The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1902-03-13
THROW AWAY MONEY.
WASTEFULNESS OF AMERICANS
is COMMENTED UPON.
Lose Large Sums in Postage Stamps
-Postofiice Clerk Tells of Several
Ways in Which This Is Done-Gov-
ernment the Gamer.

| ways III men 4 MS Is DohS 'o'
ernment the Gamer.
Foreigners tell me that we Ameri-
cans are Just about the most wasteful
people on the face of the round earth"
said n stamp clerk In an uptown
branch postal station the other day,
"and | guess that Is about the case,
know it's so, II we waste other things
the way We do stamps.
Considering American instinct for
| the requirement Of dollars, and the
fact that stamps are as good as money
in this country, it is hard TO under
stand just why such "A huge amount
of money is literally thrown away
every year by wasting stamps.
Maybe you think I'm eXaggerating
! the truth when | say huge sums, but
that's just because you are not in a
position to see what goes on. Neither
am | personally. but stamps are in
my line, and | take pains to ask the
delivery superintendent and the re-
ceiving clerks a few things OCCASION
ally, and what they tell me Is aston
ishing.
Il don't think it can be saying too
much to say that Uncle Sam is much
more than II million dollars In pocket
every year as the result of careless
ness In the use of stamps. The gov
erRment never loses anything by such
carelessness, and always gains" says
a writer In the New York Times
How many do you put loose in a
drawer of your desk or in a corner of
your pocketbook or wallet and never
think of again until you come across
them, aged and decrepit, while rum
maging about months later? OF
course nobody ever thinks of even try
ing TO redeem such stamps. They
couldn't If they tried it.
81 shouldn't wonder II you lost 20
cents worth of stamps yourself In this
way every year. Now, the population
of Greater New York is approximately
100000. Surprising that the waste
of the sort l am talking about aver
aged 20 cents annually, the total would
he something like 100000 In Greater
New York alone. You may think this
is putting it pretty high, and per-
haps 1t is, for of course a good part
of the population of the city consists
of children and then there are other
classes who seldom use stamps. but it
is pretty plain that several hundreds
. =. - I,II .,0ss. Il. -
Uncle Sam In this city every year in
stamps that are paid for and never
used.
Hot weather used to be responsible
for more gain for the postoflice de-
partment than any other one cause.
Stamps We're ruined by the thousand
because the gum melted, and they
stuck to ane another.
The little oiled paper books of
stamps that are sold now and that
are getting to be SO popular have in
terfered with this source of govern
mental revenue. They separate the
gummed edges so that they cannot
stick together.
Lots of people are careless about
putting stamps on envelopes and pa
per wrappers. The result Is that often
before the stamp has been cancelled
1t has fallen off and the letter Is held
up at the other end of the line until
postage is paid.
"A great many more folks put on
too much postage. They slap on two
5-cent stamps to package that needs
only one. They are too busy or too
INDECENT to take the trouble to find
out whether a package requires or
10 cents postage. 1t is amazing how
ignorant well educated and intelligent
people often are about such a common
matter of information as the postal
rates for different classes of matter.
They pay for their ignorance, too, and
pay well. altogether.
"Of course there is no way In which
to tell just how much money is wasted
in these different ways, but 1t must
be plain after what I've said that it's
a pretty big fortune every year. The
beauty of it is that the government
always gets the benefit of any mis-
takes. IL too little postage is put on
a letter Uncle sam simply holds it up
until the difference is paid. If too
much is put on. Uncle Sam simply
pockets the. excess to which he is not
entitled and says nothing"