The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-01-20
SALE OF DEAD LETTERS.
CuTiOSitieS If The POStOliiCe Department
NOTeue..
Annual Auction Brings to the Depart
ment $4,000 Yearly, Which Helps
Pay Expsnses-Many People Send
Money Mail in Badly Addressed En-
velopes Destruction of Missent Mis-
sives Amounts TO 1000 900 Every
Twelve Months.

AWtAht months.
From The Chicago Times.
Washington. Jan s-Ths annual auc-
tion sale Of the dead-Ietter Office has oc-
CURED 1t is an annual source Of amuse-
ment 10 certain number Of people
in Washington. 1t is even more amusing
than the sales Of dead matter by express
companies or the storage warehouses DO
large cities. because the goods which
come under the hammer from those ina-i-
tutions usually have some value. while
the dead horse" from the postofHce de-
partment is composed very largely Of
the most triaing and vaIgeIess articles.
Still the sale brings to the department
nearly 5000 year, which helps 10 pay
tho expenses Of the dead-Ieter office
The articles just sold have been in the
hands Of the dead-letter Office for TWO
years or more. This is in accordance
with the postal regulations. which re-
quire that parcel matter shall be held
so long time if its owner cannot be
found. II must be remembered that an
diligence is exercised by the postal au-
thorties TO find first the sender and then
the addressee of a package. and that il
goes to the auction room only after every
effort has been exhausted and after it
has remained unclaimed by the owner
for two years. Under these regulations
il would not seem possible that great
quantity of matter of any value would
accumulate during year. Yet OF 7.a0l. 00U
parcels and letters sent TO the dcad-letter
office during a year as insuficieutly or
Incorrectly addressed. only 3,ooo00
reached their destination after invest-
CATION. Doubtless a great number of
these were in the list of uustamped let
ters and parcels. Where a letter is simply
unstampcd a notice is sent to the adj
/ dressee to forward postage when a par
/ eel is unstamped notice rs sent to the
sender No letter or package as opened
/ If there is an address on the envelope
4 by which its ownrship can bc traced.
I Yet nearly 100000 letters were opened
/ last year. and most of them were sent
/ to the superintendent to Doe sold with
/ the department waste paper. There was
| nothing about them which could identify
! their owners so as to make it possible to
/ to trace them.
one of the most remarkable things
/ about the dead letter office records lis the
number of people who send money by
mail in badly addressed envelopes. The
amodnt thus sent indicates that there
/ are enormous sums in transit i'm the
| United States mails during the year. Last
! year $4,000 i'm loose money was found in
/ dead" letters, which it was necessary to
! open. and of this $4,000 was restored to
/ its owners. More than $1.0000G0 i'm drafts
| money orders, checks. etc. was found in
/ mdeliVered letters, and 1867. 900 of this was
/ restored Postal notes of the value Of
| $500 were found, and $500 Of these found
! their owners in time.
Letters containing money which come to
/ the dead letter office and are not delivered
i to their owners are held subject to re-
/ elimination for three months. Before the
expiration of that time. inquiries con-
! corning missing remittances are likely
/ to be made, and perhaps they get to the
/ postoniCe department and the owner of
! the money on file is thus identified. At
/ the end of three months the money is
turned over to the third assistant post
| master general, and he turns 10 into the
4 treasury. But the sender or addressee can
/ recover the money at any time within
! four years by making claim and proving
! property. Letters containing drafts,
| money orders, checks and valuable papers
are filed for reclamation. They can be
4 of no value TO Uncle Sam. An unendorsed
draft would not bring much at an auc-
ton. All letters containing salable values
/ (and all packages as welD are held for
two years for reclamation. At the end
of that time the articles are catalogued
and sold, but a record of their selling
/ price is kept, and the owner, by making
] application within four years, can obtain
| the amount from the postOticc funds
Postage stamps in a letter, exceeding .
| cents in value are filed away IN reclaima-
ton for "a reasonable time and are then
1 destroyed The pOstoflice department de
stroyed last year 1915 worth of stamps
found in dead letters. Uncle Sam has a
pretty big revenue altogether from the
ways and are never used to pay postage
/ He also makes pretty fair income from
/ money sent by mail which falls into the
hands Of the postoflice department The
amount turned into the treasury last
. year on this account was $1,000.
The postofiice department destroys in a
| year 100000 letters containing no en-
closures which cannot be returned to writ
( ers 1t destroys also a great quantity Of
[ letters and parcels containing matter
classed as unavailable. Before the passage
of the anti-lottery law a great many Of
/ the letters opened contained lottery tick
cts. Now there are not so many of these
but there are many hundreds of sealed
envelopes under letter postage which are
found to contain lottery circulars. and
these of course are destroyed immedi-
/ ately.
Green goods circulars are found in some
/ envelopes. and these, If they cannot be
lers, are destroyed also Then there are
/ animals and bugs and bottles of liquids
and all sorts of things which under the
postal regulations are not to be car
ried in the mails. There is only one liv-
| ing thing which is mailable. and that is
the queen bee. But there are allgators
and snakes and butterflies and bugs of
. all kinds constantly coming and going
through the mails. At the time there was
such a craze for chameleons thousands Of
these little lizards were mailed in the
south to addresses all over the United
States, and since they were compare
lively harmless alive or dead no great
/ effort was made to stop the business.
But it happens not infrequently that in
/ the dead letter Office an exceedingly live
snake or an offensive dead animal comes
to light. Anything which is likely to
njure the mail matter with which it
comes in contact is contraband of the
mail and is destroyed as soon as discoV-
cred, whatever its value.
But there is an official exception to the
snake rule. The professors at the Smith
sonian often receive reptiles in packages
! which come by mail franked to them
The postal authorities permit this. 1t is
/ not at all comfortable 20 hear the warn
4 ing sound of a "rattler'' from a perfOra