Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1914-08-28
many PARCELS LOST
Wonderful Collection in the. Dead
Letter Office.
u includes Everything From Bibles to
eassoons Sent to Wrong A.
dress-Packaees Stamped un-
I'll Paper Wore Out.


the postofice department can make
within q year from the mail that cant
be delivered because Of bad addresses.
Through the benevolent agency OF the
parcel post the department has this
year exceeded all records, and Upon
the shelves Of the historic dead letter
office are series Of packages contain
ing everything from Bibles to bassoons.
All Of these articles were sent to
the wrong address Their original pack.
ages were stamped and restamped,
until the paper was worn out, with
such announcements as Not at that
address, try SO and So" and Try the
next county" I'd
In fact, there are more suggestions
as to different things to try than you
would find in the office OF patent
medicine vendor. For the sake OF con-
venience. the officials OF the dead let
ter office have Jumped certain articles
together in large packages. Thus one
passes a package of handkerchiefs and
runs into bright young assortment
of brass castings Or. turning from
a particularly melancholy collection
of books, he runs smack into collec-
ton OF toys that might have come
right out of the bag Of Santa Claus.
Think Of the Joy Of King Solomon
or good old Brigham Young il they
had lived in these days and times and
had given to them the contents Of the
dead letter Office. There is a sim
gle package that contains PAL women's
aprons, with 81 assorted garments,
which the gay young flappers Of these
parlous times consider obsolete.
Then. there are 176 pairs Of hose
bundled together.
Even the most pessimistic sufferer
from hay fever cheers up when he
goes by the handkerchief department
OF the dead letter office. There is
single bundle OF 1,149 initiated and un-
initiated handkerchiefs reposing near
him, which is about the number that
a hay fever patient uses during r.
hour day.
II the postofiice department decid-
ed to give away its toys 1t could pre-
sent one-and probably more-to ev-
cry boy and girl in the city OF Wash
ington. They are in abundance. They
are everywhere-dolls and elephants,
and little carts and dishes, and all
the other things that are reminiscent
of Christmas time. ,@#
Sixty-two aviators in the United
States are wondering where those
aviation caps are that they were told
about In letter, but which they new
er received. The caps are in the
dead letter Office with some automo-
bile hoods.
1t is astonishing how many motor
cyclists must have broken down In
the road and written for help during
the last year. In the dead letter Of
fee there repose four speedometers,
II tires. 20 pairs Of goggles and 1876
parts of machinery-the kind of fur
niture which one always finds around
the greasy and perspiring man who
has stopped his machine 20 miles
from anywhere on hot Sunday after
noon. .-
And the dead letter Office must
ring at night with the disappointed
cries of many fishermen. 1t has re-
ceiyed 1892 fish hooks and sos pieces
of fishing tackle. The only thing the
dead letter Office hasn't got is the
fisherman's alibi.
Yet the Office has done some good.
It corralled during the past year 573
miscellaneous musical instruments
and 6,s46 talking machine needles.
That meant that there are about 600
disappointed musicians in the United
States; but think Of the several hun
dred thousand persons who would
have had to listen to them If the In
struments had arrived safely. g..
From musical instruments to hair
switches Is nothing for the dead let
ter Office. They have SO switches of
hair and 81 accessories stored away.
This is nearly equal, in bulk, TO the
crop OF whiskers raised by the Popu-
list party in Kansas during the Bryan
campaign Of 1896.
A few other side lines in the dead
letter ofice are avis. bicycle tires,
shot-guns, horse blankets and picture
postal cards to the number Of about
10000. There are also brass castings
and parts whose aggregate weight Is
estimated at two and half tons.
UTILIZING WASTE COAL.