Evening star., 1926-02-21

| checks and commercial papers g.
similar importance were received b.
the Offices of the dead letter serVis@
last year.
Money found in dead letters a.
/ loose in the mails amounted TO Sill.
{ 1862, a decrease Of S12,290.67 fTOl.
the preceding year. a nd S64 JOG &c
/ this amount was restored to tn
I owners.
! Close to $4,000, 900 in money orders.
| checks, drafts, etc, were found it
dead letters. The nominal value rep
| resented an increase of more thai
! 100000 Cover the preceding year
| The amount derived from the sale
| of unclaimed merchandise parcel posi-
! was slT5.46I.s2, an increase of 500
1928 over the amount realized frors
/ the same source in 1924. Although
! the increase In the number of parcel
/ sold was less than ! per cent, the
/ amount realized was an inCrea sc o.
/ 46.5 per cent over the like receipts for
/ the previous wear. This was the re.
suit of the Introduction of improve
methods III conducting sales of un-
claimed matter.
! The total revenue derived from un-
/ delivered letters and parcels. includins
/ fees collected for letters returned and
postage stamps removed from letter.
I or found loose IN the mails amounted
10 1921 ,3lS.e4. which is an increase OF
S3s.l -. AZ over the revenue so realized
the previous year
\ glance at this resume which tend
10 show the extravaganza of careless
neSS-the usual reason for letters and
f! parcels going aStray-in using Uncle
! Sans postal service might serve as =
| source OF consolation TO those who
| nave some time or other been disap
pointed by the letter carrier"
Nho are the Senders of the millions
OF dead letters which yearly find thei,,
| way into the veyard'' of the Post
| Office Department"
Postmaster General New and his
suhordinates regard this information
strictly confidential. whenever the
! name of sender of an ill-fated epistle
| becomes known TO them. That is. so
Tar as the general public is concerned
! The secret however, is confided
TO the sender OF an improperly a1
dressed letter, if the experts Of the
| uead letter office get d. clue 10 his
! Whereabouts. He is assessed a fee OF
) cents for return of the letter
! FIRST every effort is made to cor
rect a mistaken or decjpher an
| iiiesibie address. This ingenuity OIL
| the part of dead letter office expertS
results in finding addresses for a large
portion of the mail which goes astray.
| OF course there are addresses which
are absolutely hopeless. Some letter
| writers turn about and work out espe-
! cially devised freak" addresses In the
hope that dead-letter experts might
| be 'stumped."
| A familiar example of these So
| called freaks" displayed at the dead
letter Office, follows:
John
Ton
| And
| Mass.
Had not the address been immedi-
| ately recognized as one of the stereo-
| type freaks it was explained, the
envelope would have been properly
| addressed:
John Oyerton,
| Andover,
I Mass
Christmas greeting cards prove Il
great source of annoyance to the dead
| letter office. This is the result of the
general practice of omitting return ad-
dresses on either the envelope or
postal card.
| The last Yuletide brought one and
one-half million unbelievable greet
| ings to the dead letter offices in the
United States. 1t Is estimated that
this number Of cards, including post
| age and the cost TO the United States
for handling them, represented a
waste of S175, 900.
! Officials of the dead letter Service
equally scorn the customary sending
of other seasonal greetings. So If the
well-wisher at the festival seasons of
the year desires to have Uncle Sam
! share his greeting, a return address
| should appear on the envelope or
postal card.
Contents of some Of the correspond
ence perused by the blind readers"
would be most interesting.
| But study of this material is the
coveted privilege only Of the blind
reader"
Alas. are these personal" letters
! opened? Lo, Huge bundles of them
are placed in an opening machine
with a capacity for prying Into $4,000
letters a day.
And from the expressions on the
| faces Of the 50-odd clerks in the dead
letter Office. each epistle apparently
| affords much entertainment.
|