Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-07-02

OuS postal Gnarge. Durlng the asst
year there was received at the office
an average of nearly $1,000 letters
daily, er a total of about 5000. 900.
These have been handled by 120 en-
ployes, mostly women. The dead
letters are classified as ordinary"
and "unmailable," the latter being
such as do not have a sufficient ad-
dress, Or which contain prohibitory
matter. Misdirected letters will aver
age 1000 a day, and letters which
have no address at all, 1000 month.
1t is an astonishing fact that the great
er per cent, of the latter contain mon
ey. Of the domestic letters opened
| the past year about forty thous and
contain money, drafts, checks and
money orders, amounting to about
81, 500, 600. Nearly seventy thousand
contained postage stamps. Every
opened letter containing an inclosure
of value is carefully recorded, and
those for which no owner can be
found are filed away, subject to re-
ciamation within four years. When
the writers name is attached to val
liable letter he is informed of the
money being detained, and by satis>
factory proof is able to secure it.
4 lady has charge OF the misdirect-
ed letters. If possible they are sent
to the person they are intended for.
SO proficient has this lady become
that she is acquainted with the names
Of villages and streets as the average
school boy is with the A, B, @. At
her desk she has railway guides,
directories and books containing the
names of newspapers, bankers, min
listers, and the streets of all the cities
IN the United States to aid ia forW ard
ing letters to the proper person, city
or State. A letter was recently direct
ed to ITO G street, Nashville, Tenn"
1t was returned to the Dead Letter
| Office. At once the lady knew that
the party addressed resides in Wash>
lngton, as there is but one G. street in
the United States, and that is in that
city. The letter was delivered. and
the patty to whom it was sent was
found, In directing 1t the writer had
placed Fhe name of his own city upon
the enye!ope-a common error. Of
tentlmes the lady is required to guess
at the address; and in 40 place can o
womanimprove her faculty of guess
ing moe than right here. She is not
required to guess like the lady
occupying similar position in the
department OF Great Britain. 4 let
ter wasrecelved in that Office direct
ed: 8 Ny son, up three flights of stairs.
London To day a letter came TO
the department at Washington ad>
dressed to "Wine Dock" The name
of the town to which the letter was
sent is Wyandotte.
''The principal reason for misdiree-
ton is careiessness, said the lady, as
she throw upon the table before ber
pile of a hundred or n.ore letters.
1T IS a comsnon practice to mix Hi
nois, Indiana aad Iowa; Kansas, Ar
kansas and Nebraska, and Michigan,
Wisconsin and Minnesota"
when it is impossible to forward
letter without opening it is opened
and read by young lady, and, the
address of the writer being obtained,
is returned. One young lady can
open ABOUT 1000 of these letters a
day. The majority of Eastern letters
thus opened are characterized by vul-
garity, while the majority of West
ern episfes show the finer feelings Of
the writers. When there are no Sig
natures the letters are cast aside and
sold as waste paper"
So. ''your darling" "your own pet"
| 'lovingly, Laura" and ''eternally
yours, George" if you do not hear
from your epistles, possibly they are
in some paper mill and eagerly perus-
ed b7 some girl employees.
Parcels by the thousand are also
received at the Dead Letter Office.
A Urge proportion of the most valu-
ableare addressed to foreign countries,
and are detained because they con
tain 1utiable goods or exceed the linn
1t @ size or weight. In all such
caseb if the name Of the sender does
not appear, the addressee is notified
that the package will be forwarded
by ne express at his expense or re-
turnd to the sender, if his address is
furakhed. The articles received |
whla can neither be delivered to the |
persa addressed nor returned to the |
sendr are sold annually at au ction |
and he proceeds ore deposited ia the |
Tresury.