Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-08-21

another Columbus crossing trackless
ocean without encouragement. In 1884
the manuscript was given to the public
printer, and came forth a volume which
is to-day regarded as a sine qua non in
the dead letter office. 1t contained 437
pages, but has since been improved and
added to until 1t is now volume
of over 800 pages, every line of which
represents work of the most painstak-
ing character by the brains of an intel
ligent official pioneer. Here is a sam
pie of the work accomplished daily with
the aid of this compilation: A letter
addressed to ''Mr. Henry Manchester,
No. 1875 Charter Oak avenue" The
handwriting Is plain enough, the adj
dress easily read, but where is Charter
Oak avenue2 The postmaster sends it
to the dead letter Office, the clerk turns
to the street directory, finds under the
letter ''C'' that there is only one Charter
Oak avenue in the country, and that it
is in Hartford, Conn. The clerk then
adds the name of the city and state,
sends the letter to the Washington post
office to be forwarded, and Mr.. Man
chester finally receives his letter.
''Miss Sophie Allen, Broadway, near
AAAAOA1
letter addressed to her, and of course 1t
went to the dead letter office, although
some masculine hand had written the
superscription with Spencerian neat
ness. Now there are Broadways and
Broadways in this country. Everybody
has heard Of the famous New York
thoroughfare, but there are seven
Broadways In Ohio; Iowa has two, and
almost every state In the union has at
least one; so, where should Miss Aliens
letter be sent? The clerk finds that
there is but one Yeat1nan street in the
United States, which is in Cincinnati,
where there Is also Broadway. The
letter was evidently intended to be sent
there, was forwarded to the postmas-
ter at Cincinnati, who caused it to be
delivered to Miss Sophie at her fathers
residence. These instances are sufi-
Gent to demonstrate to the reader
the great value Of the Dallas direc-
tory; and the value of that official
work demonstrates the assertion made
at the commencement of this letter
that stable civil service will de-
velop, In every one of the executive
departments, the fruits of the genius
of the individuals in government en-
ploy if they are retained in their places
and allowed to devote their lives to the
work in hand.
One letter which recently reached the
dead letter Office was addressed to a
gentleman at Common street, between
Basin and Franklin" There is only
city in the union which has three streets
SO named, and that city is New Or
leans, where the letter was sent and de-
ivered. These are samples OF thou
sands of similar letters, and we can all
now feel that we are comparatively
| safe from the blunders of our friends.
Since his dismissal from the public
service which he so adorned and bene-
flied, there have been four successors
to Mr.. Dallas, all of them reputable
gentlemen of more than ordinary abil-
ity; but they have come and gone,
neither one of them remaining
long enough to become intensely inter
ested in the work but, like all others,
using the government position as a tenn
| porary affair, while looking for some
| thing better of a similar nature. The
| services of Mr.. Dallas could not to-day
be secured for many times the salary,
| So, 900, which he then received; and, for
which he was willing to remain. The
government is always the loser in such
cases. When man is educated and ex-
| perienced in government Office he
knows but little else, and is always