Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1891-06-10
NO. SO.
About Postal MatteYs-No, s.

Editor Republican, The postmaster
general In his last annual report SAYS,
''Of the more than six and one-ha5F
million pieces of mail matter received
at the Dead Letter office. about onFs--
half million were Of foreign origira
and were returned to the countries,
whence they came One-fifth of a mill
ion were restored unopened to the>
owners; million and a half were rs.
stored to the respective owners after
| they had been opened, the informatinra
necessary to such restoration having
| been ascertained from the contents
Nearly $4,000 which contained incloa-
ures were returned to the owners. anr}
| about three and tnree-uuarters milliore
pieces, on failure after every effort ha1
been made to reach the owners, weres
destroyed. Parcels Of merchandise
Unclaimed for two years are annualfr
dlSposed OF at auction. Last year there
were offered nearly $4,000 such parce Rs
the proceeds amounting to Sc, ,766. SO ~
The same report also states that 31g.-
600 letters contained money $40, 900 irR
alD and negotiable paper amounting sss.
over 81 100000. The facts above pre-
sented teach a lesson W which should nes8
be lost upon the public, as to the ires--
portance OF greater care in ADDRESSING
matter deposited in postoffices for
mailing.
During the past year over three
thousand letters were received at this
office wrongly addressed. A very large
proportion of them were intended for
one of the other nine Watertown post
offices in the United States, whiTse
many belonged to Waterloo, Water
vile, Waukesha, Waterman, Water
ford, Whitewater, etc. When bearing
the card of the writer, the letters were
either returned at once, or notice WEE
forwarded to the sender that he might
furnish corrected address, This is
mentioned to further show how mUcfs
carelessness there is in this matter Of
addressing letters. Sometimes the
'unmailable" case in this office is fng5
of letters which are held for postage
bear indefinite directions, or perhar.ss
have no address at all; and these rnTgs-
takes occur with our merchants amG2
business men as often as with any 0nas
else. Moral: Have your card prin!e1E
on your envelopes and when you make.
such mistake it can be promptly gag
rected, as the letter will be at once rs.~
turned to you from the postoffice-
Government stamped envelopes,
with a blank return request QeayiDg
the sender's name only to be writtaza
i'm, may be obtained at the postoffi1as-
In quantities of not less than 500 shx4
department will print, without addE-
tlonal charge, the senders card, coyez~-
ing name, postofice address and yg.-
quest to return, omitting all reference
as to bis business occupation. IF it ~
desirable to have the latter appear, exr4
ders will doubtless be thankfully re-
ceived by any of our local printers
Government envelopes spoiled in 8S-
recting are redeemed for their fasczs
value In stamps at the postoffice.
Valuable papers or articles sent bE
mail should be registered, the fee 51sr
which is ten cents. 1t must be under
stood, however, that the department.
is not responsible for any loss. Iszzz.
efforts will be made to recover the arfS-
Gle, but if burned or destroyed and re-
clamation is out of the question. tfzxa
will net assume the ls4szs.-
The registry system is so perfect, hoag-
ever, that the percentage of losses Exs
very small. No loss has ever occuzreEQ
at this Office, SO far as is known, Of rgees~
istered matter mailed here or receive1a
in transit. J. I. MoAK, P. M.