Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-10-11
THE RETURN LETTER SYSTEM.
The Illegal Destruction Of Letters.
To the Editor of THE EVENING sra..

To the Editor Of THE EVENING Star.
No attention would have been paid by the
writer to an anonymous communication in a
morning paper relative to his statement in
your paper OF the 30th ultimo, but for the cir
cumstance that Ii bears unmistakable marks of
having originated in the Post Office depart
ment. The tone Of the communication is fully
in keeping with the brutal and Illegal destruc-
ton OF myriads of the undelivered letters of our
citizens, which the law distinctly provides shall
be restored free Of postage to the writer
thereof"
Its 1ippant remarks as to the unimportant
nature-in dead letter office estimation-of
the millions of letters thus destroyed is mat
ter fer the people of the United States to con-
slider. It's remark that 1t is not nor has it
ever been question with any clerk in the office
as to whether he or she deemed a letter Of suffi-
Gent importance to return" is in direct conflict
with letter signed by Postmaster General
to the Hon. T. w. Ferry, chairman
of the post office committee, United States Sem
ate. copy Of that letter is in the ,crites posses
slon, and therein Mr.. Howe distinctly speaks of
the department returning all dead letters with
enclosures of value, land as many others with
out enclosures but of seeming Importance to
| the writer's" &c. Further On in the letter he
doubts if even 'One-third' Of the dead letters
''are OF such value or Importance as to justify
their return to the writer's" Furthermore the
official records shows that Of the $50 945 let
tiers opened in 1869 in the dead letter Office.not
classed valuable-BaOre than tcO-ttirGls were re-
turned to the writer's. But of the less than
100000 same class of letters opened in 1881
not one fourth were returned to the writer's. AL
most 2,400. 600 dead letters were returned in
1869, and in 1881 less than 6S5, 900. Either the
grOssest inefficiency prevails in the dead letter
office in regard to returning dead letters or the
discrimination as to which letters shall be re-
turned is in full force.
As the remainder of the ANONYMOUS writer's
remarks are either irrelevant or a mere trade
the only further notice thereof that will make
is that years ago, when resolution of Congress
called on the department for plans to diminish
the number OF dead letters. and provide for their
return to the writer's thereof, the department
made two reports one nine months. the other
thirteen months after the adoption of the resO-
luton, and the postmaster informed Congress
that after months spent in ''diligent" investiga-
ton and the ''mOst careful study" the depart
ment found itself unable to satisfactorily re-
spond to the resolution. And yet the aims of
Congress are nOw-as they have for years
being carried out by the public use of the postal
inventions of the private citizen" who signs
this paper, and who If he were postmaster gen.
eral, would rake the Post Office department from
stem to stern with the view to rid it of officials
whom it would be well to retire on pensions of
three fold the amount the salaries they receive
rather than longer permit them to disregard the
laws of Congress, and in other ways Obstruct
the further improvement Of the grand service,
which more than any other branch of the public
service Is intimately blended with the family.
the social, and the business relations of the
people of the United States
1t is proper to state that the postmaster gen.
erals letter of July IA, 1882. evidently was
drafted In the bureau in charge of the dead
letter office, and possibly by the author of the
anonymous communication thus noticed.
OLIVER EVANS WOODS,