The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1881-07-09

Inere is no connectlon between 'e8peul-
ted" star routes and "dead" letters, says
our Washington special, yet inasmuch as
postal matters are receiving a good share of
public attention nowadays some account
of the way the Department disposes of mis-
directed and lost letters may be of general
interest. The number Of letters that go as
tray and never reach the persons for whom
they are intended is small compared
to the whole number going through
the mails, yet it is far greater than
any one unacquainted with the facts would
guess. Hundreds of epistles of one sort and
another-some both precious and important
miss their mark every day, and hundreds
Of hearts are made sick by hope deferred.
In the early. colonial times, SO the old yell
low pamphlet in the Department archives
tells US, great pains were taken to recover
letters that had been lost. A letter in those
days was an expensive affair, comparative
ly. Paper cost great deal and the postage
was from rs cents to $1.e0, to say nothing
of the trouble and annoyance Of having to
whittle out your own pen from the quill
and impressing on the back of the mssive
that immense seal which was then custom
ary. Some of these remarkable old epistles
are still to be seen at the Dead Letter Office.
Their faded lines and yellow appearance
lures one into deep reverie of long gone
days, and mind pictures of the writers who
years ago have crumbled into dust.
From November l777 TO December 1889
twelve years-all the letters that went as
tray are recorded in book Of forty-one
pages. This is quito contrast with the re-
cord one hundred years later, when during
the single year 1877 oyer four millions Of
dead letters were received at the Post Office
Department. With all the care and facili-
ties provided for the transportation and de-
livery of the mails it may be wondered why
so many letters 60 astray. The fault is not
with the postal officials or the postal system.
1t is very rarely indeed that letter correct
ly addressed and postpaid fails to reach its
destination. But great many letters are
deposited upon which the address is wrong
or the postage unpaid, and in many other
cases the person addressed has removed or
left the place. These are the letters that
find their way to the Dead Letter Office. In
many cases they could come directly back
to the writer if his address were on the out
side of the envelope. Often letters are de-
posted properly sealed and stamped with
no address at all, and many miscarried let
ters are never heard from by the writer be-
cause no name was signed TO them. All
this leads to the reflection that We are an
nt-minde1 people.
For opening, asserting and the work of
returning this immense number Of dead let
ters ninety clerks, two thirds ladies, are en-
ployed, and they have enough to do at that.
1t is easier to talk about millions of letters
than to handle them one by one. Each
must be inspected, marked and recorded,
and majority are returned to the writer.
They are opened by a squad ofclerks sitting
at long tables in large cheerful room. If
anything valuable is contained in them
they are handed over to another division
where the contents are registered and placed
in large safe for future redemption. If
there is nothing in them of value they are
sent up stairs where the ladies inspect themi
and if the address of the writer is found the
letter is enclosed to the person by whom it
was written. If the letter has been held
. | &, al ic to "a
to whom it is addressed, informing him
} that there has been received at the Dead
, Letter Office letter directed TO him, which
will be forwarded upon receipt of the neces-
sary postage. To this circular the Depart
ment receives many very funny replies. II
} no response is made within thirty days, il
is treated as an ordinary dead letter. The
great number and variety Of valuable arti-
cles sent through the mails is amazing, and
, catalogue of them would be amusing
r Once a year the Dead Letter Office has {
/ sale of these unclaimed and unreturnablC
I articles. There are small parcels OF laces
e silks and ribbons, embroidered undergar
ments, gloves, perfumery and powders fo
f ladies, trinkets of every description for ba
4 biss and children, and jewelry of all kind
0 to say nothing of "millions" of photo
graphs, which hardly come under the heat
/. of valuables, not even if picture of one
9 best sweetheart.
= The amount Of money passing through
the mails is not 50 large as before the money
+, order system was established; but II will b
a understood that it is still enormous from
4 the fact that out of dead letters alone oYe
9 $50, 900 in currency and nearly two million
1 in dralls and commercial paper was takeT
: during the last year. A great share OF thi
/ comes iiom the mis- Or nondirectsd letters