The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-20
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT IN
THE ROLE OF 4 JUNK DEALER.

Some Facts About the DCRd letter
Onice-Queer Addresses on Letters.
Boatner'S salary BiII-Freak Leg
iSlation and the Parties Who Pro-
pose it-other Matters of Interest,
Washington. Dec lS.-One of the queer
est institutions" Of the nations capital
is the annual clearance sale Of the dead
letter office, in which vast accumula-
ton Of articles gone astray in the mails
are sold to tie highest bidders. I has
been going on all the week day and even
ing sales--and the end is NOT vet in sight
The auction house where it is held is con-
tinualy crowded with excited men. wo-
men and children. and beside it the bar
gain counter during Christmas week are
as Ravens of rest-for when Uncle Sam
uel goes into the junk-shop business great
things are expected. 1t is the only lottery
which che government encourages. and
though the system is not exactly of the
Louisiana variety, the spirit OF Il is the
same: as IN the church-fair rattle you
pay small amount Of money ard trust
to luck to get back more than It's value.
The faro game at Monte Carlo is not
much ahead Of the government grabbing
in point Of excitement. The articles pre-
Viously listed in a wholesale sort of way,
are tied UP in bundles of from three to
half dozen, ana "auctioned" for what
they viii bring, the average bids ranging
between 10 cents and ST. Nobody is per-
mitted to examine the goods before pur-
chasing, and no money is refunded to the
dissatisfied. Everybody hopes to pull a
genuine plum from the pie, in the shape
of a diamond pin, silk dress pattern, or
silver tea pot, and although comparative
blanks are the rule. there is always the
possibility of a prize, For example, the
auctioner holds up one OF the odd-shaped
bundles, listed pictures, underwear, mu-
sic, cigars" Going going-gonel for 90
cents, TO dapper young gentleman, who
was caught by the word cigars" He
opens II on the spot, an unwise thing to
do If one objects to good-natured ridi-
cule-and this is what he finds: Six cigars
broke mot bits so strong an odor that
one wonders how a sledge-hammer could
have done It; music soiled copy of May
Twins song, Il loves you, NAH honey,
yes l do underwear, a female Decent
''jirsey;" pictures, collection of newspaper
cuts, designed for the amusement of
some small child. The lot would be dear
at quarter, and is of no use to the buy
er. During the half hour / spent in the
sales-room yesterday, the bundles went
off as fast as the auctioneer could han1le
them, for bidding was brisk and Uncle
Samuel has no time for haggling. A
mannish young woman, in bicycle garb,
raised laugh by disclosing A boot-jack,
shaving set and pair of suspenders, in the
package for which she had paid 81. A
man bought collection of scarf-pins for
g. There were ten of them, just such as
you buy on the street for cents each. If
any private secondhand dealer made such
sales, he would be denounced as a swim
der Another man paid 40 cents for a lot
Of alleged jewelry, and among the pinch
beck was one heavy 1S-caret ring, which
q jeweler present said was worth $40 or
sl2. Fortune occasionally plays such
pranks in all lotteries, though her really
good bargains are rarer than visiting an
gels. Everything imaginable is listed in
the thousands of bundles marked mis-
cellaneous"-fro sauce pans to silk hats
election betsD, hair switches and food
supplies, nursing bottles, bicycle
goods and fancy work galore.
Then there is the book
department, $50 job lots each lot contain
ing from ten to a dozen volumes, The
Bible appears to be the good old standby
in the collection, and next to it, popularity
is about evenly divided between prayer
BOOhS ana LAURA Jean LlDDby > dlEOClDu5
stuff The jewelry department. which out
shines all the pawnshops in town, is re-
served for the grand finale. and when its
turn comes, Monte Carlo will surely be
outdone There is a pathetic as well as
a ludicrous side to the whole business.
This fiotsam and jetsans of stranded love-
tokens means many heartaches and dis
appointments and affections nipped in the
bud. In the dead letter. office proper--that
eharnel house which swallows nearly half
a million missves every month-it is pos
itively narrowing More than forty BUSH
els of photographs have accumulated there
awaiting the annual cremation. TherA
are tresses of hair, enough to stuff doz-
en- mattresses-grandmoth silver locks
and babies golden curs. many no doubt
cut from dead hrows; and small sums of
money which poor workmen send home to
feed their wives and little ones, and SER
want girls save from their scanty wages
for needy parents-gone TO Uncle Sans
rich purse, not because Uncle Sam wants
1t, but because the senders' writing or
photography was beyond moral ken. 1t
81 hard TO realize that In this land of
schools, at the close of the nineteenth CEN
fury there are so many people so ignorant
or so careless as to send several millions
of letters a year without stamps or adj
dresses or with addresses which no man
can make out. Many Of them contain cur
rency or drafts for large amounts; and the
singular feature of 1t is that many of the
most valuable letters has no signatures, OF
other clue by which they may be returned
to the senders. People seem to be so in
tent on what goes into the letters that they
forget all about the superscription. 1t is es-
timated that $4,5OO000 in drafts and $50, 0O0-
90 In cash is received every year through
dead letters This is all returned, when
possible, and the large portion that fats
10 find claimants is turned over to the
postoffice fund. DO you think the clerks
are careless and might deeipher more Of
those hieroghyphics? l doubt if the Angel
Gabriel could do better than the present
chief-clerk. to whom perhaps 500 a day of
the worst ones, which nobody else can
make out are assigned He is called 1.-THE
blind man." because in his place one can
not walk by sight alone, and apparently
by instinct he deephers inscriptions that
would be utterly illegible to any other
man In America. For example, What
would you make out OF "Sanduik?" He
knows it at a glance for Sandy Hook. He
knows that "Hoio" means Ohio; "Ioel, I"
Iowa; "Pizzo Burg" Pittsburg; "scitzan-
ty" and "Zounsounati," Cincinnati; bur
who else could have recognized New Red