The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-09-20
DEAD LETTERS.
An Interesting Statement of
the Reasons Letters Go
Astray-What They
Contain.

September /, and is exhaustive in its
treatment Of the subject:-"The dead
letter department Concerning the num-
Der of letters annually received at the dead
letter Office the circular says:-"Over six
million pieces of mail matter are sent an
nually to the Dead Letter Office by reason
of incorrect, illegible, or deficient ad-
dress. insufficient postage, insecure in
closing, whereby matter mailed be-
comes separated from the envelope or
wrapper or the failure to be
called for or delivered to the
person addressed. This is daily average
Of over 10000 pieces. OF these the greater
portion either are not called for at the
postoffice to which they are directed, or,
in case of free delivery offices, the ad-
dresses cannot be found. Notwithstanding
every known means is resorted TO on the
part of the postal officials to effect de-
livery
1t then proceeds to state that where the
sender cannot be identified, the letters
containing no valuable enclosures are
destroyed; letters containing valuable en-
closures are recorded and stored to await
claimants.
Further on the circular gives the rea-
sons that caused so much matter to go to
this Experimentation the unclaimed and
undeliveIed mail matter received at the
Dead Letter Office during the past fiscal
year, 451 900 were letters misdirected or
only partially addressed-that is, not ad-
dressed to post office, or addressed to a
post Office without the State being given,
or addressed to post office not in the
State named, ETC.; while "a, 600 were en-
tireiy blank, bearing no address what
ever. Among the latter were frequently
found the correspondence of business
men, of which large portion contained
enclosures Of money, drafts, checks, etc.
'Nlnety-eight Thousand were letters to
domestic addresses held for postage.
"One hundred and sixty-five thousand
were letters mainly addressed to persons
in care of hotels. The guests to whom
the letters belonged having departed
without leaving their address, or for
warding orders for their mail, they were
returned to the post Office by the hotels
and thence sent to the Dead Letter Office
"Forty-two thousand were letters to
fictitious addresses, and principally cor
respondence relating to what Is known
as green goods" or saw dustn swim
dies. ETC., many of them containing
money with orders for the purchase of
these fraudulent goods. Parties engaged
in these fraudulent and unlawful enter
prises invariably do so under an assumed
name, and when the character and busi-
ness of such persons is discovered by the
postal authorities, such matter addressed
to them is declared fictitious and deliv-
cry withheld.
Eighty thousand were parcels of mer-
chandise. books, clothing, needle-work,
jewelrv. ETC., ETC., many of which were
niisdirected, while others were without
wrapper, having been insecurely inclosed,
and others from which the address had
become separated and lost.
Twenty-eight Thousand contained
money amounting in all to $4S, ,642 co.
-Four thousand had Enclosures of
postal notes in small sums under IS, ag-
gregating $500.
'Twenty-seven Thousand were found to
contain drafts, checks, notes, commercial
paper, ETC.. etc., in the sum of $l,471, ,S71,
while forty-eight thousand contained
paid and cancelled Obligations, receipts
mortgages and general miscellaneous
papers.
"Forty-two thousand contained photo
graphs, one thousand contained articles
forbidden to be transmitted through the
mails; and eleven thousand upon being
opened were found to contain lottery
tickets, which, under the terms of the
law, are declared unmailable.
Zone hundred and sixty-two thousand
contained postage stamps, and were in
closures to secure return answers to the
correspondence which they accom- panied,
or were the remittances In payments of
small balances, or accompanying orders
for small purchases of merchandise and
subscriptions.
"Five hundred and thirty-one thousand
were letters, and forty-one thousand par
GELS of printed matter and samples which
had been mailed in foreign countries to
post offices within the United States and
failing OF delivery were sent to the Dead
Letter Office, and thence returned to the
postal administrations of their respective
countries of origin, unopened.
In relation to letters awaiting claimants
at the post offices. the circular states that
small proportion is called for The circu-
lar also instructs the public in this manner:
Letters addressed to persons temporarily
sojourning in city where the letter
carrier system is in operation should be
marked "TranSient" or General De-
livery" if not addressed to street and
number, or some other designated place
of delivery.
The name and address of the sender.
either printed or written should be placed
upon the upper left-hand corner of the
envelope or wrapper of all matter mailed.
Letters and all other matter mailed, so
marked with the name and address of the
sender, that should fail to be called for or
delivered to the person addressed, and
upon which full letter rates of postage
has been paid are not sent to the Dead
Letter once, but are reJurnable to the
sender directly = without additional
charge, and with the reason of non-deliv-
cry Endorsed thereon. The above sug-
gestions in respect to the return of un-
claimed aud undelivered mail matter
directly to the sender from the postoffice
addressed, refers only to letters and other
mail matter upon which full letter
postage has been paid Packages
and all matter mailed at less than let
ter rates of postage, should. in addition
to the name and address of the sender
upon the envelope or wrapper, bear in
connection Herewith a request for its
return in the event of non-delivery, in
which case it is also returnable directly
to the sender from the post office adj
dressed, charged with return postage at
the rate required for the class of matter
10 which 1t belongs.
The distinction, under the postal regu-
lations, as regards the return of un-
claimed and undelivered matter is, that
letters and other matter prepaid at full
letter rates are returnable free, whereas
matter mailable at less than letter post
age requires the payment of return
postage
Copies of the circular may be pro-
cured from Postmaster Dickinson.
-S-
PARNELL WILL COME