The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1909-12-10

Although this unique sale takes place at the
national capital, the purchasers are by no
means limited to persons residing or visiting
at the seat Of government. The postoffce de-
partment issues thousands of catalogues-this
years catalogue is a book of 235 pages-of it's
novel sacrifice sale, and these are mailed to all
parts of the United States upon request. So
many Out-of-town residents desire to bid for
the articles put up for sale that there has of
late years developed a distinct field of activ-
iy in Washington for "brokers'' who act on
behalf of absent clients in bidding on designat
ed articles as per the instructions sent them.
No person who has not attended one of
these quaint sales can have an adequate con-
ception Of the number and bewildering variety
of the articles which are annually lost in the
mails with no clew to the owners. For, be it
explained, only a fraction of the total number
of articles that go astray in the mails ultimate
ly find their way to this picturesque clearance
sale. The major portion of the waits of the
mails that are consigned to the Dead Letter
office because Of lack or absence of address or
any other cause ultimately find their way to
their rightful owners, thanks to the exception
al discernment of the blind readers and 9TH
er tracers of lost letters in this branch of the
postal institution. 1t is only the letters and
parcels that are absolutely battling in their
lack of means. of Identification, that have a
chance OF finding their way into the stock of
the Christmas bargain sale.
Even at that there is a further sitting of
these unidentified postal victims for after the
experts of the Dead Letter office are forced
to abandon hope of tracing the origin or in
tended destination of a strayed parcel, the
wait is held at the pOstOtiice department for a
year In the hope that the owner may on his
own initiative apply to the department for his
missing property and thus enable it's ~restora-
ton. When, finally, there seems to be no hope
of reading the riddle by this means, either, the
unclaimed parcel is consigned to the great an.
nual auction sale.
It is a Woeful commentary on the proportion
of our citizens who evidently do not know how
to take the first step to trace articles lost in
the mails that this annual postal sale contains
thousands upon thousands of articles. There
are upward of 1000 different "lots." In a few
instances a "lot" consists of a single article,
but as a rule, each item comprises from six to
twelve separate articles, which are thus
grouped because of similarity of character or
for some other reason. Many of the unclaimed
articles are of such small value, Individually,
that the thought might suggest itself that the
losers had not considered it worth while to
trace them, but on the other hand there
are hundred of really valuable articles inclu-
ding numbers of diamond rings, gold and sill
yer watches and other pieces of jewelry.
To some readers the question may naturally
present itself of why this sale is held each
year just at Christmas time. The reason ad-
vanced by the prosaic postofice department is
hat it is the natural time for a clearance sale
since it is the season when the work of the
calendar year is being brought to a close and
obviously it is desirable to clear out the ca
pacious store rooms at the postal headquarters