Paperwork

“ In order to understand the outs and ins of the Post Office—and it is a subject with which every sensible person should be familiar—let a girl invest sixpence in a copy of the Post Office Guide, a publication of which an edition is issued every quarter. She will there find everything necessary to be known about the posting of letters, postcards, newspapers, book packets, and parcels to places in the United Kingdom, or abroad, the sending of telegrams, the rates for money and postal orders, and the regulations of the Savings Bank. ”

“ At a rate of postage so low as one penny, a great number of explanatory letters on business, and letters on matters of detail, would be written. Occasions are of constant occurrence in which we do not write, and are not written to, because the matter, though important enough to write upon, is not important enough to pay, or to cause others to pay, the postage. I refer here to questions as to the mode of conveyance of goods, as to the colour or pattern of articles ordered, or to an ambiguous or an illegible phrase in a letter received, and a thousand other matters. ”

“ Every bill when presented to be accompanied with the sworn affidavit of the pressman who prints the paper, the clerk who delivers the paper, and the cashier who receives the money. No paper to be counted as circulation except those that are actually sold and paid for. ”

“ In everything, you must take care that the said treasurer records in his book and in that of said accountant, stating what is delivered to him, and the results of the bartering, it being entered in his book and in that of the said accountant—every one being present at the entries in said books, in order that each division of said entries may correspond with that of the other book, no more in one book than in the other. ”

“ That part of the 13th section of the act mentioned is: 'Any memorandum which shall be written on a newspaper or other printed paper, pamphlet or magazine, and transmitted by mail, shall be charged with letter-postage.' 4 Laws of the United States, 105-111. ”

“ And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Register to keep all accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the public money, and of all debts due to or from the United States; to receive from the Comptroller the accounts which shall have been finally adjusted, and to preserve such accounts with their vouchers and certificates; to record all warrants for the receipt or payment of monies at the Treasury, certify the same thereon, and to transmit to the Secretary of the Treasury, copies of the certificates of balances of accounts adjusted as is herein directed. ”

“ For instance, the style of paper is a matter that progressive business houses no longer ignore. The policy of the house may be revealed in the envelope and letter paper before one has had time to read even the date line. Some firms provide different grades of stationery for different departments, the sales letters going out in a much finer dress than letters from other departments. ”

“ It seems a much better way that the person who sends the tracts and papers should distribute the books too, as being better able to advise the books to read; for he or she learns the "bent of mind" of the seeker. So many different [Pg 76] persons at work causes confusion and mistakes. I mail papers, tracts, etc., attend to all the correspondence, to loaning and mailing the books, to all printed matter received, to all the advertising orders of every kind, to money received and expended,—consulting the President frequently, and the details are brought up before our monthly meetings. ”

“ Our attention has been called to the practice which prevails in the clerk's office of sending original records to the printer to be printed, and of taxing in the bills of costs a fee for one manuscript copy of the record, when no such copy is in fact made. ”

“ Our informant tells us that a hundred copies have been made of each and that they have them ready to drop into the mail to the leading hundred papers, not only of this city but of the state, in time for them to appear Sunday. They think that no amount of denying on our part can destroy the effect. ”

“ All is dull, solemn, and dry—paper, paper, paper—a redundancy of paper, as if it were possible to transfer the blush of perjury to paper. Fifty people will make affidavits for one that will go into a witness-box and have the truth twisted out of them by cross-examination. ”

“ When writing to a person or firm for information solely for one’s own benefit, a postal card or a stamped envelope should be enclosed for a reply.
It is a too common custom among people unacquainted with the rules of business, when sending an order to one firm, to enclose money to be paid another, or with which to make small purchases in some other line, to be sent in the package ordered from the firm with which the correspondence is held. ”

“ Manufacturers, Agriculturists, Chemists, Engineers, Mechanics, Builders, men of leisure, and professional men, of all classes, need good books in the line of their respective callings. Our post office department permits the transmission of books through the mails at very small cost. ”

“ The simplification of the mechanism and accounts of the department generally, by the above and other means.
“5. The establishment of the book-post (including in its operation all printed and much MS. matter) , at very low rates; and its modified extension to our colonies, and to many foreign countries.
“6. Increased security in the transmission of valuable letters afforded, and temptation to the letter-carriers and others greatly [381] diminished, by reducing the registration fee from 1s. to 4d., by making registration of letters containing coin compulsory, and by other means. ”

“ In the book a page should be devoted to each employé, in which should be recorded name, date, and place of birth, religion, class, salary, date of promotion, increase of salary, transfer, suspension, cases in which the employé has received special commendation or censure, date of resignation or removal, or any other particular of which it is desirable a memorandum should be kept. ”

“ If a stock-account book is lost, the loser is to inform the Post Office Savings Bank in writing, sending at the same time his watchword, and, enclosing 20 kreutzers in postage stamps to request a duplicate. ”

“ The said auditor shall report to the Postmaster General, to be by him submitted to Congress, at its next annual session, a statement of all the balances and debts due to the Post Office Department as aforesaid, by late postmasters, showing, in each case, the name and office of the principal debtor, the names of the sureties, if any, the amount of the debt, the time at which it accrued, the steps taken to collect the same, and whether they have been successful or not. ”

