The Russellville Democrat., 1890-10-02
 Dead Letter Office.

WAsHINGT0E, ID. C. Sept l, lcSU.
 Over six million pieces Of mail matter are sent annually 10 the dead letter office by reason Of incorrect, lIlegibIe, or deficient address, in. sufficient postage. insecure inclosing whereby matter mailed becomes sep arated from the envelope or wrapper, or the failure to be called for or de- liyered to the person addressed. This is daily average Of over 20.- GOO pieces.
 Of these the greater portion either are not called for at tue postoffice to which they are directed, or, in case Of free-delivery offices. tue addresses cannot be found, notwithstanding every known means is resorted to on tue part of the postal officials 10 effect delivery.
 Matter sent to the dead letter Of flee, which cannot be delivered to the person addressed, is required to be opened in it's treatment for tue pur pose Of return to the sender, and if the name and address Of the sender be not shown or cannot be accertain- ed from the contents, and it contains no valuable inclosure, it must be de- stroyed.
 Letters opened and found to con tain any inclosure Of obvious value are entered upon proper records, and, of such, those which do not dis close sufficient information to enable them to be returned or filed, subject to reclamation upon proper applica ton and identificatoln.
 Letters which contain DO inclosure Of obvious value are not recorded.
 Packages and parcels are record ed, and where they do not disclose the name and address Of the owner are filed; if not called for or claimed within two years are disposed of at public auction and the proceeds GOV cred into the United State treasury. A large portion Of the packages and parcels sent to tue dead letter office fail to be restored to the own CTS because of tue absence on the wrappers or inclosures anything to indicate the ownership thereof
 Information as to the character and nature of the matter thus re- ceived at the dead letter office, and the conditions and influences which occasion it's failure to reach the persons to whom the senders design ed 1t to go may be of interest, and the mere statement of It carry with 1t suggestions which may serve the pubic in its exercise Of postal priyi- leges.
 or the unclaimed and undelivered mail matter received at the dead let ter office during the past fiscal year 451 ,000 were letters misdirected, or only partially addressed-that is, not addressed to a postoffice, or address ed to postoffice without the state being given, or addressed to post office not in the state named, etc while 24,000 were entirely blank, bearing no address whatever. Among the latter were frequently found the correspondence Of busl- ness men of which large portion contained inclosures of money, drafts, checks, etc.
 Ninety eight thousand were letters to domestic addresses, "held for postage" together with letters, etc, addressed to Canada and Mexico, matter to these countries being un- mailable except upon full prepay ment of postage.
 One hundred and sixty-five thou sand were letters mainly addressed to persons ia care of hotels. The guests to whom the letters belonged having departed without leaving their address, or forwarding or ders f,r their mail, they were re turned to the postoffice by the hotels and then sent to the dead letter of fee.
 Forty two thousand were letters to fictitious addresses, and principally correspondence relating to what is known as green goods" or "saw dust" swindles, etc, many of them containing money with orders for the purchase of those fraudulent goods. Parties engaged in these fraudulent and unlawful enterprises invariably do so under an assumed name, and when the character and business of such persons is discov cred by the postal authorities, such matter addressed to them is declared fictitious" and delivery withheld.
 Eighty thousand were parcels of merchandise, books, clothing, needle work, jewelry, etc., many of which were misdirected, while others were without wrapper, having been inse. curely inclosed, and others from which the address had become sep arated and lost.
 A large proportion were those up on which the required amount of postage to entltle them to transmis sion through the mails had not been repaired, insufficient payment being due to improper inclosing, whereby A higher rate of postage was requir ed.
 Twenty.eight thousand contained money amounting in all to $4S,642, %.
 Four thousand had enclosures of postal notes in small sums under $5, aggregating $5300.
 Twenty seven thousand were found to contain drafts, checks notes, commercial paper, etc, Tn the sums of $l,47I. 7l,00 while forty eight thousand contained paid and cancelled obligations, receipts eyl deIcing payments of money, deeds, mortgages, general miscellaneous papers, etc.
 Forty.two thousand contained one thousand contain.