Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1879 — Report of the Dead-Letter Office. [ARTICLE]

Report of the Dead-Letter Office.

Washihotok, November 14. The report of Mr. E. J. Dallas, Chief of the Dead-Letter Office of the Post-Office Department, shows that there were received during the last fiscal year an aggregate of 2,996,513 dead letters, a decrease of 190,292 from the number received during the previous year. This decrease is believed to be owing to the general use of envelopes on which requests to “return if not called for,” etc., are printed. The extent to which’ these “request envelopes” are used was ascertained by a test made in May last. In a single day there were mailed at the post-offices in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore 854,696 letters, of which number 198,879 bore the request to “ return in ten days if not called for.” Of the aggregate number of letters received at the Dead-Letter Office, 16,007 contained money to the value of $31,591; 13,575 contained drafts, checks, etc., to the value of $1,105,762; 47,797 contained postage stamps of the value of $2,887, and 24,372 contained other papers representing a monetary value; 24,024 letters contained photographs, and 88,306 contained articles of all descriptions. The efficiency of the system of registered letters is shown by the fact that, out of 5,262,241 registered letters sent last year, but 2,193 found their way to the Dead-Letter Office, and of these all but 211 found their way finally to their owners. The following is a statement showing the amount of fees collected at the leading post-offices of the country on registered mail matter for the fiscal year ending June 30, placed in comparison with the receipts of the previous fiscal year, and also the percentage of increase: PercentFiscal y'r Fiscal w’r age of PoctoMcc. of ins. of m». Incr’se. New York *18,947 *27,737 46.04 Philadelphia Brooklyn 1,716 2,175 26.07 St. Louis 2,255 . 3,410 50.01 CMougo 3,860 MM 4M* Baltimore 1,602 1,863 18.12 Boston 4,296 5,866 37.24 Cincinnati...., LOO 1,74* W