Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1881-07-15
wAsHiNGTON I4ETTER.
From our regular Correspondent.
WASHISGTpN. july I. 1881,

WASHINGTON, July I, 1851.
Tiere is no connection between EEK
pcdited" star routes and dead" letters
yet IN as much as postal matters are
receiving good share Of public atten.
tion npw a days some account Of the
way the Department disposes OF mis-
directed and lost letters may he Of
general interest. The number Of let
tiers that 90 astray and never reach
the persons fnr whom they are intend
ell Is small Compared to the whole nnn,-
Der gong through the mails, vt ii is
lar greater than anyone unacqna.nted
with the facts won d guess. Hundreds
'f epistle~ Of one sort and another
some both preci ms and im,a,rtanf-
MISS their mark every DAY. and hum
ifesfs II li arts are made sick ny hope
deferred. In The early colonial times.
50 he old yellow pamphlet in the De-
par.ncnt archives te Is Us, great pains
Were taken To recover letters that
had been lost. A letter in thuse days
was an expensive affair, Comparative
~ Papet Cost great deal and the
postage was from 25 cents to 81. Ii,
say nothing of the trouble and anpoy-
ance of having to whittIe out yonr
'wn pen from the quill and inpress-
ing on the back of the missive that
Immense seal which was then custom
airy. Some Of these remarkable old
.plstles are still to be seen at the Dead
Letter Office. Their faded lines and
yellow appearance lures one into d
deep leveire Of long gone days, and
MUD pictures OF the writers who years
ago have crumbled into dust.
From November l777 to December
llS9-twelve years-al the letters
that went astray arc recorded in be OK
,t furty-one pages. This is quite
with the record one hundred
years later. when during the single
year 1877 over four millions Of dead |
etters were received at the Pustoffice |
With all the care and /
abilities provided for the transporta-
.ion and delivery of the mails it NAV
be wondered why SO many letters go
astray. The fanlt is not with the pos
al officials or the postal system 1t
S very rarely indeed that letter COR
-ectly addressed and postpaid fails to
each its destination. But a great
many letters are deposited upon which
he address is wrong or the postage
unpaid. and in many other cases the
person addressed has removed or left
he place. These are the letters that
ind their way to the Dead letter office.
n many cases they could come direct
y back to the writer ii his address
we're on the outside OF the envelope.
often letters are deposited properly
ealed aud stamped with no address
t all. and many miscarricd letters are
ever heard from by tue writer be-
ause no name was signed to them
Ill this leads to the reflection that we
re an ,absent-inlnded people.
For opening, asserting ant! the work
t returning this immense number Of
cad letters ninety clerks, two-thirds
aides, are employed, aud they have
nough to do at that. 1t is easier to
ak about millions Of letters than 70
andle them one by one. Each must
'e insf ected, marked and recorded aud
majority are returned To the writer.
hey are opened by squat of clerks
itting at long tables in a large cheer
nl room. Ii anything valuable is con
aimed in them they arc handed over
o another division where the contents
re registered and placed in large
ale fnr future redemption. If there /
, pafhfnt~ in fho0 of ual,n 49,, -. | ,