The Topeka state journal., 1922-10-09
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC ). HAsKIN. Direoeor.
washington, d. q.
THE DEAD LETTER SALE.


in this city. A local auction house
was crowded to the doors few days
ago when the government put UP at
auction an accumulation of several
months unclaimed and unavailable
parcel post matter.
Some people have an idea that n
dead letter sale is conducted along
lottery lines. A glimpse into the auc-
ton room would bear out this impress
sion- No goods are in sight. The auc-
tfoneer. high above the crowd is rat
Ting off as fast as he can:
Lot number twelve-at five dol
lars. at five dollars, six dollars, at
seven dollars, yours for seven dollars,
Mr.. Brown"
Then. without a pause for breath.
the auctioneer is reeling off the next
number and calling for bids. The
bidders in the crowd are closely fol-
, lowing the sale by their catalogs, but
these give only the most general de-
scription of each lot of goods Ap-
parently they are buying in the dark.
This is not the case, however. Tne
day before the sale the articles to be
sold were on display. Long rows of
packing boxes with aisles between
| them ranged the length of the auction
room. Each box contained one lot
of goods. Scarcely any articles are
disposed of singly at these sales when
a large amount of goods is to be auc-
toned.
| One great wooden box labeled:
Cigars. cigarets tobacco, and snuff
was filled to the brim with cigar
boxes, packages of cigarettes, loose.
silver wrapped cigars, tobacco bags,
| and cans. In each of three boxes
there were ten to twelve suitcases.
| The cases had probably been mailed
packed with articles and had missed
delivery by wrong or insufficient ad-
dress. Now they were being sold
empty. Most of them were old and
| travel worn.
'tTen mems suits. damaged" filled
another box. Others contained such
damaged" "Gof outfit clubs, case,
balls, etc.; Fifty pairs eyeglasses,
damaged; and 400 miscellaneous
handkerchiefs."
Comparatively few persons would
care to buy 400 handkerchiefs for per-
| say ten dollars. Such foresightedness
would be extreme. Housewives were
poking around among the boxes, how
ever. scenting out desirable collections
of kitchenware, Blankets and ribbons.
Merchants Inspect Goods.
| Many visitors wandered around the
show. room merely thru curiosity.
The majority of persons inspecting the
stock with businesslike thoroness were
dealers. Here and there a man could
| be seen diving into box and holding
up a pair of trousers or a ratty looking
fur piece to inspect it with an ex-
| perienced eye. The entire contents
of the box would be subjected to close
scrutiny, after which the shrewd
dealer would mark on his catalog the
limit that he would bid on that par
ticular lot.
Hundreds of people passed thru the
auction room selecting bargains to be
1 nXf
opened in the morning, therefore, it
proceeded with a snap. The 235
boxed lots of more or less bulky mer-
chandise, twenty-five lots of tires, and
sixty-six lots of iewelry and small
articles sold in three hours. The bid
der who did not signal his raise the
instant the last price was named found
himself out of the competition.
This is a description of more or
less typical dead letter sale. It is
given in some detail because Few
persons outside of the cities where the
sales are held have an opportunity to
attend these interesting government
functions.
| There is no little misunderstanding
regarding the so-called dead letter
sales. This name has become popu-
larly attached to them because all
unbelievable mail is handled by a
Division OF Dead Letters, and this d.
vision conducts the sales. The term
dead letter sale is misleading, tho,
because it suggests that undelivered
letters are put up for the public to
| buy, and this is far from the truth.
Every year-the postoffices of the coun-
try handle millions of letters that
cannot be delivered but the govern
ment does not sell any of them.
| Every effort is made to deliver each
letter entrusted the postal service.
If a letter cannot reach the person ad-
dressed, and the sender's name and
address are not in the upper left hand
corner, the letter is finally opened.
If money or enclosures of value are
found and any address is given in the
letter the postoffice department for
| wards the letter and its contents.
| Money that cannot be delivered goes
to swell the governments revenues.
Letters containing no valuables or
| money are burned without further at
tempt at locating the persons con-
cerned. So there is never a dead let
ter sale literally speaking. The gov
ernment officially puts on the market
articles accumulated in the division
of dead letters" and most of these
are parcel post matter.
Why Mail Goes Wrong.
Mail finds it's way into the dead
letter office largely by the carelessness
! of the public. Wrong or incomplete
addresses are given. The addressee
has moved without leaving informa-
ton as to his new location. Or again.
the address on a package is rubbed
off, or torn off, or otherwise obliter-
ated in transit. Addresses written in
pencil are particularly apt to smudge
beyond recognition in ordinary hand
ling. While an address written in
ink at a postoffice desk and dropped
into the box unblotted may not only
| be smeared into nothingness itself but
mail it touches may be so defaced as
to be unbelievable. Hundreds of peo-
pie send off mail directed to impossi-
BILE addresses. Sometimes they write
the correct name and street number
and then absently add Local. or the
name of their own town instead OF
giving the city in which the addressee
i lives.
All of these accidents and any num-
ber of others may happen to a pack
age or letter. That they do happen
is proved by the 1.6s3,259 letters and