The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1925-06-02
MANY POSTOFFICE
PATRONS CARELESS
NATIONWIDE CAMPAIGN BE-
ING CONDUCTED THIS WEEK
FOR BETTER MAILING.
UNCLE SAM HAS INDIGESTION
system Clogged With Unbelievable
Mail, Dead Letters Alone Number
ing 10000, 900. Orphaned Packages
Also Numerous. Cost Is Huge.

With a view to reducing the large
and needless waste occasioned by
careless addressing of mail the federal
government is directing an intensive
educational compaign this week to
correct mailing practices.
While it is generally accepted that
This is not the age of miracles, never
theless there are thousands OF patrons
Of the United States mails who take
il for granted that Uncle Sam has
wonder-workers on his pay roll.
The very fact that there are wiz
ards in the employ of the postoffice
denartment-men and women who are
uncanny, to say the least, in decipher-
ing illegible hand writing-has caused
no end of trouble and expense to the
government as we'll as to the tax
0ayer along with Inconvenience in
the receipt and delivery of mail mat
ter 80
Yet, with all this expert handling
and careful study of hand writing on
the part of the postal clerks the an
nual revenue from dead mail matter
received by the government amounts
to approximately $300,000
Big Figures Tell Story.
Last year the dead letter office re-
ceived $4,000 from the sale OF or
phaned packages which could neither
be forwarded to the addressee nor re-
turned to the senders because OF in
ADEQUATE addresses. The same office
turned into the United States treas
ury S55,523.96 in cash removed from
misdirected letters or found loose IN
the mails.
Postage stamps were taken from let
ters or found loose in the mails hav-
ing value of $l2, 1857, almost
double the entire revenue of the pos
tai service in 1889.
Tbree-cent fees collected for the re-
turn TO senders Of letters which could
not be delivered totaled $92, OOIo4.
But this is not half the story.
Checks, drafts and money orders,
whose owners could not be located
and amounting to $3.50, 542.54 finally
found a resting place in the dead letter
Office.
For want of correct or complete ad-
dresses 21,000,000 letters were depos-
tied in the dead letter office, not to
speak of 100000 parcels winch had
been improperly addressed or wrapp-
ed =,
Strange to say, this deposlting OF
letters and packages in the mails with
incomplete, inadequate or incorrect ad-
dresses and wrapping comes, IN large
majority of cases, from those patrons
who are the most liberal contributors
to this branch of the government.
1t has been estimated by postal OIL
hcials that 200,000,000 pieces OF mail
are given directory service" every
year, which means that employees must
take time from the regular handing
and dispatching of mail in the endeaV-
or to provide correct addresses Tor
this huge volume of misdirected mat
ter In New York city alone the cost
OF this service approximates $oOO eV..
cry day in the year and the total
amount through the country IS stu
pendous.
While the revenue from the dead
letter Office is sufficient to keep that
branch of the postal service junction
ing it is not nearly enough to pay the
annual toll for support OF the NIKE.
Mikes" jam Mail.
A mike" is a letter or parcel SO
improperly addressed that it can Meth
er be delivered to the addressee nor
returned to the sender without special
treatment. This special treatment
costs the postofice department, or the
taxpayer in the final analysis, approx
imately $1,740,000 every year.
In order to lift this tremendous
\ burden from the shoulders OF the post
Office department and on the pocket
book of the American people the hrst
week in June has been set ASIDE by
Postmaster General New as Better
Mailing Week. An active, nation
wide campaign will be conducted Dur
ing that period for the purpose OF I'M
pressing on the mailer the necessity
from every viewpoint of using more
care in the addressing of his mail, not