being
the principal one. 1t is really sur
prising how careless some people
are in addressing and posting their or
other peoples letters, even il these-as
we have seen above contain money
and papers of value. An instance Of
this kind came before my notice while
was in the Office, which may serve as an
example. | have already said that II
letter was handed me ut the asserting
table bearing only the name-W. c.
Campbell, Esq. and no further adj
dress. When this was subsequently
opened it was found to contain a certi-
fed check for the sum of SOP. 35. drawn
upon "A bank in indianapolis, Ind, from
which place the letter came, while il
should have been addressed to Warsaw,
in the same State; but the sender had
neglected to write the address in full,
and consequently the letter came here
to the Dead-Le.ter Office. While letters
to certain foreign countries may be
mailed unpaid, and the postage collected
on delivery, every domestic letter must
be prepaid to secure its delivery, with
at least one full rate, or it goes inyaria-
bly, to the ead-Letter Office. Yet,
during last year, no less than 312, GS4
letters were dropped in the postoflice
boxes throughout the country without
stamps, or stamps of the proper kind.
They were either wholly unpaid, were
not prepaid one full rate, OF were
stamped with illegal or revenue stamps,
which cannot be used for postage
6S l23 letters We're INSTRUCTED, the
postoilice, State, or some necessary part
of the address, being omitted and
3,0l6 had no uddreSS CHutCrCr, not even
lIlO IilAts Dlit ilsttl DCtll uiullCO Will lllt'
envelope III blank. Only small por-
ton 900 were addressed to places
where there is no mail service, which is
Il good indication of the vastness and
perfection OF the postal ramifcations IL
this country.
Perhaps it would be proper also to
include under the head of carelessness
on negligence the deplorable fashion of
Il certain class of writer's to address
their letters from some country seat or
other, with fancy or aristocratic name,
without giving the postoflico address.
This silly and absurd practice has OF
late obtained to very great extent
The Postoflice Department, in Wash
ingtOn, is in possession of list OF up
ward of eighty thousand Of these fancy
names, to which letters are daily found
directed without any postoflice address ;
and almost every day adds to this list
of botheration. Parties receiving let
ters which are dated simply Locust
Hill" Sunnyside Farm, " Myrtle
Grove, Rose Villa" etc, ETC., etc.
eighty thousand of them, take no heed
of the stamped post-mark upon the en-
velope, but naturally direct their replies
to the place indicated at the head of the
letter, and the result is that the letter is
forwarded from one part of "A State 10