The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-07-13
A THOUSAND A WEEK.
Letters That Come to Seattle
and Are Not Claimed.
RULES FOR ADDRESSING MAIL.


Go Elsewhere.
There are between 1000 and 1900 letters
received at Seattle every week that the
postal authorities are unable to find own
ers for. Last week the number was lit
tie less than 1000 and it has been gradu-
ally decreasing ever since the early spring.
This number. in proportion to the num-
Der of letters handled. is larger perhaps
than in any other city in the country. 1t
is not however, on account of any lack OF
diligence in the employees of the Seattle
postoffice, that such is the case. The rea-
son for it is that the city has been so much
heard OF in the East, and there has been
such an extraordinary immigration 70 the
West, that thousands of letters are written
and addressed 20 Seattle. to parties who
never come to Seattle, or if they do touch
the city, pass on and stop at some other
Western town, and so lose their letters.
The reason for this state OF affairs is at
tributed to several things. One of
the most prolific sources of advertised letters
is misdirec.ion and it is very easy to mis-
direct q letter in Seattle from the fact that
there are 90 many streets with duplicate
names. The chaotic condition of the city
since the fire and the marvelously rapid
growth and consequent changes of ad-
dresses have also had much to do IN caus-
ing letters to go astray. A large proportion
of the now delivered letters fails to reach
their destinations on account of imperfect
or iIlegible addresses, and the failure to give
street and house number. Inability of the
carriers to find transient people and neglect
of permanent residents to report change OF
address, also conduce to swell the list of let
tiers that 60 to the dead-letter Office.
Postmaster Brookes says that out of
1000 letters advertised in Seattle, less than
800 are called for, and over 700 are sent to
the dead-letter Office. Two-thlrds of the
latter number, he says, are addressed to
persons not in the city, and the rest are
wrongly addressed, such as mistake in
the initials. the addresses badly written or
the persons to whom the letters are ad-
dressed live out of the bounds of the car
riers.
IF the people who write letters" said
the postmaster yesterday. ito people in
Seattle would recollect that there are q
great many men and women with the same
names, and would put something on The
envelope to show which John Smith or
which Tom Jones they mean, it would
save much trouble. Seattle has the largest
number of people with the fewest number
of names of any city ever saw. We find
all sorts of names duplicated here. and
there is not day passes that there are not
several irate callers who want to know why
their letters were opened. Ii correspond
ents would add to the address something
which would serve to partially identity
those to whom the letters are addressed. it
would make the business of delivering
letters q pleasure. No one who has not
been in the business can imagine how use
full in finding the parties are such words as
Transient Grocer 'Bar-keeper,' For
merly of Spokane or the street and num-
Der, even though it Is out of the carriers
districts"
Assistant Postmaster General GARRISON.
on his recent visit to Seattle. was SO struck
with the diffiulties the local department
has to encounter, that he readily granted
Postmaster Brookes' request for mike
clerk" and that official is already installed
and is at work. The nixie-clerk's duty is
to study out addresses, mistakes in direc-
ton, etc., particularly of those mailed at
this Office. It will be his duty, also, to
keep up the Office directory. This direc-
tory is the same as any city directory, with
the addition of blank sheet between
every printed leaf of the book. Whenever
new name is secured it Is to be handed
to this clerk, who will put it in the direc-
tory IN alphabetical order. This fea ture
will be started as soon as the new city di-
rectories now in press are issued, and it
will greatly aid in quickly and correctly de.
hvering mail.
The superintendent of the dead letter
Office at Washington City says that fifty
per cent of the mail matter sent to the
dead-letter Office comes from the free
delivery Offices of the United Stated. This
indicates that the great cause of the nom
delivery of letters is insufficient addresses,
and shows that, if the public would, it
could greatly facilitate and aid in thu de-
livery of letters by taking greater care in
the direction and mailing of its correspond
ance. Mail clerks are universally bright,
intelligent and rapid men, and they can
decipher ANYTHING from Horace Greeley
hand to q Chinese puzzle. but they should
not be expected to provide addresses for
letters which the senders have been too
careless to put down correctly.
The following rules should be observed
when addressing letters:
!. Always write plainly.
2. Spell out the given name and be careful
with the initials.
8. Spell out the name of the station in full
4. Put on the street and number. A letter Is
more likely to reach Q person through the car
riers than through the general delivery.
s. If the party to whom the letter is addressed
is travelling, say Transient" and If you have
any doubt about reaching him at the first post.
"FOrward Tha do
partment would rather forward letter dozen
times than send it TO the dead-letter Office.
6. Ii you don't know the address OF party in
city to whom you are Writing, put down his
business or trade on the envelope. 1t may keep
the letter out OF the hands of another man with
the same name until your man calls at the post
office.
z. Put ten-day return card on your letter. If
the wrong man gets hold of II he will probably
not open ii, aud IL it is not delivered you will
have the satisfaction OF getting it back.
ANNA