Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1881-08-24
Among the Dead Letters.

The astonishing carelessness of busines
men in directing letters as well as tn
invention of guide" in part to reliev,
the department, is well told in an interview
with Chief Dallas. The reporter said
is your business livelyP"
Yes, people continue to be careless
hasty and neglectful, 1t is quite aston
ishing how many business men misdirec
letters or fail to direct them at all. In tn,
fiscal year ending June 80, 1880, abou
g. 100 letters upon which there was ne
superscription whatever were sent TO thi.
office; and in the year en- ding the 30th o
last month the number was nearly $500
showing steady increase. That thcs,
letter were mostly written by practiced
business men was evident from the flc
that they contained Enclosures of more
than ordinary value, and from other facts
also"
" suppose that the number of pack.
ages received at the dead letter office is
(, respondent. '''0 W.
Well, yes; and every time a postal
law or regulation is changed in way to
affect the transmission of mail matter as
to rates, mailabillty, etc. we are the first
to see the effects. Such a change always
adds to our business"
| Mr.. Dallas then showed the correspond.
ent new device to put misdirected city
letters in the way to their proper deStina-
| ton. This is a printed directory of the
streets and avenues of all the cities.
except two, in the United States where the
mails are delivered by carriers The
directory embraces the streets of 1l0
different cities. The arrangement is
Alphabetical by streets. For example, the
first entry is A street, and the directory
shows that twenty cities in as many
different states have each an A " street.
"When began the preparation of this
dictionary" said Mr. Dallas, 4" intended
it as Il manuscript dictionary for the use of
this office alone; and ut first intended to
include only the fifty principal cities. AS
the work advanced, however, its usefulness
and value became so apparent that | de-
termined To include all the cities embraced
by the carrier delivery service, and | sue
ceeded In procuring correct street directo-
ries to all of them but Little Rock, Ark,
and Zanesville, Ohio. The pUstm ,sters of
these cities did not appear to appreciate
the usefulness of such II directory, When
| had the manuscript completed, it was
found SO useful in this office that it occur.
red to me that it would be a valuable
adjunct in all the large offices in the coun-
try. | submitted it to Postmaster General
James, and he warmly approved the idea,
and so we have had it printed. We shall
begin to distribute it in few days us soon
us the books are received from the bindery.
Postmaster Pearson Of New York, Hulde-
koper of Philadelphia, and others, to
whom the work has been submitted, are
warm in its praise"
Mr. Dallas then called attention to
certain questions which the directory is
designed to answer. For example, letter
addressed TO John Smith, No. 1870 Charter
Oak avenue, Getty omitted). By the di-
rectory it will be seen that the only Chart
er Oak avenue in any city is in Hartford,
Conn. Again, take the case oea letter
addressed to james Thompson, Esq cor
ner Eight and Enos avenues, Springfield
Mass. The postmaster of Springfield,
Mass, knows the letter was not intended
for that city, because there is no Enos
avenue there Turning to theo directory
he finds that the only city which contains
an Enos avenue is Springfield, Ill. Another
letter is addressed, say, to William 7.
Moore Common street, between Basin
and Franklin street, (city and state omit
tedl. BY consulting the directory it is
found that while there is II Common street
in each of the seven cities, the only one
which also has a Basin street and Frank.
lin street is New Orleans, La, and the let
ter should therefore be sent to that city.
The directory will be intereaved, in
order to render it convenient for the co
rection of errors and the addition OF desr-
ed Information.