The Indianapolis journal., 1889-12-01
THE DEAD-LETTER OFFICE.

The most interesting feature of the
General PostOffice Department, and
place which strangers always wish to
visit, is the dead-letter office. This is
the place to which all misdirected, mis-
sent, illegibly addressed. unmailable
and unpaid letters or packages are SEM.
In former years all such matter was
almost literally dead, for scarcely any
effort was made to restore it either to
the addressee or the sender, and most of
it was permanently lost. Now every
effort is used to trace the matter, and
most of it either finds its proper destina-
tiOn or is restored to the sender. The
statistics of the Office show the extent of
its operations. The report Of the super
intendenf shows the following:
During the year ended June 30, 1885, $685.
393 pieces of original dead mail matter
were received. OF these, 1850, $50 were or
dinary unclaimed letters. 137.12O were re-
turned from hotels, %, ,701 were fictitious
addresses, and 1S0,4S1 were returned as
unbelievable from foreign countries. Of
the unavailable there were 100, ,S63 held for
postage 455,42l mlsdirected or INSULT
ciently addressed. 1864 without any ad-
and parcels of foreign origin. &c, ,03S parcels
of third ard fourth-class matter, and 2,316
registered articles. There were 6S.O34 let
ters returned to the card address unopened;
6,783 held for postage" forwarded to the
addresses; 96. 105 misdirected letters. upon
which the addresses were corrected and
letters forwarded. OF the matter opened
21,671 contained money amounting to S34.-
S5O; 24.015 contained negotiable paper
amounting to 81, 40. .2S2, face value; S,4l7
contained postal notes amounting TO 500;
81, ,369 contained books and articles of mer-
chandise: 46.S49 contained miscellaneous
papers; 40. s59 contained photographs. and
1Z7. .72S contained postage stamps. There
were restored to owners IA. 764 money let
ters. containing Ss55.666; 22,S53 letters con-
tanning negotiable paper amounting to
81. A. sos; 3,1l4 letters containing postal
notes amounting to 81, 69S; q. 7s5 letters con-
tanning merchandise articles: "a. .207 contain
ing miscellaneous papers; 81. 40 containing
photographs, and 120, ,552 containing postage
stamps.
These figures show volume of. busi-
ness which keeps large force of clerks
constantly busy. The average number
of pieces, letters and parcels received at
the dead-letter Office is over 1900 per
day, and the average, from day to day,
does not vary much from that number.
A singular thing is that the number of
letters mailed without being stamped,
the number of misdirected letters, ETC.,
each maintain very even average
throughout the year. Perhaps you
never mailed letter without having
affixed stamp, perhaps you do not per-
sonally know of any person doing it;
yet, not day passes that several scores,
if not hundreds, of letters are dropped
in the mails without being stamped.
Among the ingenious devices to assist
in tracing misdirected letters is street
directory, containing, in alphabetical
order, the names of every street, ave-
nue., court and alley in every city of the
United States. If a name is duplicated
or used in several cities the name of
each city is given. Suppose letter is
addressed to number -, Meridian
street, Minneapolis, Mimi. There being
no such street in that city, it goes to the
dead letter office. There the street di-
rectOry shows there is Meridian street
In Indianapolis, Ind, and the letter is
sent here. If the name of the street
should happen to be Washington, or
some common name, used in dozens of
cities, each one is tried in turn until the
right Washington street is found.
The packages and parcels which reach
the dead letter Office contain an endless
variety of matter, all sorts of merchan-
disc, Yankee notions, fancy works, pho
tographs, samples, jewelry, botanical
specimens, minerals, garments of all
kinds, live snakes, horned toads, etc.
These articles accumulate rapidly, and
at regular intervals are catalogued and
sold at auction, and the proceeds turned
into the Treasury. Last Year the sum
of S9,447 in money, for which no owner
could be found, was turned into the
Treasury, and the packages sold at auc-
ton realized S2,655.