Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1910-01-12

Annual Sale of Undclivcrcd Articles
from Dead letter Division.

the day, and that what is more, he
advertises that he is gambler and
does not care what the 90,OOO,OO0
people in the United States think
about 1t. 1t Is true, however, that
he goes into the game but once Il
year, then generally adds a clear
$4,000 or more to the credit of the
post Office department.
The recent annual sale Of undeIlv-
cred articles for the division of dead
letters of this department disposed Of
1888 sales parcels, described in the
printed catalogue furnished bidders,
and aggregating O.555.20, or an
average price of $1.35 for each par
eel. AS compared with a similar sale
here in December, 1908, at which
S,7S4 parcels were sold for SILL
372.75. the average price obtained is
an increase of approximately cents
per catalogue item over that of the
preceding year.
The interest of the general public
in sales Of this character, which have
always been extremely popular, ap-
pears to Increase from year to year.
1t was found necessary at the recent
auction to obtain detail OF police
men to prevent over-crowding of the
room in such manner as to permit
the proper disposition Of articles sold
and prevent injury to people in at
tendance.
Comment has frequently been
made on the element OF chance. Of
alleged lottery feature, Of sales Of
this character, which doubtless makes
them attractive to persons Of specu-
latire temperament, but as distin-
guished from lottery or gift enter
prise, bidder in this instance always
gets something, though it frequently
happens that his purchase falls far
short OF the price he has paid for it,
the parcel containing some little trim
ket Of a few cents value.
The clerks Of the department as
signed to the work Of preparing and
cataloguing unclaimed articles found
in the mails for disposition by auc-
ton are selected because of their SUD-
posed knowledge of the values of mis-
cellaneous merchandise, but it would
be difficult to find an appraiser with
an exact knowledge OF the value of
all the several articles lost in the
mails.
The chance that clerk has not
fully appreciated the value of a bit
OF lace, pidce OF embroidery, or an
article OF jewelry, sent as a gift and
lost in transit, IS ever present with
the bidder at such time, and the
occasional finding OF something
worth more than the description in
the catalogue is what doubtless at
tracts the crowd-the gambling in
stinct.
While 1t is true that merchandise
sent as a gift is usually selected, and
consequently Of considerable intrinsic
value, II IS evident from an examina-
ton Of the parcels offered that a very
large percentage Of the enclosures
consist Of articles lost from parcels
posted by large mail order houses, or
which have been sent as premiums by
firms engaged in selling cheap jewel
ry and miscellaneous articles. In
other words, it is the hope of obtain
ing the gift parcel that invites the
bidder.
SO long as the department is fore.
ed by reason of the operation of the
present statute to dispose of un-
claimed merchandise in this manner.
there will remain the alleged objec-
honable lottery feature in these sales.
In these sales many purchasers
lose sight of the fact that were the
articles sold to be Of any value they
would have been registered to insure
their safe delivery, and that for this
reason they must necessarily be of
llttie value. On the other hand, the
government knows that at each of
these sales thousands OF dollars will
be realized from articles that sbould
thcy be exhibited in any store, would
hardly be worth wrapping up and
carrying home, much less spending.
IN some cases, many hard-earned dol
lars for them. 1t is a safe bet and
sure gain for Uncle Sam.
Ml tintr RnyulInl L., ltnuI