The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1902-05-20
CARELESS AMERICANS
Throw Away Large Sums in Post
age Stamps Every Year.
Come Peculiar Practices People Who
Handle Large Numbers of stamps
Are Guilty Of-CareIessness
of Many.

"Foreigners tell me that we Amer
Jeans are just about the most waste
full people on the face of the round
earth" said stamp clerk in an up
town branch postal station the other
day, ''and / guess that is about the
case. 1 know it's so, if we waste
other things the way we do stamps.
considering American instinct for
the requirement of dollars, and the
fact that stamps are as good as
money in this country, it is hard to
understand just why such huge
amount of money is literally thrown
away every year by wasting stamps.
Maybe you think I'm exaggerat-
ing the truth when / say huge sums,
but that's just because you are not
in a position to see what goes on.
Neither am l personally, but stamps
are in my Line, and | take pains to
ask the delivery superintendent and
the receiving clerks few things oc-
.casionally, and what they tell me is
astonishing.
81 don't think it can be saying too
much to say that Uncle Sam is much
more than million dollars in pocket
every year as the result of careless
ness in the use of stamps. The gov
eminent never loses anything by
such carelessness, and always gains"
says a writer IN the New York Times.
How many do you put loose in
drawer of your desk or in a corner
of your pocketbook or wallet and
never think of again until you come
across them, aged and decrepit, while
rummaging about months later? OF
course nobody ever thinks of even
trying to redeem such stamps. They
couldn't if they tried it.
81 shouldn't wonder il you lost 20
cents worth of stamps yourself in
this way every year. Now, the popu-
lation of Greater New York is APP
proximately 100000. Supposing that
the waste of the sort l am talking
about averaged 20 cents annually,
the total would be something like
100000 in Greater New York alone.
You may think this is putting it
pretty high. and perhaps it is, for of
course good part of the population
of the city consists of children, and
then there are other classes who sell
dom use stamps, but it is pretty
plain that several hundreds of thou
sands of dollars are lost to Uncle
Sam in this city every year in
stamps that are paid for and never
used.
''Hot weather used to be RESPONSE
BILE for more gain for the post Office
department than any other one
cause. Stamps were ruined by the
thousand because the gum melted,
and they stuck to one another.
1.-THE little oiled paper books of
stamps that are sold now and that
are getting to be so popular have
interfered with this source of gov
ernmental revenue. They separate
the gummed edges so that they can
not stick together.
"Then there's another practice in
dulged in by many advertising and
business firms that puts a good deal
of coin into Uncle Sans pocket in
the course of every 12-month, and
that's the practice of sending out un-
solicited letters asking for trade or
patronage of some sort. These are
often accompanied by stamped and
addressed envelopes for reply that
in the majority Of cases is never
made.
II suppose, as a matter of fact, not
one-tenth OF them ever elicit replies.
Thus the stamp that has been paid
for is not used and the government
is paid for work not done. A few
business houses that / know of col
lect such envelopes and redeem them
when they have got enough to make
it worth while to do this. There are
thousands of reply postal cards, too.
that are never used.
Lots of people are careless about
putting stamps on envelopes and pa
per wrappers. The result is that
often before the stamp has been can
celed 1t has fallen off and the letter
is held up at the other end of the
line until postage is paid.
"a great many more folks put on
too much postage. They slap on two
five-cent stamps to a package that
needs only one. They are too busy
or too indoient to take the trouble
to find out whether a package re-
quires five or ten-cent postage. 1t is
amazing how ignorant well-educated
and intelligent people often are
about such common matter of in
formation as the postal rates for
different classes of matter. They
pay for their ignorance, too, and pay
well, altogether.
"Of course there is no way in
which to tell just how much money
is wasted in these different ways,
but it must be plain after what I've
said that it's a pretty big fortune
every year. The beauty of it is that
the government always gets the
benefit of any mistakes. If too little
postage is put on letter Uncle Sam
simply holds it up until the differ
ence is paid. If too much is put on.
Uncle Sam simply pockets the excess
TO which he is not entitled and says
nothing"