El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-11-14
Why Letters Go Astray
Chief Clerk of Dead Letter office
Says Fault Is With the Writer'S;
Some Little Interviews.

y HARLES L. PARKER, chief clerk
of the dead letter office, in Wash
- ington, was a visitor to FL Paso
for a few hours, and while waiting
for the Golden state limited, remarked
that he was a cowboy some 25 years
ago in New Mexico and Texas and was
with Roosevelt in Cuba. After it was
all over and Roosevelt became the ma
tons chief executive, he appointed
Parker to a position in the dead let
ter office. Although he had never
been a coroner or worked in an under
takers shop, he seemed to make good
and was several times promoted until
he attained his present position.
THE city of FL Paso is great
transient city on account of thousands
of tourists stopping over on their way
to the coast and return" said Mr..
Parker, for that reason letters may
reform on the part Of writer's of let
ters and postals. The pOstoffice de-
partment asks that the name of the
person to whom the letter is intended
be written out and spelled properly
and that the name of the state be
written out in full and not abbreviated
Don't write an address at the cor
ner of blank and blank streets. That
corner may be the stopping point OF
one carriers route and the letter
might be given to him. Another car
rier'S route may end across the street
and the letter should have been given
to him The carrier that gets the let
ter first has to take it back to the Of
flee and a delay of one day occurs to
the recipient. Giving the proper street
number and not naming the inter-
Secting streets is the proper way of
addressing letters or cards PostOf-
flee officials have been called Junk
heads because they send back letters
to the writer's. when they are merely
addressed Chicago and the name OF
the state is not given Any rummy
would know that the letter was in
tended for Chicago, Ill, the big town
on the lake said writer
TnS regulations for the guidance
of clerks and carriers and other port
office officials do not recognize the
mistakes Of the writer as making II
duty to send every letter to Chicago
Ill. or every letter addressed TO New
York to New York City, as il should
be addressed. There are more than p
cities and towns in the country named
Chicago and a. large number of New
Yorks. All the pOstOffice department
asks Is to have your name printed on
the stationery you use, with your ad-
dress, as wei as on the envelope 1t
viii always bring back mail that goes
to the dead letter office"
whisky is bad medicine in ET PasO
far worse than in most places SAID
can't hit the booze here. Something
about it that makes people crazy. 1t
doesn't seem that the altitude or at
mOspheric conditions would have that
effect but delirium tremens come more
quickly here than any place I know
Of His remarks were prompted BY
the antics Of a crazy Mexican woman
in the city jail. not regularly insane,
but well along in the tremens. we
have lots of them like that" he said.
This rain is fine: it would be finer
II only We had more of it." said s. =.
Kramer, of Phoenix, here for q few
days on a business trip. He referred
dampened the streets and cooled the
atmosphere Thursday evening. I un-
derstand that you people in FL PasO
have had little rain for months, and
even light dOwnDOUr must be vel
come. In Arizona the rainfall since
last winter has been so little as to
be almost negligible The Salt River
valley is thriving wonderfully. 1t has
Were it not for the stored water in
the reservoir the valley would have
suffered terribly from drought long
before now The Elephant Butte dam
will create a similar crop insurance
for the lands under that great pro-
ject"
'I wish a thousand FL Pasoans had
gone to the Phoenix fair instead of
So" said A. E Ryan, VINO stayed two
days longer than the other FL PasOans
and then tried to miss his train the
last day, so he could have an excuse
70 stay another day away from his
business. I never saw such a live
bunch of people and such live town
in all my life" he continued. 1T was
just like New York in the Adams
hotel. They tangOed every night in
the dining room. between the tables,
and ate and drank until long after
midnight. The best people OF Arizona
were there and they had great time.
The last night of the fair, people paid
81 a head to get into the dining room
and participate in the fun. Phoenix
is the livest town for its size that L
ever saw"