Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-09-26
A SERIOUS DEFENSE
Boys CsUghi Iawperipg wIlh
 Nall Boxes usy SuIisr.

trouble on account of the misbehavior of the small boy. Mall boxes all over the city have been stripped of the cards on them which tells the time of clearing the box. On the outskirts of ] the city the greatest damage in this respect has been done and the warn ings and threats by the mall carriers have had no effect on the irrepress!- ble small boy for 1t is taken for granted he is the evil doer. In sev- eral parts of the town the mail boxes were removed, btu on account of the inconvenience done the public and the promises of those living near the To- cation of the boxes to keep an eye on them in the future, they were re- stored in some instances. For boy to be prosecuted for damaging any of Uncle Sans property may be seri- ous business and the local postal au- thorities are determined that 1t shall be stopped.
 | Another cause of much bother to the postal officials here is the large number of complaints about mail not being delivered. While the senders of this undelivered mall are essen- tially in fault the peculiar devices to which they resort to get their mall through is the principal cause.
 Cards with tinsel are not allowed in the mails, and to overcome this rule senders of such cards place them in transparent envelopes bearing only one cent stNmp. They think that by this means the government cannot object to the cards going through. The government does not object, but it refuses to carry mail that is insuffciently stamped. Any thing in closed envelope, transpar- ent or not, must have two cent stamp at least, and more if neces- sary. This morning Democrat re- porter was shown bunch of about | fifty cards, out of the mornings mail, all enclosed in transparent envelopes and every one of them having only one cent stamp. Quite a number of them were written in French and des- tined for parts in Canada which they will never reach, unless they are re- covered from the postoffice dead let ter bag, and sufficiently stamped to go through.
 One was bound for Oakville but 1t will never get there in all probabil- ity unless the person addressed pays three cents for 1t.
 The postoffice folks believ, that a lot of discrepancy in stamping en- velopes Is due to the mistaken ideas of children. The parents no doubt give the children sufficient money to buy the proper stamp, but the small boys palate gets ticklish for candy on the way to the drug store to buy the stamp and he no doubt invested one of the two cents in lollypop and bought a stamp for the other cent, | thinking no doubt that one cent stamp was sufficient.
 General Postmaster Meyer suggests in his daily bulletin as one means to get over these numerous sources of bother that the postmasters collabor- ate with the school authorities to | teach the school children the various differences in mail matter and stamps and how to mail and address letters properly, so 1t is likely that in this | respect something may be done soou in the schools.
 On next Thursday, October 1, the new rate for postage to Great Brit ain and Ireland goes into effect. This means that on and after that date mail that now costs a nickel between this country and Great Britain and 1 Ireland will cost only two cents Postal cards enclosed in all kinds of envelopes, transparent or not, come under that rule and in all other re- spects there is no change Parcel ] post rates remain the same as they are at present. The postofice people expect tremendous increase in first class mail matter between this coun- 1 try and the old country in conse- quence of this big reduction in the postage rate.