The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1897-07-15
Postal Notes.

no longer personally enSaseu Ill post
office affairs, and not chargeable will
having his own convenience in view
will occasionally submit some sug
gestious to the public, in the matter
of post office affairs, that Will inteuG
for the benefit of the public.
Inquiries made in good spirit re
lating to post-office matters, will be
answered in the best light we possess
on the subject inquired about.
DIRECTING A LETTER.
There is no sense in writing let
ter, unless it can be delivered to the
person written to. In nine cases out
of ten, when the written letter does
not reach its destination, the fault is
with the writer. The direction on
the envelope can not be made out.
The postmaster of Logan and the
half dozen clerks on the railroad and
at other post-ofiices, have no time to
fool with scrawl and hunt up eX-
perts, or look after the supposed
writer to find out where the letter
dropped in the postoffice is intended
for. Every train going out from Logan
takes from 500 to 1000 letters. The
postmaster dispatches promptly and
properly all the letters that have
plain addresses. He has no time, nor
would forty clerks have time to
handle the letters, if all are directed
os some are.
After you have directed your let
ter, look at the address, and ask your
self, "can any one but me, tell who
this letter is intended to go to?" If
you are in doubt what is the post
master to do?
Take this advice, write TIE ad-
dress in plain letters, and unless in.
the case of large city, put on the
envelope the name of the county.
But you say the postmaster should
know where "Plne Ridge, o. is. So
he should and he will find out. but
while he is finding out, your letter
may be held in the postofIice for a
half day or may be day. "Pine
Ridge, O." may be in the Western
Reserve, it may be near Cincinnati, or
in the eastern part of the state. There
are less than one hundred counties in
the state and about five thosand post
Offices. The Logan postmaster knows
about the section of the state where
counties are, but no man on the face
of the earth knows, until he looks in
his book where the thousands of post
Offices are. No head is big enough
to hold all these. Then when your
letter comes in the hand of the post
master to send out, he don't know
whether to send Pineville north or
south, east or west and hence he holds
it, until the mail that is plain to him
is disposed of, and then he sets down
and studies the geography of the
state. He can't find "Plneville, O."
in Ohio. Then lie looks up Oklahoma
It's fnll of odd named towns, among
others "Logan, o." But he can not
ind PineviIle there. Then he looks
up the state of Oregon. The first
post Office that attracts him here, is
Logan, O." In Oklohoma and Ore
yon they abbreviate, and think there
is no Logan but their own. But he
inds 'Pineville, O." He also finds
he county which he writes on the
envelope SO as to help the poor fel-
ow who has it to handle in that large
;fate of many post-offices and few
The letter reaches its des-
,ination a day or so late, and the
postmaster is roasted good for neg
ecting his business. Q
Every week there are as many as +
lalf dozen letters sent from Logan =,
o the Dead Letter Office, because
hey have no address at all, or ad- a
lress only of the persons name,
md no post-office, or no state.
So as starter, in the contribution
# postal notes proposed, we say, ad-
lress your letters plainly, put on the
ounty, and write the name of the
tate in full. This may not seem i'm
ortant at first glance. But try at
andom. Write as you usually do, y
be authorizations Nd, Ind. Try c
,ol. Cal. Abbreviate as you are in '
he habit of doing the states of Mon p
ina, Minnesota, Missouri, Maine, il
Michigan, and for that Sd
,atter Ohio. The postmaster can
now you the abbreviatlon, and in o.
inc cases out of ton you can't tell in =
our own hand writing, the state in
ended. y
The postmaster is not an angel. o.
lie hasn't inspiration. He may make 81