The Washington herald., 1907-10-16
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

eign visitors to the United States never
fail to buy the postcard pictures Of the
President and his family
The post-offlce authorities have made
determined effort to stop the practice Of
sending vulgar cards through the mail.
or course any of these cards mailed as q
card are Immediately stopped and sent
to the Dead Letter Office. but many Of
them are sold in various places, and il
must be presumed that they are sent in
sealed envelopes. The sealing of the en-
velope does not protect the offender from
the law. and penitentiary sentences are /
awaiting some of the coarse persons who
attempt to turn pleasant fad into an
offensive one. Four or five thousand
cards considered unfit" are turned into
the Dead Letter Office each month Some
Of them are really shocking
Through these returns the observing
officer in the Dead Letter Office may get
line on the morals Of various sections
Of the country as reflected in the judg
ment Of the postmaster. who is the judge
of what is unfit" New York, for in
stance, can see nothing wrong in the por-
trait Of an actress as she habitually ap-
/ pears on the stage. even II she is clad in
tights. st. Louis. on the contrary. Is
! strietest Of the larger cities and post
cards with shocking stockings do not get
/ by the Missouri censor. The larger cities,
as rule, are inclined to be much more
ienient than the country towns.
TUnmaiIable" postcards. of which so
many come to the Dead Letter Office,
/ include not only those considered unfit"
I hsr
which are decorated with tinsel made Of
mica or glass. for instance never reach
/ the address. but are sent directly TO the
/ Dead Letter Office. This tinsel was found
TO be very injurious 10 the eyes of the
clerks and was therefore declared by the
| department To be unmailabe All those.
cards which have anything whatever
pasted or attached 10 them are unmail-
liable as postcards, and are dead If they
do not have the e-cent stamp required by
/ letter postage rates. A scheme was ar
ranged whereby cards were mailed in
/ thin transparent envelopes. TO keep them
clean. the envelope having a hole cut
4 just over the stamp 10 permit cauceliug
! The department held that such envelopes
We're maileblc at letter rates, so the Dead
/ Letter Office received hundreds of them
/ every day.
There is a popular notion that the post
Office is careless Of these souvenir cards,
but it is erroneous. The post-ofFice makes
every effort to deliver them 10 the ad-
dressee. Norfolk, for instance. has been
literally flooded with post cards all
summer on account of the jamestown
Exposition. A young woman visiting in
Norfolk addressed a post card 70 a friend
in St Louis. She gave his name and
street address correctly, but inadvertent-
I iy wrote Chicago. H. instead of St
Louis, Then she dropped the card in the
box without stamp. The post-office at
Norfolk sent an official notification TO the
/ Chicago address. saying the post card
would be forwarded on receipt OF post
/ age. The Chicago pOst-OffiCe knew there
was no such street and number in Chi
cago. The directories We're consulted and
such a street being located In St Louis.
the Chicago pOst-OniCe forwarded the
letter from the Norfolk p0st-office 20 St
Louis. Ii was there delivered 20 the
right man, he sent a 1-cent stamp to Nor
folk, and in course of a few days got
the post card. This is an incident which
! shows how even the busiest Of Offices
take care OF the post cards And III
! spite Of that care, 1000 Of them a day are
dead" II is a mighty fad.
TO-mOrrOw-The Banks of America.