Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1883-07-21

II Is the popular belief that when
letter is registered for transmission
through the mail our Postoflice Depart
ment guarantees the safe delivery of its
contents, presumably valuable. 1t does
nothing of the kind All the Govern
ment undertakes to do is to guard the
sender as far as possible against any
tampering with registered package
envelopes Tin which all registered letters
are inclosed) by employees of the Post
office Department. 1t does not insure
the sender against possible less, AS the
express companies do. All il promises
is that if the letter miscarry, or be ex-
tracted from the registered package
envelope, the letter can be traced from
mail agent to mail agent until the
culprit is discovered. If found he is
punished, but the loser gets no return
from the Government for the loss of his
checks, bonds, or money. 1t appears
from the official record that during the
year ending June 30 1882, 1852
registered letters and parcels were
found to have been tempered with. OF
these 4,O76 were subsequently delivered
or satisfactorily accounted 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 property had
no redress under the law. Yet on the
lamp-post letter-boxes, directly under
the delivery timetable, appears this
notice. 'Letters containing articles OF
value should be registered. The fore
going figures show that the present
system Of registration does not mean
security.
Nevertheless, SO great is the public
confidence in the registration system,
that this department of the postal SER
vice shows a steady increase from year
to year The report of the Postmaster
General for the fiscal year ending June
80, 1882, says that the total number of
registered letters and parcels handled
by the postotlice authorities during the
twelve months was 9,627. 1922; of which
7,200,1l8 were domestic letters, 1913, 107
letters 10 foreign countries, and 1,212,-
DAB official letters and packages for
warded by the Government. The amount
of registry fees collected was $751;
497. so, an increase over the previous
year of $l28,615, or lS per cent. The
Increase in the total number of letters
and parcels registered was 1884, O4.
The number of registered envelope
packages handled in the city of New
York In 1872 was 1859, 554; in PhiL-
delphia, Sl7, 404; in Chicago, 1,1SS, 035;
IN St. Louis, 81, 1875, 705, and the total
value of the gold coin conveyed through
the registered mail was no less than
1926, 900.
These figures show at glance the
importance of the system of letter regis
tration, which is daily convenience to
VII the business interests of the country,
and il is greatly to the credit of the Gov
eminent that all the safeguards that the
law permits to DO applied are promptly
put to use under the capable supervision
of Third Assistant Postmaster General
Hazen. There is, however, one serious
defect that has not yet been mas
tered, and TO the end that greater
security may be assured, a pat
ented registered envelope with
metallic device, and without the use of
my glutinous matter, has recently been
devised for the better protection of the
public, The style of registered envelope
now in use, of which about ID, 100000
are annually required for the service Of
the department., consists of strong ma
nilla paper, with double flaps simply
gummed together. 1t is a perfectly
easy matter to steam open these flaps,
extract the contents of the envelope,
reseal it, and forward the package to
Its destination, with no apparent indi-
cation that 1t had been tempered with.
The new device lately brought 10 the
notice of the Postmaster General substi-
tutes for the gummed flap patent me-
tallic rivet, made of compound of
hard metals, which is flattened by COM
preston after the envelope is filled, and
cannot be removed except by the mutt
lation or destruction of the package.
The invention is rs simple as tits effect
i've, and its practical utility il vouched
for by one of the experts of the registra-
ton division of the Postoffice Depart
ment at Washington, who frankly states
in letter dated April 4, 1888, that, in
pursuance of his official duty, he at
tempted, but In vain, to break open an
envelope so sealed,
Conceding that the registration of let
tiers Is o large source of income to the
Government, and that there Is no abso-
lutte insurance against loss by theft, 1t
Is manifestly judicious to make it as
difficult as possible to tamper with
registered envelope, and this end seems
to have been reached. The attention of
the officials of the Postoffice Depart
ment has been called to this device, and
an examination into its merits is now
being made.-NationaI Republican.
An exchange has an article on
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