The Arizona sentinel., 1885-12-12

ed. They can not be mailed except in detached pieces.
 1t ought to be plain enough why ex- plosiveS are unmailable; and yet thought less persons are all the while sending metallic cartridges through the mails. Articles with disagreeable odor, such as that of kerosene, carbolic acid, or musk, are forbidden because the odor may be communicated to a ton of other mail matter Strong-smelling edibles, like cheese, are ruled out partly for this req son, and partly because they cause rats to eat through the pouches. Vegeta- bles and fruits decay, and not only pro- duce bad odors but soil the other mail; and so with living or dead animals. Liquids are forbidden because experience shows that they can not be confined to any receptacle they can be put into. A woman can't see, to save her life, why we should refuse to mail a bottle of handkerchief-eXtract in glass bottlein- closed in paSteboard box. But if one liquid is admitted others must be admit ted, and soon the most revolting and the most destructive liquids, like sul- phuric acid, would follow. They al most always break their receptacles and defle or corrode everything they touch. Even canned articles, containing liquid, are forbidden, though dramatically sealed in tin, because some one else may mail in the same pouch pair of scis- sors which will puncture the can and let out the liquid contents on the other mail matter. All poisons are prohibited, because if one fool mails poison and another fool some sort of edible, they are very apt to get mixed and kill a dozen people at once: and also because the mailing clerks may be killed. Oils and all fatty substances are forbidden, because, in spite of everything, they leak out of their receptacles and defile hundreds of other pieces of mail matter. All sorts of fat meat and ointments are just as bad, because as soon as the mail pouch containing them is put into a very warm room, or laid in a hot sun, they are converted into oil and escape.
 "Why must the second class of ar ticles be confined in wood or tin?''
 ''For similar reasons all articles com posed altogether or partly of glass, such as spectacles and watches, are very dan gerous. In numerous instances the glass breaks and fine pieces of it are dis tributed through the pouch, defacing the other matter and wounding the hands of the clerks. Needles are a terror to post office employees. When one paper of needles gets loose there is no telling when the evil will end. They may loaf around a pouch for year, distributing lockjaw among all the post-offices in the country. Fish-hooks are almost as bad. In fact, any sharp-pointed instrument, like forks and scissors, or even case knives, lacerate the hands of the clerks in a terrible manner, unless properly protected. Candy of all sorts breaks into fine pieces, gets distributed all through the pouch, and smears and glues together all the rest of the mail matter. Some kinds of candy will melt and run, and other kinds are hollow and contain sirups which leak out and soil everything they touch. Cakes and dpastry seem to be the least objectionable of all the things l have named, and yet they are mailed so frequently that they give more trouble than all the rest put to- gether. They not only crumble up, get scattered around, and produce grease spots on everything they touch, but the rats smell them and gnaw away whole pouch of mail matter to get at them. All this second kind of matter, there fore, must be securely inclosed in tin or wood or it is prohibited. 5
 s'What precautions are taken to pre- vent people from depositing destructive unmailable in the Post-office?'
 "When they bring packages of mer- chandise to be weighed the clerks ques- tion them particularly as to the contents. If they don't know, or Nave forgotten, or get angry at the question they are generally guilty, and few more ques- tions elicit confession that razor or bottle of hair-oil is in the package. If they weigh and stamp their package themselves and put it into the drops, then all the clerks in the basement are committee to discover destructive un- mailable, and it runs the gauntlet of their hands, at the risk of being de- tained. While all the clerks keep a watch for such matter in general way, three of them are charged with the duty in particular, and they open and exam inc not only all packages which by weight, smell or shape excite suspicion, but multitude of other packages at random. It is not expected that they will detect more than one in ten of the objectionable packages, but they detect enough of them to make it very un- desirable thing for any one to mail them who desires them to reach their destina- tion."
 What disposition is made of this matter after it is found?''
 ''It is taken to the inquiry office, to- gether with all other unmailable matter. fapackage of destructive unmailable has on it the name of the person who depos- ited it in the drop, the clerks send him word to come and claim his property If this name is not on the package, then they address a similar request to the ad- dressee. If package is not claimed, it is sent to the Dead Letter Office at Washington. If you will pay visit to this office the clerk will show you a collection of destructive unmailable which will abundantly impress you with the importance of keeping it out of the mails"
 ''What will see there?'
 '.Wen, they have not sent any of the packages away for awhile you may see dead canary-birds, collection of bottles of medicines, and of hair oil, beer and whisky, concealed in rolls of newspapers, lot of gum opi- um, nice packages of cartridges and caps, some horned toads, mud-turtles, grasshoppers and dead mice, sharp pointed scissors not even wrapped in paper, a nice assortment of paints,