Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-12-05
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES 5, 1885.
Postal Reform.


in the Post.0ffice Department; aud the
sooner its use is entirely done away
with. the better for the public.
|. Postmasters ought not only to be
permitted, but ought to be required, TO
forward letters to the Office to which
the writers intended to send them
when this is known-eyen though the
post-ofsice be inaccurately designated.
Nothing could be more unreasonable
and unjustifable than to send to the
dead-letter Office letter intended Tor
Charleston, Kanawha county, West
Va. because il was carelessly addressed
to Kanawha Courthouse, or race rersa.
The regulation requiring this to be
done is unworthy of the present day
mere " sticking in the bark" In
spite of such folly, the postal regula-
tons require letter addressed to
rishmun, ferginny," to be for
warded to this city. The worst Of
spelling is overlooked, but with
strange inconsistency the same depart
ment which requires letters to be sent
from Office to office and from State to
State in order to ensure their receipt
by the proper persens-and this, with
out reference to accuracy in spelling
will not allow letter addressed to the
former well.known name Of a post
Office whose name has been changed,
to be sent to the office to which the
postmaster knows it is intended to be
sent. A letter unintelligibly ad-
dressed is sent to a dozen offices, one
after another, in the effort to deliver ii to
its owner, but letter plainly addressed
TO Walkers Church" is forwarded
to the dead-letter Office because the
name of the Office has been changed
from "WalLer's Church " to L" Hix-
burg" "Oh, reform it altogether"
Q. Why not allow postal-card to
pass through the mails with printed
paragraph pasted upon its face? Does
attaching a marriage or death-notice
add TO the weight of the card! In the
name Of common sense, what Of that?
Newspapers are sent through the mails
Cor one cent per pound. A hundred
postal.cards would not weigh pound,
even if each one had pasted upon it
bit of printed paper having a super
iicial area not exceeding that Of the card.
OF course there ought to be nothing
except the address on one side. This,
for convenience in reading the address
and handling the cards whilst in the
post-office. But there can be no good
reason given for not allowing small
slips OF printed paper to be pasted upon
the other side of the card. ltwould be
a convenience to persons not de-
string to write formal letter, but who
nevertheless wished to send to a friend
an advertisement, or local paragraph,
or puff, or an obituary notice, or an
account Of g marriage, or paragraph
showing that this, that, or the other
person was in the city, town, village,
hamlet, or county whence the postal
proceeded.
8. There is among mankind, male
and female, such propensity towards
writing upon the margins of newspapers
that it ought to be gratilied. Why
nots Why not provide that any person
may write upon the margin of paper
that is to be sent through the mails i
he will put a three-cent stamp upor
the coyer--two for the manuscript anC
one for the paper? Thousands and tens
of thousands of papers so written upor
pass through the mails daily and pay M
postage except the newspaper postage
Why not crafty the senders Of sucl
papers and at the same time derive
revenue from them as well as reliey
them from the necessity Of violating
the law of the lands
The postal laws Of this country hav
been wonderfully improved during th
last ten years. They are not perfec
yet, however.