National Republican., 1883-06-07
SAFE SEALS FOR LETTERS.
A New Device for Fastening Registered
Envelopes That WIZ Puzzle the Mail
Robbers.

A New Device for Fastening Registered
Envelopes That VIII Puzzle the Mail
Robbers.
1t is tho popular belief that when letter is
registered for transmission through the mail
our Postofflce department guarantees the safe
delivery of its contents, presumably valuable.
1t does nothing of the kind All that the
government undertakes to do is to guard the
sender as far as possible against any tamper-
ing with registered package envelopes lin
which all registered letters are inclOsed) by
employees Of the Postoffice department. IL does
not insure the sender against possible loss, as
the express companies do. All it promises is
that if tho letter miscarry, or be extract
from the registered package envelope, the
latter can be traced from mail agent to mail
agent until the culprt is discovered. II
found he is punished, but the loser gets no
return from the government for tho loss of
his checks, bonds, or money.
1t appears from the official record that dur
ing the year ending June 80, 1882, 7,0S2 regis
tered letters and parcels were found to have
been tampered with. OF these 4,076 were
subsequently delivered or satisfactorily ac-
counted for but there were 2,513 missing
packages which had not been heard of at the
date of the postmaster generals last annual
report, The owners of the missing prop
erty had noe redress under the law. Yet
on the lamp post letter boxes, directly under
the delivery time table, appears this notice {:
Letters containing articles of value should
be registered" The foregoing figures show
that the present system of registration does
not mean security.
Nevertheless so great is the public conf
dence in the registration system, that this de-
partment of the postal service shows steady
increase from year to year. The report
of the postmaster general for the fiscal
year ending June 30 1882, says that
the total number of registered letters and
parcels handled by the postOtfice authorities
during the twelve months was 9,627, ,922; OF
which 1900 11S were domestic letters, 300, l07
letters to foreign countries and ! ,2l2,0 of
| cial letters and packages forwarded by the
government. The amount of registry fee,
collected was $Sl1 ,40790, an increase ovel
the previous year of $l2S,615 or 1S per cent
Tho increase in the total number of letters
and parcels registered was l2S9,60i
The number of registered envelope packages
handled in the city of New York in 9Sl-'sI
was 4,599554; in Philadelphia, Sl7, ,404 il
Chicago, 1,1SS,035; in st. Louis, 1195,7 ,705
and the total value Of the gold coin conveyed
! through tho registered mail was no less than
| 1926, 900.
These figures show at glance the impor
| tance of the system of letter registration
|
ness interests of the country, and 1t is greatly
to the credit of the government tina
all the safeguards that the law permits
to be applied arc promptly put TO use un
der the capable supervision Of Third Assistant
Postmaster General Hazen. There is. how
| ever, one serious defect that has not yet beer
mastered, and to the end that greater security
may be assured, a patented registered enve
lope with metallic device, and without the
uso Of any gutinous matter, has recently beer
devised for the better protection of the public
| The style Of registered envelope now in use
of which about 14000,0 900 are annually re
quired for the service of the depart
ment, consists of strong manila paper
with double flaps simply gummed together
1t is perfectly easy matter I,
steam open these flaps. extract th
contents of tho envelope, reseal it, and for
| ward the package TO its destination, with n,
apparent indication that IL has been tampereI
with. The new device lately brought to th
notice of tho postmaster general substitutes
for the gummed flap a patent metal rivet
made Of u compound of hard metals, whicl
Is Aattened by compression after the envelop
is filed, and cannot be removed except by th'
mutiation or destruction of the package. Th
invention is as simple as II is effective. and IL
practical utility is YOuched for by one of th
experts Of the registration division of th
Postoffice department at Washington, wh'
frankly states in a letter dated April 4, 1883
that in pursuance Of his official duty he at