The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-05-10

WRITTEN FOR THE SUNDAY REPuB1Ic
m the 81 Louis Post Once. at the Eighth
Locust corner, sits q mar whose duty
6b to figure out postal puzzles.
Postal puzzles are illegibly addressed let
tsea representations which to the ordinary
man would mean nothing. or which contain
such misleading mistakes that more than
human intelNgsncs would seem necessary to
footify them.
This man Il termed the head Of the
Mike Department"
There Is no such word AZ mike" unless
Il Be that which has reference to q sort Of
m~ischievous water sprite, which eupersti-
t1eas persons once imagined tormented men.
But, probably, no other business depart
msnt In the world has Just such duties to
perform therefore. q unique name II ap-
phcabae.
The use Of nike in this connection
probably aroes out Of tho corruption OF
no." which children use.
Department Of no addresses, or. rather,
dspartment of no sense in the addresses;
fr6m which It 10 easily understood how this
branch of the ONCE came to DO termed the
'1ttxie Department"
The number OF mistakes that arc made
In addressing letters is astonishing.
And the number which the postal en-
pieyes are able to decipher is more AS'
ishins.
The last report Of the work of the MIKE
Department" in st. Louis showed that S.sle.-
- pieces of mail matter were handled IN
twelve months. q.
Of these. 1.Ty,5H emanated from 81
Louis: the number of letters for whien az,
drssss. were supplied. 7s2,2so; number OF
nisess which were, strictly speaking. "nix
n" ana for which the address was SUP
n,iss s1sless: number Of pieces directed 81
frnis. NO.. when another city was meant
a IN. ,etters returned for better offecuons,
INo: number returned that "ere u''
nfdes, 5ls.0s7.
s-r,uMrSGLY nLEerBIE EXAMPLES
OF MrspIRECrED LETTERS
No. all letters that are addressed moor
r.ctjv are termed mixes Nefy oI.en
careless or IN absent-minoeo n = Iar,s..
"a 4 friend In Chicago inscr1oes " L~uS
a. nj, hurry, fails to notice his, mis-
take. -.r
Ihen comes trouble for the postal en-
ployes, Of which the author OF inc punoef
remains blisstully ignorant
Yet such are not truly mixes. nor 'ns
verrt amp Of misdirected letters.
There are those In which the name OF Tn
person to which the letter Is sent ID mis-
spelled, or in which either city or state or
both, Is omitted. and those posted without
any address whatever.
enters with . rush upon the task OF keep
inn up to date with his or her correspond
enoe folds up the letter.. places them In
envelopes, stamps them, forgets the ad-
dress, puts them into the mailbox for the
unfortunates in the Post Once to puzzle
over.
All Of this latter description arc 'nixies"
+. N. Rowland has charge Of the Mike
Bureau at St. Louis.
More persons are Indebted to him for
getting their letters than ave any con-
ception of their obligation.
His task Is to know all business firms
OF Importance in the country. and where
they are, certainly every hrm and we'll
known individual In st. Louis. and to under
stand intuitively what people meant to say,
though they said something entirely differ
emit.
He has been ten years at his work and
ten years experience with 2.o0o.0o or SO
puzzle letters a year leaves him with facul-
ties that appear marvellous to whoever Is
unframed at such work.
BUSINESS DIRECTORY COMPLIED
FOR HIS OWN USE
For instance. he received the other day
a letter addressed as follows: Burrows &
Co., St. Louis. Mo.
There is no Burrows & Co., but the Amer
lean Arithmometer Company manufactures
the Burrows machine.
Howland thought of this as he looked at
the address, and the letter. 1t proved, con-
tained an order for Burrows machines on
the American Anthmometer Company.
Last week this address reached his de-
partment: "Rand-McNally Shoe Company.
So. Louis. No" The Rand-McNally firm is
a publishing house of Chicago. Rowland
thought that the Roberts-Johnson-Rand
Shoe Company was meant. He was right.
Here are others OF the same kind, which
Rowland quickly corrected: st. Louis
Screen Company should be ''St. Louis
Screw Company: Clarkson Glass Compa-
n.y." should be 'Clarkson Glue Company;
"A. .. Cole Co.. St. LOUIS should be "A.
q Aloe 4 Co. ct. Louis; Lewis Hanoi
Millinery Company" should he Richard
Hanlon Millinery Company; Western Egg
and Poultry Company" should be West
efn Game and Poultry Company"
ToFacilitate his work. Rowland has coli
lected the names OF thousands Of firms In
IL United State8. all OF which have large
correspondents. into q large directory.
He found It necessary to do this work for
A. other business directories were
uSisss hecaure it We necessary to know