Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1910-07-14
the next train unless street or no
tel address were given.
Another Common Mistake.

Another Common Mistake.
Another common error is to give
the city wrong with the correct street
Several Wise onsin cities
have state streets and Washington
streets. If letter addressed to State
street, this city, proves to be wrongly
it usually is sent to the
nearest place with street of the
same name. At the local postofice a
directory is kept of all the large cities
End when letter is found which
cannot be delivered here, the mike
clerks apply their wits and usually
figure it out.
Mistakes are most frequent in
mail sent by foreigners. People with
an inaccurate knowledge OF lang
uage often spell phonetically and
when a letter is received, addressed
to a postoffice which has no existence,
the mike clerk often is able TO guess
by merely pronCuncing aloud what Is
written and then finding the nearest
equivalent to that in an existing post
office. This is done every day.
There is great deal of work in
this connection of which the public
has no conception. Suppose letter
is received here marked to be deliv'
cred to location in State street that
does not exist. The nike clerk does
not take chance and send the letter,
He sends card to the postmaster.
Tho rd S(N,p
mail to Mr.. Blank, No. SO and So,
State street," If the answer comes
back yes, then the letter is forwarded,
otherwise the mikes keep on looking
UP State streets.
Sometime mali fails to be delivered
because it may not bear a stamp.
When such letter has a return ad-
dress it goes back, otherwise it is
held at the point of deposit for 80
days. II the letter received has only
Madison address and the person is
not known, it goes to the general de-
livery. If the address is unintelllgible
or impossible, the letter goes to the
dead letter office. Thus it is that
whenever there is complaint of a
letter lost the inquiry passes through
all the departments.
But It Costs Money.
Madison receives more than $4,000
pieces of first-class mail daily and
forwards as great or a greater amount
Out of this vast amo3nt the number
of letters that do not reach their des
tination is almost negligible yuan
tity, thanks to the NIKE clerk.
Just what it amounts to, no one
can tell except the statisticians of the
department at Washington. 1t must be
something tremendous. Postmaster
Davis of Pittsburg, recently told the
P1ttsburg Association of Credit Men
that it cost the Pittsburg Office $751;
600 annually to supply deficiencies
and Postmaster Keyes of Madison es-
Inmates the local cost at not little
each year.
This is one item that goes to make
up the tremendous postal deficit, and
it was to minimize this deficit that
the department recently advanced the
registration fee from eight to 10
cents. AS the chief effect of this was
to increase the Number of insured
letters, with a consequent decrease of
registered letters, the plan is not
yielding the revenue that was expect
Ell Of it. So the department is look
ing for something that will serve the
purpose
Two things will be done, and orders
putting them in force may be expect
ed at any time. One will be ruling
that letters which lack specific street
addresses Or an indication that they
are to go to the general delivery will
be returned to the sender if they bear
return cards, and will be sent to the
dead letter Office If they do not. This
will do away with the salaries of the
liXie clerks.
The other will be that letter may
be forwarded once, free, On a change
OF address, but if it is to be refor-
warded. it will be treated AS 2 new
letter, on which additional postage
must be paid. This will eliminate a
tremendous expense, and these two
are expected to go far toward elimin-
9tinp the nocfaI deficit