The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-09-30
BAD ADDRESSES
SEND MAIL ASTRAY
Importers and Exporters
Are Among Frequent
Offenders

WAsitNGTON Sept %. Large
manufacturing and exporting ffrms
and oven specialists In commercial
efficiency have been found by tho
department OF commerce 10 be the
most frequent offenders IN caro-
lcsgly addressing their foreign mail
Tho department OF commerce.
aays o. statement from secretary
HoovCr's office. "as well ns tho post
office department. frequently re-
,clvca complaints ot uundclIvery or
slow delivery Of catalogs and other
printed matter In the foreign malls
In investigating recent cases OF this
Kind the question arose as 10
whether faulty addresses were not
~ coutributory cause Of the trouble
a superficial examination OF GER
tain mail matter seemed 10 support
such view. and the cooperation
Of the posioffioc department was
sought IN an investigation of the
way I'm which printed matter was
directed.
Tremendous Volume.
"a formal request from the dc.
partmcnt of commerce resulted IN
careful survey Of the printed mat
ter passing through the outgoing
section of tho foreign mail station
IN the New York postoffice. The
average daily volume handled In
that Rcction amounts to over thirty
thousand pieces, destined FOR al
most every country IN the world.
"Thc survey proved the frequent
occurrence on printed matter OF ad-
dresses no onrolossly written as to
be absolutely illoEible. There are
two serious features OF the situa-
tlon. ono is that tho most frequent
offenders are not the small bust
ness cornoss, but the large COM
mcrClal and exporting corporations
and even the specialists In CONNER
cial efficiency. Tho second is that
some automatic addressing ma
chimes seem to he so Cnrelessly op-
Grated that the resulting printed
addresses are almost IL not entirely
illegiblc."
II was made plain by officials
that this statement was not intend
ed as a criticism of addressing ma
chimes, or an argument against
their employment.
Machines Badly Operated.
Machines of many types have
been In service all over the coun-
try for many years and for every
Kind of addressing and recording
tho department said. Their ef-
ficienCy and economy are beyond
question. They are not proof against
careless handling, however, and,
/ like every other mechanical device,
require n certain amount of care
on the part of the operator In or.
der 10 do absolutely reliable work"
Discussing cases OF 'puro neg
| leCt," the department stated:
"a mail package addressed to
city MS large as Frankturt-on the
Main, without any more detailed di-
| rection. is surely destined sto delay.
and one addressed to cuba, jana.
| lea, Haiti, Azores. or Brazil IL for
| tunatV II II ever gets on the right
/ route.
Tho practice Of splitting the
name of n country into two lines or
| using nm abbreviation that Is not
generally employed viii invariably
make trouble. II is we'll to consider
| that defective addresses are much
more serious I'm foreign mails than
| In domestic service, since in many
foreign countries postal employees
are poorly paid and much over
worked. In times OF mail conges-
tion additional help is rarely avail
able, and an address In foreign
language ia sufficiently difficult to
decipher without adding unusual
marks. arbitrary abbreVlatlons OF
careless directions"