The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-10-26
800 CHANGES IN
P. 0. DIRECTORY
EVERY DAY SEES RIc LIST or
CHANGES IN THE PosToFFlcE
DIRECTORY OF FARGO POST
oFFIcE-TRou5LEs WITH THE
FOREIGN MAIL HERE.

Postofice clerks and especially those
in charge of the card directory kept
at the Fargo Office are called upon tc
decifer very difficult names and ad
dresses often. One not familiar with
the history work at the ONCE does
not realize how difficult the work OF
the clerks is. Almost every day they
are called upon to translate the name
OF some patron of the local office which
Is written In q foreign language. III
they are not familiar with the Ian
guage in which the name and address
are written they can almost always
name some person who LIS familiar with
the language and can make tranSla-
tion.
Quite a large quantity of mali from
foreign lands is received at the local
| Office every week. This mail occa-
sions the clerks TO great deal Of
trouble often times and is delayed In
delivery some times. 1t ia seldom that
piece Of mail Is delayed in delivery
more than a few hours.
The directory at the postofice is re-
vised daily by an average of 800
of the city. In this manner the clerks
are better posted on where the people
Of Fargo live than a person would be
If he knew the city directory by heart.
Many OF the letters from foreign
countries are forwarded several times
from the point of the original address
before they finally reach the party to
whom addressed.
Thursday morning letter arrived
addressed to an Italian patron OF the
Fargo office which had been forward
ed several times. The names was writ
ten in the native language and the
letter was originally directed to Chi
cago, forwarded to Louisville, St. Louis,
Cincinnati and then to Fargo A
street address was given for each city
except Fargo.
Upon it's arrival in Fargo the let |
ter was addressed in care of "Enpee |
Rr.," and was delivered to the forman |
of the section gang on the N. P. rail- |
road who soon located the man to
whom 1t was addressed.
A letter mailed in Fargo the first |
Of the week bore the following ad- |
dress: John Williams. WILLIAMSON, |
TO-" The directory clerk was not long |
In determining that the letter should |
go to Tennessee.
Only a few days ago letter was re-
ceived at the local Office on which the
word "Hill' was written. Under this
was drawn a heavy line and the let
.ers "Jno." were written. The mfssive
was delivered to John Underhill-
These are but a few examples of the
puzzles which the clerks must work
1ut, If possible. II they are unable to
deliver the piece of mail matter, is is
forwarded to the dead letter office at
Almost all foreign scribes write a
yery fine hand and it is some times
to use a magnifying glass
o make out the letters. The style and
dzs of the envelopes are different from
what they are here.
All the letters that are sent to
North Dakota without the name of a
own on them are sent to Fargo. This
s the clearing house for the townless
etters. At the local postoffice there
3 a directory giving the name Of every
treet in every city in the United
states and where there is a town not
,iven, but a street named on the en-
-elope, the epistle Is sent to all the
owns In the country having streets
With the same name as the one on the
etter. If North Dakota Is mentioned
n the address, 1t Is first sent to the
owns in this state.