The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-11-13
ODDITIES OF TIE POST.
Are Taking PInce in The GOVERN
ment Postal Service.

ment Postal Service.
A little item which appeared. hid
den away in a mass Of other Washing
ton news, a cay or two ago, unimpor-
tant in itself, gave an interesting
glimpse at the ramifcations Of the
:nost gigantic of modern public utili-
ties, the United States post Office de-
partment. The item was the announce
ment Of the establishment of tie new
est post office in the country-in Alas
ka-aId the appropriation Of $4,000
for the annual salary OF the letter car
rier who covers the route from Daw-
son, says the Detroit News-Tribune.
The new service is at present a
monthly one, and the letter carrier
provides his own sleCge and dogs.
Large as his salary is, it appears that
he earns it all, for already the man
has been carried away by avalanches,
made prisoner by snowdrifts, fallen
down mountain precipices, and had
other adventures exciting if not pleas
ant.
Just how big an institution the post
office is, probably few people realize.
Even figures convey no very clear i'm
preston since they begin to mount
up into the hundred millions. Still,
few figures of the post office are not
without their interest.
To begin with, there are over $1,000
post offices in operation throughout
the country, and bout Az, OOOO miles
of mail service performed. This is on
the authority of a pamphlet just is
sued entitled: Postal Statistics of the
United States" which the third assist
ant postmaster general has prepared.
From the same source it is learned that
during the single year of 1901 there
were 1929, 273, 500 stamps used by the
people of the United States, 772 .S39,-
900 stamped envelopes and 59,614sSOO
postal cards.
The number of pieces of matter of all
kinds mailed during the year was
7,424, 39O,329 There were 2O,S14. 500
registered letters, and the amount is
sued in money orders was $274, $40. O67
Parentheti cally it may be interesting
to mention that. according to Brad
streets, two-thirds of all the letters
which pass through the post Offices of
the world are written and sent to peo-
pie who speak English. OF this two
thirds considerably more than half
pass through the post offices of the
United States.
Every now and then people who are
accustomed to receive much CORE
spondence find themselves surprised
| by the accuracy with which the Off
Gals of the postal service have sue
ceeded in tracing out, through sue
cessions of changed addresses, many
of them altogether inadequate if not
absolutely erroneous. the proper own
ers of the letters and delivering them
at their destination in safety. This
is accomplished through a system
which, in its way, is as perfectly or
gained and as efficient as the best
/ equipped detective or police bureau in
| the world.
At the general post Office in every
large city is kept a special directory in
which all the names which appear in
the regular city directory, and thou
sands of others, are kept. Between
each of the printed leaves of this di-
rectory are bound four blank pages.
| These pages are for the inscription of
changed addresses. A person who
changes his address SO informs either
his carrier or the post office, and the
change is noted in the directory.
If mail comes improperly addressed,
or without any address excepting the
persons name, reference is made to
| the directory. If the name is not found
the five names most like it are writ
ten upon the envelope with their ad-
dresses appended, and these five adj
! dresses are tried. OF the letters which
| thus go through the directory" the
owners of about half are found.
A recent test of the safety of the
mails and the honesty of the postal
clerks was made by a man in Detroit.
He pasted on one side of a silver dollar
a bit of paper on which he wrote his
| daughter address. On the other side
| he put a one-cent stamp, sending the
dollar a t merchandise rates.
The experiment was the result of a
| dispute with foreigner, who doubt
ed the safety of the United States mails
and warned the American that that was
! the last he would hear of his money
Two days later the patriotic Detroiter
received letter from his daughter ac-
knowledging the receipt of the coin.