Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-29
CARELESS WRITERS
Complaint Of a Local Post
Office Official.
so EASY TO BE RIGHT
YET PEOPLE KEEP ON USING THE
MAILS IMPROPERLY.
Haste That Results In Much Annoy
ance-Example Set by German
Schools-Common Mistakes.
so EASY TO BE RIGHT

why is 1t that intelligent people do not
pay more attention to the proper ADDRESS
ing of their lettersr' an official OF the local
post office asked this morning. after par
ticularly vexing half hour with pile OF
undelivered mail, cit Is perfectly incom-
prehensible to me why the people VINO use
the mails should not know how to do so.
The plain and simple principle involved I'M
poses no other duty on the person desiring
to make use Of the system than to ADDRESS
plainly letter or package to the person
it is desired to reach.
1.-The word plainly Is the most important
Of these Instructions Plainly means to
call Mrs. John Smith by her name, and If
she lives at 200 Pennsylvania avenue north
west, Washington. D. c., to write 1t SO ana
not 200 Pa. ave. Washington, or Town or
City or Local 1t Is just as easy to say
that a person lives in Washington. D. c:
as it is to say that person lives In Town
or City or Local What town., What
city and where 1ocal?' 1t Is easy LOT
person to say that his name Is In the d1rec,
tory, and that the postal officials couio
easily find who to deliver a letter to II they
would simply consult the book But how
would such system operate In pracuce!
Who Is the official of this Office or any other
who can take the time from his regular
duties to look up the address of every per-
son whose mail is not directed to the street
and house number? Suppose everybody VINO
uses the mails should take that view OF the
situation. The largest part of the force or
post. Office would be that which is main
tanned for the purpose Of looking through
the directory. and the force required for
this work Is large enough as it is at present.
Taught in German Schools.
II cannot understand why such con-
| dition of affairs should exist in an intellt-
gent community and can only assign as an
excuse the carelessness Of the persons hav-
ing charge of the mailing Of the improperly
addressed letters. It certainly cannot be
through ignorance. Thit country Is the
greatest offender in that direction. In some
countries instructions as to the use Of the
government postal facilities form part of
the regular public school course. This Is
particularly noticeable in Germany. where
instructions as to the use of the mall forms
a very important part of the course Of in
Struction.
THE children who go to school in the Ger:
man empire are compelled to know how to
use the mails. They are required to pass
examinations before they can be graduated
from the schools, and it Is a very uncom-
mon thing for a person to address letter
improperly in that country. 1t often hap
pens that letters come from Germany here
that are improperly addressed but tgno-
rance as to the extent and locality of the
place to which the letter is addressed may
be taken as an excuse
However, in this country there exists no
excuse for the ignorance. The system of
mailing Is simple that every one should
| understand It. 1t is probable that within
the course Of few months the Washington
school authorities will be requested by this
Office to give a certain amount Of instruc-
| ton in the use Of the mails to the pupils
of the public schools here and in time the
system might extend throughout the coun-
try. We have In this Office every morning
an enormous amount Of mail that is i'm
properly addressed. OF course the quantity
increases greatly during the Christmas holi-
days. but it is greater than it should be at
all times
Carelessness Of Writers.
Probably the greatest number Of letters
| that come to this Office improperly address,
| ed are the result Of sheer carelessness on the
| part of the clerk person who mailed the
envelope. Here. for instance, Is a letter ad-
dressed to a hardware firm in Washington
| D. c.. when Washington, N. c., is meant
| The D. c. Is very plain you can see
This letter comes from one of the largest
and most important firearms manufacture
| ing companies In the world, as you can see
| by the label on the envelope, and yet
| venture to say, would even be willing to
| bet a good round sum. that the letter Is
| headed The Blank Hardware Company,
| Washington. N. c.. and that the N. C. is
| just as plain on that letter the D. c. is
| on the envelope. That is pure carelessness
| Here Is a letter that was intended for Will
mington. Del. The person addressing it ad-
| dressed 1t to Washington. Del, and it has
been changed to D. c. in transit
| The letter bears a stamp of the New
| York post office, Deficiency of address
| before they thought. 1t is addressed to
| William Lawton, GIL Market street, WASH
| ington, DEL Had the official who took the
| trouble to correct this address looked into
= g. nj LIzI.
| he must have had at hand. he would have
| seen that this man lives in Wilmington and
| not Washington.
Here is a letter addressed to Miss Jane
| White. Sleepy Hollow, Utow, nr. Washing
| ton. 1t is from a prominent publishing
| house in New York that ought to know bet
| ter. There Is no such place near Washing
ton as Sleepy Hollow. Utow: The person
who addressed this letter evidently did so
very hurrtedly and was extremely careless
| I imagine that letter belongs to some place
near Washington. Utah. However. the
| force of this office is not empowered to
| make the correction unless It is reasonably
| sure the letter will have to go to the dead
| letter Office.
Here Is a letter which is absolutely fool
| ish in its address It bears the inscription
| L. j. MCGEE. 931 95 street NV, Washing
ton, d. c. Every one Of these letters that
you have seen snows the result of pure
carelessness on the part. of the clerk or
person doing the addressing. and as a re-
| suit Is lost in the mail. Some Of them
never reach the person to whom they are
addressed. although the dead letter office
| make strenuous efforts to have them de-
/ 4Yered. ~.
Those Who Write getty" or "Town.n
ha,."'Next in line with the careless people
! who address the mail wrong thoughtlessly
GENES that class which habitually uses
CITY, or town or local in addressing let
tiers to persons in the same city. A friend
| of mine. a teacher in the nuhffc schools
once compiled very important report for
the supervising principal Of her district
| which she fntrusted to the mail for deliv-
| cry. A few days after she had mailed the
| letter she came to me with tears in her
| eyes and asked me where and how she
| could find 1t.
| ut was the most important document Of
| the year, she said. and she had absolutely
nothing by which she could compile another
| The data that had been collected for use in
| this report had been destroyed or sent with
| the report. I asked her to write out the
| address she placed on the letter. and when
she had complied read Blank BIalk super