Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1910-07-20


tel address were given.
Another Common Mistake.
Another common error IS 70 glse
the CITY wrong with the correct street
address. Several Wisconsin clties
have state streets and Washington
streets. If a letter addressed to State
street. this city, proves to be wrongly
addressed, it usually is sent to the
nearest place with a street OF the
same name. At the local postofnce
directory is kept of all the large cities
ard when letter is found Which
cannot be delivered here, the NIKE
clerks apply their wits and usually
figure it out.
mistakes are most frequent in
mail sent by foreigners. People with
an inaccurate knowledge of a lang
uage often spell phonetically and
when a letter is received, addressed
to a postoffice which has no existence,
the nike clerk often is able TO guess
by merely pronouncing aloud what IS
written and then finding the nearest
equivalent to that in an existing post
L
There is a great deal of work in
this connection of which the public
las no conception. Suppose letter
is received here marked to be delivs
cred to a location in State street that
does not exist. The mike clerk does
not take a chance and SEND the letter.
He sends a card to the postmaster.
The card reads: Can you deliver
mail to Mr. Blank, No. SO and So
State street," If the answer comes
back yes, then the letter is forwarded.
otherwise the mixes 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 adj
dress it goes back otherwise it is
held at the point of deposit for 30
days. If the letter received has only
a Madison address and the person is
not known, it goes to the general de
Yery. If the address is unintell1g1ble
or impossible, the letter goes to the
dead letter office Thus 1t is that
V henever there is a complaint of
letter lost the inquiry passes through
all the departments.
But 1t 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 amount the number
of letters that do not reach their des
tination is almost a negligible guam
tity, thanks to the mike 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
ed of it. So the department is look
ing for something that will serve the
purpose
Two things will be cone, and orders
putting them Il force may be expect
ed at any time. One will be a 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
nike 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 De treated as a new
letter, on which additional postage
must be paid. This viii eliminate a
tremendous expense, and these two
are expected to go far toward eIimin-
atipg the postal deficit