The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-03-26
MANY LETTERS LOST.
Recent Post Offce Reports Show q
Big Increase in Number.
Indication OF Greater Carelessness or
tho Part of Senders-"oTk OF
the Dead Letter Department
Largely Increased

The belief that the people are more
careful now than they were tiVe years
ago as TO the addressing of letters IS
not borne out by the report OF the
ceac-:etter Office, says the Chicago III
ter Ocean. The receipts Of mall mat
ter al that ciiice were S.507.257 pieces
for the year enGeG June so, 1901, against
7.53b.l5o pieces in 1900. an increase In
one year of over 12 per cent. The or
Ginary unclaimed letters numbered
over 1900.
There were received at the dead-.et-.
ter office in 1901 unregistered pack
ages to the number of 1886, an in
crease of :252,472 over 1900. The or
dinary unclaimed packages numbered
3l5.4.5. against 74,434 for 1900, an in
crease Of .40.39!. Ofthe letters opened
:..2232 c1Et&ineS S4422.s55i in Ec.ey. ard
$3.50 contained drafts, ro,ss. moEey
orders, DEEDS. wills and mortgages,
having face value of $1.j7S.y7O. Of
the letters ana parcels opened 47,7a5
contained raotoSra phs az" 1868 post
age stamps o. the letters held for
ras:age S,75S were to foreign addresses
and 10I.1S9 10 addresses in the United
States. lhe u:i<uirected 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
1o3,64O letters sent to fictitious ad-
dresses.
Of the great mass of matter re-
ceived at the dead-letter Office 4,701,-
1e9 letters and circulars, All par
cells and 1902 letters containing
postage stamps were destroyed; "a
73s letters containing money, 36,6ss
containing drafts and money orders,
47,537 containing valuable papers,
175,e49 containing postage stamps,
47,725 containing photographs, and
1.S0O,S16 containing nothing of value
were delivered to the persons for
whom they were intended, and $3.50
letters containing money or drafts
and photographs were returned to
the writers.
Unclaimed addressed parcels to the
n Yer of 27,234, and 25,os7 without
adj. SIS, were sold at public auction
for s3,732, and 1882 magazines were
distributed among charitable institu-z
tons ii Washington. OF the misdi-
rccted letters 6o,s62 <of domestic ORR
gin and 1859 foreign were delivered
to corrected addresses. Foreign let
ters and parcels to the number OF
749,S31 were returned to the coun-
tries from which they were mailed
Of all the letters and packages re-
ceived at the dead-letter Office $685.
OO4 were returned or delivered un-
opened. Foreign post Offices re-.
turned 3.276 registered letters, 361,-.
9S4 ordinary letters and 196,3S0 par
cells to the dead-ierter Office as un-
deliverable, and the dead-letter Of
fee returned $4,000 letters to Austria
Hungary, 114,000 to Canada, $4,000 to
Great Britain, $4,000 to- Italy and H.
800 to Russia.
1t is easy to understand how Lett
tiers written abroad may be mis6i-
rected or may. be sent out with inn
perfect addresses, but it is not so
easy to understand why even regis
tered letters and letters containing
money and drafts should be sent
wrong in Chicago and other cities OF
the United States.