The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-09-01
The Dead Letter Office in Wash
ington.

1ngton.
From the Nc,c York Obserrec.
Upon entering the main room of the
Dead Letter Office, I recognized at work a
lady whom knew, and by her was intro
duced to Mr. Thompson, gentleman
whose business it is to conduct visitors to
the different tables, and explain in detail
all points of interests Information is given
cheerfully, and the onl y compensation de-
manded is the undivided attention of the
visitor while the old, old story is being
repeated This demand is not made with
words, but whitening look from over
the spectacles of the guide, and a sudden
halt in the information, speaks louder than
language, and one is quite willing to ac-
cord to him the attention his kindness
merits In the left-hand corner of the
room stands long table to which is brought
the mails from over 1900 post-offces in
the United States. The total number of
letters received last year was 1900, 600,
making an average of 1860 for each
working day.
Letters are sent to this office for various
reasons, the principal of which are, not
having been called for at the office to
which directed, insufficient postage for
mailing, that they contain articles forbid
den to be sent by mail, that they are illegi-
bly, addressed, and over II 900 bear no ad-
dress at all
A great deal of unnecessary work arises
from the ignorance of postmasters. Let
tiers are plainly addressed, bearing upon
the envelope the business card of the
sender, with the usual request to return to
same if not called for. These are some
times held for month, and then sent here
as Dead Letters, instead of being returned
to the writer. A letter which was ad-
dressed to town in the Province of Que
bee, having the same name as one in the
States, was held month at a country
post office, and then sent to this office.
Upon examination it was found to be prop
erly addressed, and was returned to the
office from which it came, with a "repri-
mand" to the P. NJ, asking him what he
supposed p. Q. meant, and he. coolly re-
piled, "pretty quick"
Letters with revenue stamps from match
and cigar boxes, and stamps cut from pos
tai cards, are received frequently, the sender
having an intuition that it takes something
to make letter go, but ignorant of the
requirements of postal laws.
A package of sealed letters is put into
your hand for inspection, and to one un-
accustomed to Office work the superscrip-
ton is as Greek, yet there are ladies en-
ployed there to whom this miserable writ
ing has become so familiar, that almost at
glance they can decipher the most COM
plicated address, These letters, unopened,
are enclosed in an envelope properly ad-
dressed, and forwarded to the person
named, with the request that if received
the envelope be returned to the Office, not
so much as curiosity, as to learn the re-
suit of their effort to make this branch Of
work success. They seldom fail to reach
their destination, and upon being returned,
the envelopes are trimmed, the proper ad-
dress is stamped in the lower right hand
corner, and they are arranged in scrap
book for the amusement of visitors. Twen-
ty thousand letters last year contained
money in cash amounting to over $44 900,
the largest amount ever received in sin
gle letter being six one hundred dollar
bills; $4,000 contained checks, drafts, etc.,
amounting to 81, 100000 Every letter
containing money or an enclosure of value,
is recorded and can be claimed any time
within four years, at the expiration of
which time it goes into the Treasury of
the United States There is no uniformity
in size and weight of parcels addressed to
foreign countries Twelve ounces is the
maximum weight, and the size is limited
to 12xsx4, for samples of merchandise to
Belgium, France, Great Britain, and Switz-
erland. To countries of the Postal Union
the size is 8x4x2, weight 81. Some of the
most valuable parcels received are ad-
dressed to foreign countries, and detained
here because the contents are dutiable, or
exceed the limit of weight and size. No