Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1902-03-27
MANY LETTERS LOST.
Recent Post Office Reports Show a
Big Increase in Number.
Indication of Greater Carelessness on
the Part of senders-M ork Of
the Dead Letter Department
Largely Increased.

The belief that the people are more
careful now than they were five years
ago as to the addressing of letters is
not borne out by the report Of the
dead-letter office, says the Chicago In
ter Ocean. The receipts of mail mat
ter at,that office were s,507,257 pieces
for the year ended June 80, 1901, against
7,536,15s pieces in 1900, an increase in
one year Of over u per cent. The or
binary unclaimed letters numbered
5,93l ,407 in 1901, an increase Of 53s,6O1
over 1900.
There were received at the dead-let-
ter office in 1901 unregistered pack.
ages to the number of 1896, an in
crease of 252,472 over 1900. The or
binary unclaimed packages numbered
15,425, against "a ,434 for 1900, an in
crease Of 240,991. OF the letters opened
1882 contained S42, sj4 in money, and
3s,965 contained drafts, notes, money
orders, deeds, wills and mortgages,
having a face value Of S1,17S,970. OF
the letters and parcels opened 47,725
contained photographs and 79,649post-
age stamps. OF the letters held for
postage s,75s were to foreign addresses
and lO7, 139 to addresses in the United
States. The misdirected letters num-
bered 454,sS3, and the parcels 1924.
There were 39,s37 letters WITHOUT ad'
dresses, 1888 envelopes containing
money found loose in the mails, and
l03,64O letters sent TO fictitious ad.
| dresses.
OF the great mass of matter re-
/ ceived at the dead-letter Office 4,70l,-
| I69 letters and circulars, 44,7l1 par
GELS and 1902 letters containing
postage stamps were destroyedi pa
73s letters containing money, 36,653
containing drafts and money orders
| 1881 containing valuable papers,
1869 containing postage stamps
47725 containing photographs, and
1.9O0,sl6 containing nothing of value
were delivered to the persons foT
whom they were intended, and 6,35s
letters containing money or drafts
and photographs were returned tC
the writer's.
| Unclaimed addressed parcels 70 the
number of 27,234, and 25,0s7 without
address. were sold at public auction
for S3.732. and e3.362 magazines were
| distributed among charitable institu
tions in Washington. OF the misdi
rected letters 60,962 of domestic orr
gin and 1850 foreign were delivered
to corrected addresses. Foreign let
tiers and parcels to the number o.
74os3l were returned to the coun
tries from which they were mailed
OF all the letters and packages re
ceived at the dead-letter office 900,
0O4 were returned or delivered un
opened. Foreign post offices re
turned 3.276 registered letters, SOL
934 ordinary letters and l96,3s0 par
cells to the dead-letter office as un
deliverable, and the dead-letter OF
fee returned $4,000 letters to Austria
Hungary. 114000 20 Canada, $4,000 q
Great Britain. $4,000 to Italy and II,
500 to Russia.
II is easy to understand how LET
ters written abroad may be misdi
rected or may be sent out with i'm
perfect addresses, but il is not s.
easy TO understand why even regis
tered letters and letters containing
money and drafts should be sen
wrong in Chicago and other cities o
the United States.