The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-01-24
LETTERS AND THE LIKE.
The Tria.s and IribulatIons of the Post
ma-.er.

The Triais and calculations of the Post
ma-.er.
Some people are just wearing their
lives away trying 10 send seven copies of
the STANDARD through the mails for a
one cent postage s,amp," said Postmas-
ter Edwards yesterday. II suppose we
have now on hand a mail sack full of pa
pers Tor every two days of the week, all
denclent IN stamps to carry them.
Many persons seem to think that every
letter or package dropped into the post
o1nce with stamp of any denomination
on 1t Will reach its destination promptly,
nut 1t does not do SO unless the postage is
correctly paid. We have a regular syste IN
OF caring for under paid packages, but it
takes long whiie to work and is expen-
sIve TO the one to whom the package is
sent. You SEQ we write a card
TO the al on the package
and say there is package in
this Office addressed to you, on which
there Is due SO much postage, please re-
turn that amount to us and the parcel
Will be forwarded to you.' This costs a
two-cent stamp on the return envelope
besides the required postage and is a great
bother to us and to the person addressed,
We cannot return them to the sender be-
cause the sender never thinks to put his
name on the package.
This simple precaution would make the
lot OF the men who handle the mails a
udppieT ODc anu the Ueau letter
Office would be less burdened, and fewer
letters would be lost. There should be
return card on every letter or parcel
mailed. Uncle Sam has endeavored to
make this plain to the people, but all eff
forts in this direction have had but little
effect.
ut is surprising, too, how few people
there are who know the rates of postage.
As / said they mail all the papers in tho
house and put but l cent on the package;
now the rate is low enough and it is easy
to estimate newspaper postage correctly.
Two copies of the STANDARDS week day
edition of eight pages can be sent
Tor 1-cent stamp, but n Sunday
paper alone requires one cent
to take it, because of the
extra pages, which bring the weight too
near the four ounce limit to permit of a
second paper in the same wrapper with
out an additional stamp.
1T seems to me that this practical topic
ought to be taught in the public schools.
few minutes devoted to it would soon
educate the rising generations and spread
the information through the homes of the
people.
"Speaking of the rising generation,
however. that, too. is one of the postmas-
ter's Affections. Many proud and hap
by parent gives Johnny or Jimmie, or Sue |
or Molly a letter and five cents with
which TO buy stamp for the letter, and |
sends them off to the post Office, and then |
never thinks to ask when the child re- |
turns for the change or extra |
stamps. No one knows of |
this benefit better than the |
child aforesaid, who mails the letter by |
sliding it into the box and then buys gum /
with the nickel. The letter goes to the |
dead letter office and the folks wonder
why no answer comes, until at last their
own letter is perhaps returned to them.
people are too careless about such
matters as these, and only a little fore-
thought and precaution would greatly ia
cilitate the usefulness of the mail service
and directly add to the convenience of the
public which is thereby served"