Okolona messenger., 1902-11-19
POST OFFICE CURIOS.
ODD Things That Come to Light In
the Postal Service.
A Carrier who Gets $4,000 a Year
Mailing n silver DolIRr-How
Employees Keep Track OF
Addresses, Etc.

A little item which appeared, hid
den away in a mass of other Washing
ton news, a day or two ago, unimPor-
tant in itself, gave an interesting
glimpse at the ramihcations of the
, most gigantic Of modern public utih-
ties, the United States post Office de-
partment. The item was the announce
ment Of the esta abliShment of the new
est post Office IN the eOuntry-in Alas
ka-and the appropriation of $4,000
for the annual salary of the letter car
rier who covers the route from Daw-
son, says the Detroit News-Tribune,
The new service is ct present q
monthly one, and the letter carrier
provides his own sledgO and dogs.
Large as his salary iS, It appears that
be earns it all, for already the man
has been carried away By avalanOhSs,
made q prisoner BY snowdrifts. fallen
down mountain preeipicea, and had
other adventures exciting II not pleas
ant.
Just how big an institution the post
Ofics iA, probably few people realize.
Even figures convey no very clear inn
precision since they begin TO mount
up into the hundred milhonA. Still.
few figures Of the post ofRcs are not
without their interest.
To begin with, thsEs are over 1900
POst ofaOes IN OperatiOn throughout
the country, and about GTO, ,OOO. 900 mIlsS
Of mail service performed. This u on
The authority Of = pamphlet Just Ia
sued entitled; Postal Statistics Of tha
United States" which the third assist
ant postmaster general has prepared.
From The same source Il Is learned that
during the single year Of 1901 there
we're G.SRO. .S7S, 500 stamps used by the
people Of the United States, III, ,ss0,-
900 stamped envelopes and O00,O14,sOo
postal cards.
TIE number Of p1SoSs Of matter of all
kinds mailed during tie rear was
T,G2A, 800, $40. There were a0,s1t,eO0
registered letters. and the amount Is
Sued In money orders wGS eaTA, ,O67.
ParNnthetically it may be interesting
70 mention that, according 70 Brad
streets, two-thirds Of all the letters
which pass through the post ofaces Of
the world are written and sent to peO-
pie who speak EnGliSh. OF this two
thirds considerably more than half
pass through the post Ofices Of the
United States.
Every now and then people who are
accustomed to receive much corre-
spondence And themselves surprised
by the accuracy With which the on
cials of the postal service have sue
oesdsd in trAcing out, through sue
eessions OF changed addresses, many
Of them altogether inadequate II not
absolutely erroneous, the proper own
ere Of the letters and delivering them
at their destination in safety. This
is accomplished through q hystem
which, in It's way. is as perfectly or
gaAized and as efficient as the bert
equipped detective or police bureau in
the world.
At the general post office in every
large city is kept a epecial directory IN
which ell the names which appear in
the regular city directory, and thou
sands of others, are kept. Between
each of the printed leaves of this di-
rectory are bound four blank pages.
These pages are for the inscription Of
changed addresses. A person who
changes his address so informs either
his carrier or the post Office, and the
change is noted in the directory.
If mail comes improperly addressed,
or without any address excepting the
persons name. reference is made to
the directory. If the name is not found
the five names most like it are writ
ten upon the envelope with their ad-
dresses appended, and these five ad-
dresses are tried. OF the letterswhich
thus "go through the directory" the
owners of about half are found.
A recent test Of the safety of the
mails and the honesty of the postal
clerks was made by a man in Detroit.
He pasted on one side of a silver dollar
a bit of paper on which he wrote his
daughters address. On the other side
he put one-cent stamp, sending the
dollar at merchandise rates.
The experiment was the result of
dispute with a foreigner, who doubt
ed the safety of the United States mails
and warned the American that thatw
the last he would hear of his money.
Two days later the patriotic Detroiter
received letter from his daughter ac-
knowledging the receipt Of the coin.
Services Of the WOrm.