Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-09-30

tiers DestrOyed-An Interesting State
ment, Etc.
By THE AUTHOR OF THE RETURN REQUEST LET
TER SYSTEM.
The writer begs space in your valuable Jour-
nal to. speak ola retrograde step in the man
agement Of postal affairs which has come to his
knowledge, and which affects in a most offensive
way the interests of each man and woman In
the United States whose letters perchance reach
the dead letter office. That the nature of this
retrograde step by the United States postal
authorities may be understood, the writer will
state that prior to the acts of April 9th, 1860
and June 18th, 1866, all letters mailed In the
United States that failed of delivery were, with
the exception Of those from government de-
partments, broken open, and all that did not
enclose money or other valuables were de-
stroyed, without notice to correspondents, and
without regard to subject-matter or even q
thought. 1t would SEEM of the complications In
social and business matters that could well be
caused by the destruction Of such vast masses
OF letters, which actually aggregated millions
per annum This vandalism had existed from the
beginning of the United States postal service,
and possibly would have continued to this
hour = for it had the full sanction of
the Post Office department had not
Congress approved certain plans proposed
by private citizen for it's uprooting,
and enacted the before-cited acts Of April 9th,
1860, and June 18th. 1866. The act Of 1860 d.
rected the return to the writer's of all undeliv-
cred letters endorsed with the names and resi-
dences of the writer's. The act of June 18th,
1866, embraced all letters not thus endorsed
tnat reach the dead letter Office. and directed
their restoration I" to the writer's thereof free of
postage" Each law was explicit and left to
the Post Office department no discretion In the
premises, and yet the department so construed
the act Of April, 1860, that for five years it re-
manned measurably imperative. It ia now,
however, in force, and the indications are that
during the current year full seven hundred and
fifty millions of the letters will be mailed in the
United States In accord Herewith, any of which,
If undelivered. will be returned direct to the
writers thereof to relieve suspense and effectu-
ally avert the mischevOus consequences that
surely attends the destruction, without notice
to correspondents, OF letters that fail of deliv-
cry. The benefits of these two laws were 80 far
reaching, and the wisdom of their enactment SO
universally acknowledged, that at this writing
it is almost certain that outside Of the Post
Office department, there are not fifty persons
who use the United States mails but think that
as matter of course. letters which fail of de-
livery will be returned free Of postage to the
writer's thereof.
HOW THE DEPARTMENT CONSTITUTES LAW.
But early in the current year train Of circum-
stances brought to light the fact that although
the act Of 1860 is in force, that of 1866 was. in
1872, superseded by section 1914 of an act entitled
can act to revise. consolidate and amend the
statutes relating to the Post Office department"
approved June 8. 1872. The section reads: "and
ne 1.-THE Postmaster Generall may make re2ula-
lations" for the return of dead letters to the
writer's. Now, it was further revealed that the
Department has construed the words ''may
make regulations" to mean to discriminate and
as matter of fact the only dead letters now re-
turned are those which. in the opinion of the
postmaster Generator rather in the opinion Of
the employees OF the dead letter Office-are of
seeming Importance" Under this construc-
ton each letter that is 80 unfortunate as to
reach the dead letter office has its subject mat
ter scrutnized by some empoye of the dead
letter Office on whose fat rests the question
whether or not it shall be returned to It's writer
More than thirty millions of undelivered letters
nave, since 1872. been subjected to this ordeal
and. as an inevitable consequence, the most
sacred family, social and business secrets of the
people OF the United States-as far as the same
formed the subject matter of those thirty mil
lions of letters-were barred to the employees of
the dead letter office In their efforts to ascertain
such letters as were of sufficient seeming i'm
pOrtance" to justify their return to the writer's
thereof. And to show the estimate put by dead
letter office clerks on undelvered letters the
writer will state that of that 80 600. 900 letters
the overwhelming majority were ruthlessly de-
strOyed, and the citizens interested therein left
to vain surmises as to their fate
THREk-FOURTHS OF THE DEAD LETTERS DE-
STRoYED.'H' "f hnG nIh9I:
OF the dead letters Of the last reported fiscal
year-viz: 1S8l-mOre than three-fourths were
thus destroyed, and yet, under the act Of 1866
each of those letters would have been returned,
II possible, to its writer, who alone was the
only true judge OF its Importance. To put
stop to these proceedings Senate bill 2.O75 was
introduced. The bill simply aims to re-enact the
law OF 1866. The bill was referred to the Post
once department. and by the Postmaster Gen.
eral referred to the bureau in charge of the dead
letter office, which drafted a letter dated July
IA. 1882 which, signed by the Postmaster Cen
eral. substantially declares that as long ago as
io6o the department proposed to return dead
letters free of charge to the writer's, as contem.
plated by Senate bill 2O75, but that over ffty
per cent of the persons owning dead letters at
the time were Indifferent as to their return -
Now. the writer happens to know all about this
alleged offer of the department, for it was
caused 6y resolution adopted by the United
States Senate on March 9th, 1859, which resolu-
ton was introduced by the Hon. Jacob Cola
mer, of Vermont. at the writer's instance and
request In fact, the resolution was drafted by
the undersigned, and he can produce docu-
mentary proofs that instead of the department
Offering to return dead letters free Of postage
as contemplated by Senate bill 2O75-it condi-
toned that full postage should be paid Even
with this condition. tull one-third of the citizens
who responded to the departments circular de-
clared themselves willing to pay the full postage
for the return Of letters that failed of delivery.
The remainder doubtless objected that as they
had paid full postage for their delivery
It was unreasonable to exact like postage for
their return In short, the departments letter
OF July Il, 1882, is-because Of it's omission of
facts essential fOrintellgent action by Congress
most misleading, and it is not the only mislead-
ing letter In regard to matters of grave postal
concern which, drafted in the same bureau. has
come to the knowledge Of the undersigned.
The letter Of july IA, 1882 aims to justify the
wholesale destruction Of dead letters which.
under the pretended sanction OF the act OF 1879
Ia conducted In the Dead Letter Once by boldly
asserting "that not One-half of the whole num-
Der OF these dead letters-probably not one-third
OF then-are of such value or Importance as to
justify their return to the writer's"
THE VALUE OF DHAD LETTERS,
Now the answer to this departmental assump-
tlon IL, that the letters which reach the dead
letter office fairly index the letters carried by
mall Letters are not sent to the dead letter
office because they are In departmental estima-
ton OF no "vaiue or Importance" They get