Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-10-22
CITY AND DISTRICT.
DEAD MAIL MATTER.
HOW Uncle Sam DispOses Of the Arti.
cIes which Careless People Leave i'm
H is Possession

The annual sale of unclaimed articles in the
oeao letter Office will be held about the 18th OF
december. In accordance with the practice vi
.he department all articles offered for sale have
oeen Kept subject TO being reclaimed for two
years, and after the expiration OF
mat time, no owner appearing, they
are disposed Of to make room for the
matter that daily accumulates. Defective ad.
dresses and insufficient postage are the main
reasons why there is a constant flow of postage
matter into the dead letter office. After reach.
ing the Office every means is employed to as.
eltain the senders or owners of the letters and
packages, and the articles offered at these
annual safes represent the proportion of the
entlre matter for which no owner could be
Iound. The catalogue this year will contain
over the number offered for sale last year, but
bearing about the same proportion to the entire
Duik OF the matter passing through the mails.
lhere is constant Increase, as the population
grows, in the amount of mailed matter, and OF
course there Is the same ratio of increase in
the business OF the dead letter Office. Not that
people are growing more careless, as one of the
Onlcials explained, but the ratio of careessness
remains the same. If the mail matter de-
creased IL would naturally be expected that
tnere would be decrease in the dead letter
office matter.
II wish that you would not say anything
ABOUT this sale at present. remarked Super
| intendent Baird to a STAR reporter who was
making some inquiries.
."Why?" asked the reporter: Because we
VIII De Hooded with a lot of letters making
impracticable requests was the reply."A large
number of people seem to realize for the first
Time, when they see a notice of one of these
place as the dead letter office. When they
realize that fact, then they think OF letters
which they lost years ago, and they at once
flee for the missing matter. Why, last year
received a letter from a lady, who said that her
huSDandWaS the captain OF a vessel, and that on
his last trip he had u number of valuable pa
pers In his possession. His vessel was lost off
Nantucket In the year 1912, and the writer
wished me to ascertain If these papers were in
the dead letter Office"
"YOu see," continued Mr. Baird "peopIe
don't realize the extent of the business of this
Office. We keep here all the matter for two
years, and II during that time there is any call
quite respectable proportion of the articles are
returned. We have now in our store-room over
1OO,ooo packages which are held under this
ployed any article in that store-room can be
produced In ten minutes. But it is rare that
an article is called tor after being here four
or vs to mo ohanse and it would be quite
provide that only one year should elapse before
the sale takes place. However, with the two
year limit every opportunityts given for the
return or articles II any should be made. The
system is such that only the grossest careless
ness on the part OF the senders will result in
the loss Of packages. Many people, especially
those living in the country, think that it is
necessary to write the address on a slip of paper
and then paste it on the package to be
sent instead of writing on the package ITSELF
very often they have no mucilage, and some
times use the white of an egg. The label under
these circumstances is very apt to be rubbed
OIL and the package arrives without any means
OF Identifying the ownership. Or course there
really constitutes the reason tor the existence
OF the dead letter office. If people never
made mistakes and always did the right thing
there would be no necessity for an institution
of this kind"