Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1881-07-02
WASHINGTON LETTER.

''expedited" star routes and "dead +"
letters, yet inasmuch as postal mat
tiers are receiving good share OF
public attention nowadays some
account of the way the Department
disposes of misdirected and lost let
tiers may be of general interest.
The number of letters that go astray
and never reach the persons whom
they are intended for, is small in
comparison to the whole number 60
ing through the mails, yet it is far
greater than one unacquainted with
the facts guess. Hundreds OF epis-
ties of one sort and another-some
both precious and important-miss
their mark every day, and hundreds
of beasts are made sick by hope de-
ferred. In the early colonial times,
so the old yellow pamphlet in the De
partment archives tells Us, great
pains were taken to recover letters
that had been lost, A letter in
those days was an expensive affair,
com 5aritively. Paper cost great
dea and the postage was from %
cer IS to $10O, to say nothing of the
T. uble and annoyance of having to
' Attic out your own pen from the
ALL and impressing on the back of
he missive that immense seal which
MAS then customary. Some of these
remarkable old epistles are still to
4 be seen at the Dead Letter Office.
Their now faded lines and yellow
appearance lures one into deep rev.
erie of long gone days and mind pic
lures of the writers who years ago
have crumbled into dust.
From November 1777 to December
17S9-twelve years-all the letters
that went astray are recorded in
book of forty-one pages. This is
quite contrast with the record a
hundred years later, when during
the single year, 1877, over four mil
lions of dead letters were received at
the Post Office Department. With
all the care and facilities provided
for the transportation and delivery
of the mails, it may be wondered
why so many letters go astray. The
fault is not with the postal officials,
or the postal system. 1t is very
rarely indeed that letter correctly
addressed and post paid fail 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
persons addressed have removed or
left the place. These are the letters
that find their way to the Dead Let
ter Office. In many cases they could
come directly back to the writer if
his address was on the outside of the
envelope. Often letters are depos-
tied properly sealed and stamped
with no address at all, and many
miscarried letters are never heard
from by the writer because no name
was signed to them. All this leads
to the reflection that we are an alb
sent. minded people.
For opening, asserting and the
work of returning this immense
number of dead letters ninety-nine
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 in
spected, marked and recorded and
majority are returned to the writer.
They are first opened by large
squad of clerks sitting at a long ia
BILE, in a cheerful room. If any
thing Of value is contained in them
they are handed over to another di-
vision, where the contents are regis
tered and placed in large safe for
future redemption. If there is moth
ing in them of value, they are sent
up stairs, where the ladies inspect
them, and if the address of the
writer is found the letter is enclosed
to the person by whom it was sent.
If the letter has been held for pos
tage, a circular is sent to the person
to whom it is addressed, informing
him that there has been received at
the Dead Letter Office letter direct
ed to him, which will be forwarded
upon receipt of the necessary pos
tage. To this circular the Depart