Evening star., 1902-02-01

velope. since the errors OF delivery may be
traced IN most instances TO an imperfect
address, Letters are handled with such
great rapidity and I'm such great quantity
cars that mere glance can be devoted 10
the office and state.
have often been asked the secret Of the
remarkable memory of, postal and railway
mail clerks who work with such rapidity
ana accuracy and without apparent DELHI
GRAFTON. and It is mainly training and the
association OF post Office names with local.
Ties. Thus London Is associated by the
clerks and the public alike with England
but there is n London, Ontario, Canada
Yet so definitely fixed Is the association of
that name with a land across the sea that
letters plainly addressed to London, Can
ada have passed through many hands.
been forwarded 10 London. England and
returned here by the British postal authori-
ties for proper delivery.
Manila is indelibly associated with The
Philippine Islands, Havana with Cuba.
Paris with France, Boston with Massachu-
setts, Philadelphia with PENNSYLVANIA Chi
caso with Illinois, St. Joseph and ST. Louis
with Missouri, Savannah with Georgia
Brooklyn with New York. Providence with
hhooe Island, etc, yet there are anywhere
from three TO over a dozen other post Of
ffces OF the same names in other states.
ana there are hundreds of duplicate names
held by small offices In the different states
copied from the older and better known
cities. For instance. there are thirty post
oIlCeS IN tne United states bearing the
name of Washington.
Familiar Cases of Duplication.
These few illustrations should empha-
size to the public the cardinal importance
of writing the abbreviations of the differ
ent states with perfect accuracy and dis
tinctness.
AS an example of local interest. there is
a Takoma Park in the District of Culura-
bla, or in Washington as non-residents
think and would say, and Tacoma in the
state OF Washington. Much confusion re-
suited IN these similar names, as many
people In addressing letters leave of the
Park and write Tacoma, Wash. when IL
should be written 'Takoma Park D. c.
The postal clerks have pretty generally
caught on In this instance, and mail is
correctly forwarded even il Incorrectly ad-
dressed.
The most provoking instances of con-
fusion OF duplicate names are in West Ntr-
g1nia, where there is a Charleston and a
Charlestown, and In New Jersey. where
there is a Morristown and a Mauricetown
These offices are old ones. and neither
would yield to the other and adopt new
name But ali postal clerks especially look
out for mail for these four places and in
The New Jersey case the errors are com
paratively few
I'm the West Virginia case. however.
though the clerks are 'on. the general
public is not, and the confusion resulting
from the two names has occasioned un-
limited quantities of profanity and rage In
the clear type of The Star these different
names are distinguishable. but i'm chirog-
raphy the ton and the town cannot be
distinguished unless written plainly Again,
many people confuse the two offices, sup
posing that there is but one town I'm the
state named Charleston or Charlesuown,
they not being able to recall which Is cor
rect. West Nirginians from these places
usually affiX the counties in their super
scriptions and confusion is avoided
The rules of the department are row
more stringent than formerly, and when
il is considered that there are over 1G 900
post offices. thousands having duplicate or
similar names. Ii is a wonder that the
clerks do as well the records show"