Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1906-11-01
CLERKS KEPT BUSY.
DEAD LETTER OFFICE HANDLES
MUG MAIL
average Force Of One Hundred and
Fifty Persons Employed There
Maseum5of curlositles Has !.
Been A handoned. !:

81 I 4 rs 4 s i Z
IT will give you an epitome regard
Ing the dead letter office which will be
found Of interest said postal off,
ciai.
The dead letter office was estab-
lished In 1926, and from an .nsignifi-
cant beginning has grown into an es-
tabllshment which gives employment
TO an average force Of about $50 per-
sons, and handles about 11,UOO,0OO
pieces Of mail matter annually. The
work to which the Office devotes It.
self is the disposal of the various
kinds OF undesirable mail matter sent
TO. It from about $4,000 post offices.
This mail matter Is divided into two
geneTal classes unclaimed and I'M
available.
The former includes such matter as
has reached the destination to which
It. ID directed, and has been uncalled
Tor. or refused, or Of which the adj
dresEes cannot be found The latter
embraces variety Of matter which
oannpt be dispatched for various rea-
sons, such as non-prepayment OF post
age. misdirection. entire want Of adj
dress. etc. The unclaimed matter is
classified as domestic and foreign, the.
latter designation, of course, apply
ing to such as originates In foreign
countries
The work of the Office, generally
speAking, Ia to deliver as much cf this
1 matter as possible. either, to the send
or. or addressed, the former almost
exclusively. This disposition Is made
/ from day to day as far as may be
done. There is a popular fallacy that
matter - held for a stipulated period,
and arranged for delivery upon appli-
Gallon In much the same manner as To-
cal post Offices are conducted. This
would be wholly impracticable, and re-
ceipt and disposal must be made as
nearly concurrent as possible.
Old Museum Of Curiosities.
One Of the features of the old dead
letter Office of the old post office de-
partment building on street was its
museum of curioslties found in the
malls, There Is now no longer
51istinctiyely dead letter office mu-
scum. The articles which were for
merly exhibited In 1t, which were of
the diversified and interesting type,
nave been included In the general
postal museum, situated in the south
east corner Of the city post Office floor
OF the main department building, on
Pennsy 1vania avenue. Articles of GU
rious interest for which owners can
not be found, and which are without
c0nHiderable value, are occasionally
contributed to the exhibit.
From the very large quantity Of
dAFd mail MATTER sent to the dead let
ter Office, including periodicals, pic
torials, fancy cards. etc, Of which
che bulk is consigned to the waste
and sold to contractors. there are
many thousands annually selected
which are at intervals distributed
among some Of the benevolent institu-
tions Of the district, such matter be-
ing carefully selected, having in view |
the purpose for which 1T Is intended.
i THE dead letter Office, however.
which lis now situated on the third
l0Or OF the main department building,
on the south side. is still one Of the
features sot life In the government Of
Hoes In Washington, even with its
museums 9 thing OF the past, and all
day long at intervals the visitors and
guides tile through the office and
watch the clerks at work. Such vis-
it0rs are WELCOME. but all they can
SEQ and all there ID TO see are lot
q very busy clerks behind the wire
gratings working like beavers over
other people errors IN mail mat
tors. IL ..s;s