The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1914-07-08
THE DEAD LETTER
OFFICE DOOMED
Peculiar Postal Institution Is
Ninety Years Old.
PASSING OUT OF EXISTENCE

GLIDING Childish Missives Addressed
to Santa Claus.
The march Of progress has singled
out for its victim another of Washing.
tons peculiar institutions. The old
dead letter Office" long the goal Of
children's innocent missives addressed
to Santa Claus, or of the illcgible letter
address Of an illiterate foreigner. Is
gradually but surely passing out of
existence. says the Washington Post.
Since last year the number Of elm.
plOyees In the dead letter Office has
been reduced more than half Then
there were $50 employees; now there
are about eighty
Five reasons are assigned for the dis
mantlement of the dead letter office.
First. the establishment Of the parcels
post system. not more than year
old. which has diverted n large volume
Of the former parcel business done in
the dead letter office. The business
once handled In Washington has been
turned over to the several postoffices
at division railway ccnters.
Machines Reduce Work.
Second. letters from foreign countries
have Ucen diverted to the postofiice
exchange agencies at the ports Of en-
try of this country. Then there are
two mammoth machines, which stand
for efficiency and can cut 6,000 letters
an hour when formerly the work had
to be done by hand.
There is similar machine for seal
ing the letters once opened. identified
and returned
Last. but not least. the increased eff
ficiency of trained readers and deciph-
erers of the queer letters that come to
the office from everywhere has devel-
oped capacity for production that
can crowd out the lesser and per-
haps more superannuated clerk
In connection with the dismissal of
official defended the departments
stand. He said: There has been a
great hue and cry against dismissals
from the postolfice department. In our
division. although these disnissals
have been frequent, can say that we
did everything in our power 10 find
work for the employees ousted We
have referred them to the several
branches of the service where work
was to be had, and when they did not
want to accept work outside of the
city we have found it necessary to
drop them. retaining only those who
were the more efficient workers.
"There may be false notion III the
popular mind as to the function of our
so called dead letter office The
world believes we concern ourselves
with the difficult manuscripts that are
written by illlterates and by wee chill
dren. who write undecipherabie adj
dresses. They think our STAFF has
nothing to do but develop expcrtness
in reading that which no mortal can
read. Such is not the case
Duties Of the Department.
I'VE have no longer the dead letter
office of fifteen years ago. We nave
evolved and are now an efficient MA
chine. To us come the unclaimed let
tiers. misdirected letters. unaddressed
letters or letters to fraudulent con
Germs. as well as letters bearing pro.
hiblted mail. such as lotteries and the
like. We are not working to decipher
the illegible All that is now l,f; to
the railway mail service. an organiza-
ton with fifteen branch offices. which
hires expert readers.
I'VE handle at least $4,000 pieces OF
mail day. and each of our eighty en-
ployees returns 500 letters day. or
total Of 10000 day.
THE dead letter Office of fifteen
years ago represented similar output
of return mail Of about 80 pieces of
mail Il day for each employee. and
they employed twice the number OF
clerks We now carry.
There has been some talk. 1t Is true
of consolidating the division OF dead
letters with another division. II is
certain they cannot do away with the
work altogether Whether this consol
idation will take place | cannot say
The dead letter Office was establish
ed almost ninety years ago and is one
Of Washington's oldest and most wide.
ly celebrated institutions 1t was es.
tablished. as far as is known. in 1925.
when 1t was Installed in the building
now the general hand office.
Costs IS to Swear at Uncle Sam.
Guerdon Corwith. writer, walked