The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-01-04
The Post Office and the Missing Man
BY FREDERICK ). HASKIN

WASHINGTON, D. c., Jan. 4.-Will
Hays plan to help locate missing per
sons has resulted so far in large
amount of correspondence for the post
office department, some reunited fam
lilies, and few puzzled postmasters
who have searched the postal regula-
lions in vain for instructions showing
how to proceed in search tor missing
relatives.
Mr.. Hays has no idea, it seems, OF
turning the post office department IN
to a complete detective agency. 1t
merely occurred to him one day that
it was rather cold-blooded to turn
down by form letter requests for help
in locating lost husbands and wan
dering sons.
Pleas for help in such cases have
always come to the government. Many
people seem to think that the post
office department has huge alpha
betical file of all the persons in the
United States. AS a matter of fact it
has no such list. Nor have the local
post offices any card catalogues of the
| populations they serve. The only ref
erence list to which a postmaster can
refer in delivering mail to persons
whose address is unknown is the city
/ direCtory-the same book that is avail
/ able to the public in drug stores,
| Libraries and hotels all over the city.
! Incidentally, there is also a popular
( belief that the census bureau has an
I alphabetical list of the population, and
| as a result the bureau receives a large
/ number of requests for addresses OF
missing persons. The census bureau,
! of course, has no way of giving these
| persons any satisfaction. The records
| taken by the bureau enumerators are
/ positively confidential.
The state department is a third
government Office that has often been
asked to help locate the missing, espe-
cially by foreigners. The state depart
ment almost never tries to trace
persons in this country. Where for
eigners are searching for lost relatives
they are generally referred to thelr
consuls in this country.
So. lin the past, seekers for missing
relatives have received scant help
from the government Mr.. Hays con-
/ sidered the rule which says that post
masters may not give out information
concerning the names and addresses
VI peISOuS uSlllS Tic mans. IIC iCS
ognized that the rule is wise in that
it insures to persons using the mails
protection against annoyance. Thai
was the purpose of the regulation and
y. the postmaster general had no desire
to change it. Everyone who entrusts
letters to the United States mails is
assured that employees are not allowed
l TO tamper with them, and the regula
ton is safeguarded by heavy penalties
But if relatives who were separated
by accident could be brought together
without violating the spirit of the rul
ing, Mr. Hays decided that the service
rendered would be valuable to The
public.
Mr.. Hays plan is simple. Those
who are eager to locate missing rela
tives go to their local postmaster il
person and consult with him, giving
such facts as the last city where the
!. missing man or woman lived, name
description, and why it is desired t.
get in touch with him or her.
This last is especially important. 1
is the main reason why the seeker
is urged to go direct to the postmaster
instead of writing a letter. The pos
office department has no intention 0