Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1889-09-28

1
The tracing of mail matter lost mis-
directed or missent, has become an i'm
portant part of the work of the posta
service. Occasionally a paragraph il
the newspapers calls attention to some
glaring mistake in the transmission Of
mail matter, as for instance, the recent
missending of package addressed tc
Jefferson Davis, Beauvoir, Miss, to 9
town In Maine, which occasioned indis.
criminate condemnation of the en-.
ployes whose stupidity was responsible
for the same. But big post-offlce has
to busy itself continually about just
such mistakes, aud, quite singularly,
the more stupid the error seems to the
public, the greater the excuse appears
Tor its occurrence when an investiga-
tion develops all the facts in the case.
For instance, a man wrote to the post
master OF Boston that he had sent a
letter to Jamaica Plain, which had not
been received, and accompanying the
complaint was duplicate of the envel-
ope containing the lost letter, bearing
fac simile OF the original handwriting.
The State was omitted in the address,
and it was observed at once that the
Jamaica Plain" bore strong resem-
blance to indianapolis" The envel-
ope was shown to several employees, all
of whom were ignorant of the accom-
panying complaint, and each said at
first glance that the address was In
dianapolis. The writing was very pc
culiar, and both words were run to-
gether. A tracer was sent to Indianap-
oils, and the missing letter was return
ed in due time. But before it came back
the writer of the letter, not hearing
from his first inquiry at once. made a
second complaint. When notified of
the action taken, he said it was the
most stupid thing he had ever heard Of,
sending to indianapolis for information
about letter plainly addressed to Ja-
maica Plain. Nothing was heard from
him when he received the letter back.
and no doubt he would rather have lost
it than have it shown that the irregu-
larity was the result OF his own care
lessness.
A lady came into the post-ofice re-
Gently and stated that letter had been
sent to her address, an Office in School
street. where she was employed, and
in her absence from the city person
at the office had redirected the letter to
her house in West Newton street. The
letter had not been delivered and no
trace OF it could be found, either at the
central or station A offices. The let
ter, she said, contained a ticket for
Montreal, which she was to use that
afternoon. She knew that the fault Law
with the post-ofice, for the letter had
certainly been remailed to her. 1t was
plain that the letter was not in the
Boston office, and yet something must
be done for the complainant, so de-
pressed was she at the loss OF her rail-
road ticket A telegram was sent to
the postmaster at West Newton, asking
If he had the letter, and he replied in
the affirmative. The letter came back to
Boston by the next mail and it showed
that the person who remailed it had
eraced the School street address and
written West Newton in its place. Yet
The complainant was positive that the
street and number had been included |
in the address. These are sample cases
Of what is occurring daily.
A person who examines the adver-
Used list at the Boston post-oflce is
likely, II he reflects upon the matter at
III, to wonder why there is not more
against the administration
If the mail service. This list is pub
ished weekly, and contains, on an av-
'rage, nearly 1900 addresses to which
etters can not be delivered. Probably
very name on the list represents an ac-
ual person, and many of them must be
the letters addressed to them.
The natural result of the failure to de-
iver is, OF course, to charge the RESPONSE
'ility to the postal service. But of the
900 names which appear weekly upon
he list. it is doubtful If more than half
epresent persons who are residents Of
his city. Letters lie in the general
Ielivery here which are intended for
living at all points from Port
and, Me-, to San Francisco, but which
ave been addressed to Boston by mis-
axe. Quite number of these letters
re delivered by exchanging advertised
lists with other post-offices. The ad-
eetised list embraces merely the let
ars remaining undeliverad at the olosa