Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-05-11
MAIL SERVICE MYSTERIES,
How One Government Gets Money for Service
Performed by Another.


Performed by Another.
Less care is useds by the people in
America than by those in European
countries in the spreparation of mail
matter, and as D result the United
| States government Is losing money.
While foreign governments get paid for
service they do not perform. Short
paid matter in large quantities is sent
abroad every week and when it ar
rives at the point of delivery it is rated
up to double the deficiency About 200
souvenir postal cards. for instance. adj
dressed to people in Germany were
mailed on Friday, and there was only
two-cent stamp on each card. If
they We're regular government cards
| they would go for two cents each but
since they are printed by private con-
| Germ and are written upon the postage
| Is llNe cents. the same as for a letter.
| Had the sender been known to the post
oiilce men, he would have been notified,
| hut IN this case each card had to be
| stamped with IT, to indicate thai:
postage was not fully pad, and then
| forwarded, because the sender a Cam
| bridge person. had signed his initials
only. and could therefore not be found
| When these cards arrive in Germany
the equivalent for six cents. Just double
| the deficiency. will be collected for
each card. Thus the German govern
ment will receive three cents on each
card for nothing.
This kind of mail is a good deal
larger than is generally supposed, as is
| shown he H.,
lected at the Boston office on one single
i mail from Europe. and the United
, States sends about 80 times as much as
il receives. Most of the unpaid or
short-paid matter comes from Armenia
ana Turkey, although England and
Ireland contribute a fair portion of it,
just before st. Patrick's day the mails
are Hooded with packages of shamrocks
from Ireland. picked and mailed by
people who know little about the postal
| regulations and who frequently neglect
| to flnd out how much postage is re-
! qulred. Anxious to have the precious
| tWigs we'll preserved they even sprinkle
! them with water before wrapping them
| up, which not merely increases the
| weight at the time of mailing, but also
| serves to spoil the wrappers. Christ
mas time and Easter when friends in
| terchange gifts. are equally profita Bile
in this respect: but the United States
| does not collect as much on foreign
mail as the foreign governments col
| lect on United States mail.
| There is such a wide difference in the
amount collected by the various nations
that years ago it led to negotiations
for new regulations resulting in the
| adoption in this country of the due
stamp and now each government
keeps the money it collects for due
postage. Those due stamps serve, in
| reality. merely to show how much is
| collected, as they are put on and can
| celled in the postoffice and no person
connected with the service can by hon
orable means obtain one that has not
| been cancelled. In spite of the law.
| such stamps have come into circuia-
ton. probably through burglars who
/ have broken into postoffices or through
dishonest postmasters; hut it matters
| little to a private citizen how he has
| obtained such stamp, whether he has
| paid for it or not, for the stamp is not
| acceptable as postage. If an attempt
| were made to use it, pOStofflce in
spectors would be at once put on the
trail of the offender.
| ~ - q i'i"t'tl ~ ~ Sl'l' Win S'lH'
| nun iuuaiH 10 ieiuNe "Iuti PAM hdltti'
sees refused letters when they return. A
| ieltei l,d! p' SEM ~ some ioitlSil c"uit-
| 5A "l'fout an! p"stdse on H. me aa-
| uitsste may RUS II. anu III mat case
| - mus Nt 80, ,'N" - ~" S'Haei' WHO
| has To pay double rate for it if he ac-
| tePtH ~ puI ne. 700 may refuse H. ana
! ,'leh us ihldt ueHtllidt ioii VIII pF me deau
lttter once III dshinStoi, II the iettef
! oiiSlhate" III ttie nlted states nfIe
| Gam SetS hothlhS LOT an inns trouble
| CccdS!of1aliH 'iiTre dppearS q postal caro-
'hdt II eNiuelltN uaNeiliAS atouio Ihe
posed on to that extent when he can help