The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-09-25
BIRMINGHAM, ALA.
AHEAD OF THEM ALL
Incidents of Letters That Reach
the PoStOfice
0NElNTENDEDFORt NGLAND
There Are Now But Twelve Blrmlns-
hams In the United States-One
New England Birmingham
Changed Its Name.

On yesterday package OF mali pear
ing the postmark of Paris, France, and
addressed to Mr.. L. William Goold. E.
/ Corporation Street, Birmingham (angle-
tere), reached the postoffice in this city.
1t was promptly dispatched from this
Birmingham to the older Birmingham,
and in due course viii be delivered to
Mr. Goold.
Birmingham Ala, is so well known
and so popular that much mail intended
for other towns of the same name finds
its way here" said Assistant-P Post master
John Towers last night Hardly day
/ passes that mail matter addressed to Biz
rningham, England. does not come to our
postoffice, and as for the mail addressed
to the small Birminghams in the United
States-there are eleven of them-we
handle a great deal of it through the
year.
Mr.. Towers went on to tell of some
curious facts concerning misdirected mail
and some noteworthy instances of the
palnstaking efforts employees of the postal
service to deliver mail to the addresses
regardless Of wrong or insufficient back
ing.
Mlsdirected Mail.
It was only yesterday that President
J. C. Maben of the Sloss- Sheffield Steel
and Iron company told of an important
letter addressed to MIN at Birmingham,
Ca, coming duly to hand On Monday
as Mr.. Maben was leaving New York for
Birmingham his butler checked his
trunk and enclosed the check in an en-
velope addressed to him at Birmingham,
! Ga. The butler knew better but in a
state of woolgathering he forgot and
wrote ga" instead of ALA" But the
railway postal clerk having handled
much mail for the president of Sloss-
Sheffield, threw the letter in the Ala
bama bin and it got here on the same
train with Mr.. Baden. Had the postal
man been a literalist the letter would
have gone to Birmingham, Ca, and
would have Travelled around for some
days before reaching the addressee, and
the addressee would have been incon-
venienced about his baggage.
At one time there were twelve Birming-
hams in the United States besides our
Birmingham. The largest of these towns
outside of Alabama was in Connecticut.
For many years Birmingham. Conn.,, had
been a busy place. Many manufacture
ing companies were located there, among
them the concern that made Brittania
tableware. AS Birmingham, Ala, grew
in Importance more and more of Bir-
mingham, Conn, mail came here; and
finally the mistakes were of such fire.
quent occurance that the business men
of the Connecticut town petitioned the
government and had the name changed
to Derby.
Birmingham's Namesakes.
The states that now have nam esakes
of Birmingham, England, are Alabama,
Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Ken
lucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri,
New Jersey Ohio and Pennsylvania All
but two of the postoffices in the above
list are money order offices, showing that
they are of considerable Importance, and
not merely cross road places.
The object of the postoffice department
is to serve the public, and common sense
rules are now more than ever in vogue
There was a time when no mail was
forwarded unless it was fully and cor
rectly addressed The rule today is to
hand mail to the addressed quickly as
possible, no matter how the address
reads. In large postoffces directory clerks
are employed to look up people and for
ward such mail as comes astray. In the
Birmingham office a clerk is kept busy
at this sort of work. About fifty letters a
day on an average are thrown In the di-
rectory clerks desk. Many of these letters
are intended for towns that are not
named Birmingham, but are addressed
Birmingham through some kink in the
head of the sender
United States Directory.
A street directory of all large cities is
kept In the postoffice and incorrectly ad-
dressed letters frequently reach the right
place because of the street name and
the familiarity of the directory clerk with
the local names of all cities. In the mat
ter of the package from Paris, referred
to, one might imagine that the mail clerk
in New York who handled it would have
started it back across the Atlantic with
out sending it, to this city. But Assistant
Postmaster Towers accounts for 1t in this
! way: The trained eye quickly reads the
: name Of the city and the rule in this
| country Del0B 10 SeHu all mali 10 BIZ
mingham, Ala, not otherwise distinctly
addressed to the Birmingham of some
other state, the New York man naturally
dispatched the package to this city. Had
the name Angletere been as boldly writ
ten as the name Birmingham, the mail
would probably not have reached Ala
bama But Birmingham was in large
clear letters in the usual position, while
Angletere was in the left corner in par
enthesis.
1t often happens that mail sent from
Chicago and addressed to Birmingham.
H., comes to Birmingham, Ala This
puts somebody to trouble and causes no
end of inconvenience, but it all goes to
show how important and well advertised
a city our Birmingham is
MRS. j. r. POWELL BURIED.