Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1881-10-26
LEI RRA.


els your business liyelyr asked q
Washington correspondent Of Chief Dal'
las, OF the dead letter Office,
"Yes people continue to be careless,
hasty aud negleelinl, II Ia quite aston
ishihg how many business men inisdl'
rect letters on iail TO direct them at all,
IN tho hseal year ending June 10, 1910,
about 0, 100 letters upon which there
were no superserlptloh whatever we're
sent TO this Office and IN tho year end
ing the bDlh Of last month the nambef
was nearly $500, showing q steady
Increase, That These letters were mostly
written by practical business men was
eyideat from the fact that they con
tanned Enclosures OF more than aver
age value, and from other feets also"
~ suppose that the number OF pack
ages al The dead letter Office Ia annually
increasingly remarked tho correspond
ent
"Well, yes and every time that o
postal law or regulation Is changed in .
way to effect the transmission Of mail
matter ~ to rates. AVAILABILITY, etc,
We are tho lirst 10 SEQ the effects, Such
a change always adds to our business"
Mr.. Dallas then showed tho cores
pendent q new device TO put misdl'
rected city letters in tho way OF their
proper destination. This IL printed
directory Of tho streets and avenues Of
oil the cities except two In the United
States where tho mails arc delivered by
carriers, The directory embraces the
atreeia OF ono hundred and ten cities,
Tho arrangement Ia alphabetically by
htreeta, For example, the first entry
Ia. "a" streets. aud the directory shows
that twenty cities, In ~ many different
States, have each an "a" street,
"When | began the preparation OF this
directory" said Mr.. Dallas, 81 in
tended Il ~ u manuscript directory for
the uso OF this office alone and ) at
first intended TO include only tho fifty
principal cities. Az the work advanced,
however, ita usefulness and value bc.
came no apparent that determined TO
include all the cities embraced by tho
carrier'deliyciy service. and ! succeeded
In procuring correct street directories OF
all OF them except Little Rock, Ark,
and GAINESVILLE, Ohio. The postmasters
OF these cities did not appear TO appre'
ciato tho usefulness OF such directory.
When had the manuscript completed,
II was found no useful In this Office that
II occurred TO me That II would be
q valuable adjunct In all the larger
offices OF the country. submitted II
TO Postmastcr.( General James; he warmly
approved tho idea, aud no We had II
printed, We shall begin to distribute
II in o few days, "a soon "a the books
are received from tho bipdcry, Post,
masters Pearson, OF New York, Hipde'
kopcr, Of Philadelphia, and others to
whom the work has been submitted, arc
warm in its praise"
Mr.. Dallas then called attention to
certain questions which the directory is
designed to answer, For example, q
letter addressed to John Smith, No.
$50 Charter Oak avenue lefty and state
omitted.) BY the directory II will be
seen that the only Charter Oak avenue
In any city is at Hartford, Connecticut.
Again, take the case OF II letter addressed
toJomcS Thompson, Esq, corner Eighth
and Enos avenue, Springfield, Massa.
chusei,s. The postmaster Of Spring.
field, Massachusetts. knows the letter
was not intended for that city, because
there Is no Eno9 avenue there, Turn.
ing TO the directory he finds that the
only city which contains an Enos ave.
nue. is Springfield, Illinois. Another
letter is addressed say, to William 7.
Moore, Common street, between Basin
and Franklin streets, (city and state
omitted). by consulting the directory
ii is found that, while there il Com
mon street in each of seven cities, the
only cue which has also n Basin street
and Franklin street is 1T New Orleans,
Louisiana, aud the letter should there.
fore be sent to that city.
Tho directory will be interleaved in
order to render il convenient for tho
correction of errors and the addition Of
desirable information.