The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1882-10-26
AMoNG THEDEAD LETTERS

AMONG THE DEAD LE77ERS
4stonishing CareI, ssness Of business Aess
In Directfmg Lcttefs--A vatnabie Ssrees
1 Disccioly.
IzssT fFrom the New York Trbune]
In the fiscal year ended june ~,
1881, about $500 letters upon which
there was no superscription whatever
were sent to the Lead Letter Office, as
Washington. That these letters were
mostly written by practiced business
men was evident from the fact that they
contained Enclosures Of more than aver
age value, and from other facts also.
The number Of packages received at the
Dead Letter Office is annually increas-
ing.
Mr.. Dallas, the chief, has perfected
device to put misdirectod city letters
in the way to their proper destination.
This is printed directory Of the streets
and avenues Of all the cities, except two,
in the United States where the mails
are delivered by carriers. The directory
embraces the streets Of ITO different
cities. The arrangement is alphabetical
by streets. For example, the first en-.
try is ga" street, and the directory shows
that twenty cities, in as many different
States, have each an ga" street. "Nhen
began the preparation Of this directo
ry," said Mr.. Dallas, "I intended it ~
a manuscript directory for the use OF
this office alone and at first intended
to include only the fifty principal cities.
As the work advanced, however, its
usefulness and value became SO apparent
that I determined to include all the
cities embraced by the carrier delivery
service, and I succeeded in procuring
correct street directories OF all of them
except Little Rock, Ark, and Zanes.
vile, Ohio. The Postmasters of these
cities did not appear to appreciate the
usefulness of such directory. When
had the manuscript completed, it was
found SO useful in this office that it oc.
CURED to me that it would be valua-
bic adjunct in all the larger pc, lliees
of the country. I submitted l. Ia Pcs.
master General james AID h., warmly
approved the idea, and SO we have had
it printed. We shall begin t. .istrib.
ute it in few days, as soon as the books
are received from the biadery. Post
masters Pearson, Of New York, Hiude-
keper, of Philadelphia, and others, to
whom the work has been submitted. are
warm in its praise.
Mr.. Dallas called attenti to certain
questions which the directory is designed
to answer. For example, letter is adj
dressed to John Smith, No. $50 Charter
Oak avenue Getty and State omitted).
By the directory it will be seen that the
only Charter Oak avenue in any city is in
Hartford, OF. Again, take the case of a
letter addressed to James Thompson,
IISG., CO.uS1 LIS uth dlo IlOo dSCuuCS,
Springfield, Mass. The Postmaster of
Springfield, Mass, knows the letter was
not intended for that city, because there
is no Euos avenue there. farming to
the directory lie finds that the only city
which contains an Enos avenue is Spring.
field, Ill. Another letter is addressed,
say, to William T. Moore, Common
street, between Basin and Franklin
streets (city and State omitted). By
consulting the directory it is found that,
while there is Common street in each
of seven cities, the only one which has
also Basin street and Franklin street
is New Orleans, La, and the letter
should therefore be sent to that city.
The directory will be Interviewed in
order to render it convenient for the
correction of errors and the addition Of
desirable information.