Natchitoches populist., 1898-04-29


of the Articles.
Visitors to the dead letter Office who
urn the leaves Of the immense photo-
graph albums to exanifSe the soldiers
pictures saved in war time and gaze
lown at the long table where dozen
men are opening letters, never reallze
he amount of work 1t takes to pro-
luce order in the chaos OF letters ana
parcels gone astray. Ranged along
The sides of the great room where the
openers are, and also in several rooms
near by, are the bookkeepers or re-
,orders. Their labor Is seldom appre-
ciated because Its results only are
seen. Without them it would be I'M
possible TO answer the many inquiries
for missing mail, or to locate any artl-
Gle the Office has received. Uncle
Sans business methods are often crit
icized as intricate and laborious, but
the necessity of a system OF RECORDS
Of this kind cannot be doubted. 8
About fifteen per cent of the seven
million pieces received yearly contain
yaluables. An accurate record OF each
article is made, giving its address and
disposition. Six sets Of books are used
for this purpose, one for money, one
for papers which have money value,
as notes and mortgages, one for other
valuable papers such as receipts and
certificates, one for stamps. one for
photographs, and one for property or
miscellaneous articles received In
packages.
These are all returned to the sender
If the address is given. If there is
no address, but legible postmark.
they are sent to the postmaster at the
mailing Office for delivery to the send
er. If there is no address and no post
mark, or If the postmaster fails to de-
liver the article and returns 1t to the
department it Is filed
In the case of property the articles
filed are kept two years and then sold
at public auction, excepting such books
as are selected for the department IL
brary. Several hundred books are
added each year to the library, which
is for the use of the officials and clerks
exclusively. They comprise largely
works of fiction and poetry intended
for gifts.
The money which cannot be return
ed to the owner, is kept for three
months and then deposited in the
United States treasury. In these books
one cent receives as much attention
as $50, receipt being signed by each
clerk through whose hands 1t passes
No red tape is spared on account OF
small values.
The stamps are the most numerous
of all values received. Every time the
department issues fraud order
against any swindling concern that
concern is not allowed TO receive It's
mail. It's letters are stamped "fraudu-
lent" and sent to the dead letter of
fice Thousands of dollars yearly are
thus saved by the department and re-
stored to the people in money and
stamps alone. The stamps which can
not be delivered are destroyed each
month.
The photographs and valuable pa
pers which had been kept on file were
allowed to accumulate until the sum-
mer of 1893, when the oldest files were
destroyed, excepting only such papers
as marriage certificates, wills and 9TH
e.s of exceptional value. At present,
only those photographs and papers FL
ed within the last three years are kept
intact. The rest are destroyed.
Thus, Uncle Sam, with Yankee prac-
ticality, utilizes everything that comes
in his way. He realizes neat little
sum each year from the auction sale
of packages, from the deposit of lost
money, and also from the destroyed
matter sold as waste paper.
In addition to these records is a
book which gives the postal history Of
lost manuscripts, which number about
one thousand yearly.
There is also a record of inquiries
for missing mail, and record of reg
istered matter. The registered arti-
cles received are not distributed
among the six desks named, but a
separate record is kept of them. 81
that these are the largest of the re.
cord books and the articles kept on file
are miscellaneous in character.
Every month the periodicals which
have gone astray in the mails and
reached the dead letter office are dis
tributed among the charitable institu-
tions Of the district. They are the de-
partment missionaries that cheer the
sick and bless the lonely.
It. is expected that the recent order
to postnlasters in rees ID to the plain.
er stamping of letters vii, facilitate tht
work OF this office to a large degree.
Postmasters are now ordered to stamp
each letter distinctly with the name Of
the mailing Office, It sometimes re-
quires half dozen clerks with mag
nifying lens and every facility for
blind reading to decipher o single
postmark. This kind of stamping is
usually done in the smaller offices.
The letters from large cities almost all