The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-10-13

Ibis q far from the truth. Es.r,
rear the pcstolfices OF the ccrnf.
handle millions OF letters thai 49,
not be delivered but the eovs,,-
ment does not sell any Of then
Every effort Is made to delI,..
each letter entrusted to theI nos,s,
service. II a letter cannot rssss
the person addressed, and the se,S
er's name and address are not n
the upper left hand corner n.
letter Is finally opened.
II money or enclosures Of y.,.s
gre found and any address is xivsn
In the letter the postotfice denart
ment forwards the letter and =,
contents. Money that cannot 4.
delivered goes to swell the govern.
ments revenues. Letters contais.
Jag no valuables or money ~.
burned without further attemnt :,
locating the persons concerned. a
there is never a dead letter nj.
literally speaking. The gove,,.
ment officially puts on the MARIE
articles accumulated in the diviS
sion OF dead letters" and most 81 /
these are parcel post matter.
Why Mail Goes Wroae.
Mail finds its way into the dead
letter office largely by the care.
lessness Of the public. Wronr a,
incomplete addresses are rivsn
The addressee has moved vithor,
leaving information as to hin nsr
location. Or again, the address a.
q package is rubbed of, or torn M
or otherwise obliterated in transi,
Addresses written in pencil are par. l.
ticularly apt to smudge beyond rec.
ignition in ordinary handli,,
While an address written in ink a
. postoffice desk and dropped into
the box unblotted may not only i. |
smeared into nothingness itses
but mail it touches may be 80 4. I
faced as to be unbelievable. Hun.
dreds Of people send OF mail di.
-rected to impossible addresses /
Sometimes they write the corres |
name and street number and than
absently add Local" or the name
of their own town instead of gfvinr
the city in which the addresses
lives.
All Of these accidents and any |
number of others may happen to 1 |
package or letter. That they do
happen is proved by the 1865, % |
letters and 1877, $50 packages of par.
Gel post matter that were opend |
in the dead letter service in the IN
fiscal year.
Time and again the postoffice d. !
partment has urged the public b|
address its mail carefully, plainly.
and in ink, and to write the mana
and address of the sender in thu
upper left hand corner so that mail
not deliverable can be returned
Yet packages and letters continus|
to go wrong because of a bad start
People who attend the dead Id.
ter sales are sometimes surprise
to find a relatively small propos.
ton OF valuable and attractive ar.|
ticles. The fact is, any one Who'll
mails an important package 10 aH|
to be fairly sure that the person
to whom It is sent will be At ths|
address to receive it. And, .oo|
consciously or unconsciously more
care is expended in fixing a valu-
I; able package for the mails. PACK.
ages OF value are apt to be furthe
protected against loss by insu.
ance or registry.
Sales are held in Is cities. NJ
ually twice a year. Genenlly
speaking the sale which follows
the Christmas season has in it more
goods Of interest to the casual buy.
er than q fall auction.
Around Christmas time packages
are sent out hurriedly tied IN NJ
trip across the continent. Mani
a Christmas gift is sent on a slim
chance that friend or rels.
tive may be at the last address;
and many more gifts are sent n
carelessly wrapped that the paper
falls on. or so recklessly addressed
that even postoffice experts never
succeed in DECIDING the sender's
directions for delivery. Thers
were 275,829 valuable articles found
loose in the mails due to insecure
wrapping last year.
\ This is general statement d
fact regarding Christmas mail
that winds up at government aut'
, ton. 1t might also be taken as !
warning: Christmas is coming and
the dead letter office will get youl
) hastily mailed packages-if yo'
don't watch out.