“ Schooling, whom we have quoted before, the number of letters, post cards, halfpenny packets, and newspapers delivered during a year in this country works out for each individual as 65 letters, 19 post cards, 21 halfpenny packets, and 4 newspapers. A moment's consideration of these figures will convince us of the vast number of folk still living with whom the receipt of a letter must be an event in the year. ”

“ Several quires of peculiarly thin smooth paper lay within, a package of envelopes directed in a strange hand to A. Z. Clyde, a seal with a skull for its device, and a stick of iron-gray sealing-wax completed the contents of the portfolio.
"You will record upon this paper the principal events, impressions or discoveries of each day, beginning with your first interview on Monday. Every Saturday you will send me your weekly report in one of the envelopes directed to an imaginary relative of your own. ”

“ In dealing with the vast numbers of letters and other post articles which daily flow through the capacious veins of the British Post-office, the officials of the department come to learn many strange things connected with the wanderings of letters from their proper courses; they learn much in regard to the blunders made by the senders of letters in writing their addresses, and of the supreme folly frequently shown by individuals in transmitting valuables in carelessly-made-up packets ”

“ All goods taken from the department for use in the workroom should be duly accepted, measured, checked and receipted for by the head of the workroom and the receipt immediately deposited in the office. ”

“ In writing upon business exclusively your own, for instance to make a request, to ask for information, to petition for a favour, or to solicit an autograph, it is but right not only to pay the postage of your own letter, but to enclose a stamp for the answer. This is always done by really polite and considerate people. ”

“ And they shall further direct, that the printing of the yeas and nays of the journal shall be in consecutive order, as ordinary matter. They shall also so regulate the printing of executive documents, as to have the respective communications from the President and heads of Departments bound in distinct volumes; and they may also so change the form of the volume, by increasing its size, as to combine the greatest quantity of matter with the greatest economy in the execution of the work. ”

“ Then he distributes what he finds in the bags according to a pre-arranged order. The registered letters which have found their way to the office he at once transfers to the clerk on duty whose special province it is to deal with them; the bundles of ordinary letters—in one of which packets is the identical letter we ourselves posted—he hands over to his fellow-sorters, who, each standing opposite to a distinct set of boxes, labelled with the names of different towns on the route, at once sort them away. The newspapers he deals with himself. ”

“ Provided always, that every such officer, before he delivers any such letter or package for transmission, shall in his own proper handwriting, on the outside thereof, endorse the nature of the papers enclosed, and thereto subscribe his name and office, and shall previously furnish the postmaster of the office, where he shall deposit the same, with a specimen of his signature. ”

“ In looking over letters of the period antecedent to the Post Office reform, I find constant reference to expedients for saving postage; thus, in writing to a friend at a particular town, we would trouble him to call upon such and such others to communicate intelligence, or to make inquiries, the result to be reported in his next letter; sometimes, even, we would ask him to call upon tradesmen to give orders, [239] or to urge despatch in commissions previously given. ”

“ With all our craze for accumulating files we do not record many telephone conversations. You must be the judge as to whether a record for your office is necessary, and in such exceptional cases state your wishes at the time. ”

“ The word 'file' is derived from the Latin word 'filum,' and relates to the ancient practice of placing papers on a thread or wire for safe-keeping and ready reference. Filing, it must be observed, is not complete until the document is delivered and received. 'Shall file' means to deliver to the office, and not send through the United States mails. ”

“ Always, when sending a letter of inquiry, enclose a stamp for the answer. If you trouble your correspondent to take his time to write you information, valuable only to yourself, you have no right to tax him also for the price of postage. ”

“ Congress must be presumed to have known that the paper employed in paper hangings and paper for screens or flreboards was printing paper, sized in the paper mill, and subjected to treatment elsewhere by which the value of the article as paper was greatly enhanced, and the association of those products with the writing and drawing class of papers in the paragraph in question is convincing evidence that paper hangings and paper subjected to similar processes by which paper hangings were produced were regarded as paper, and not as manufactures of paper. ”

“ Hardly at all, excepting as a repository for documents and stationery. It is very cheerless to talk in an office, and nearly all my business is transacted with solicitors and counsel who are known to me, so there is no need for such formalities. ”

“ Ordinary mail, such as enquiries, requests for samples, etc., and all letters not containing money, are kept separate from letters with money enclosed. Orders and money are collected, and the cashier checks and counts all money over again, comparing it with the amount entered on each order by the opener, and, where O. K., stamps each order and envelope with a duplicate consecutive numbering and date stamp. ”

“ Federal postal acts of 1793 permitted every printer of a newspaper to send one copy without charge to every printer of a newspaper in the United States. Other provisions permitted newspapers to be carried in separate bags from letters at a fixed rate of one cent for a distance not over one hundred miles. ”

“ If the contractor call on you in person for the money, the orders will not be necessary, and you will take from him two receipts in the form prescribed, one of which you will keep, and send the other by the next mail to the Auditor for the Post-Office Department. ”

“ Those who are in- debted to the Messenger will see that we need all that is our due, and we trust they will promptly respond, that we may be enabled to procure material for printing the Messenger on a larger sheet than this. With our next issue we pro- pose to send bills to all subscribers in arrears, and all others who feel disposed to aid us in getting a new press, may pay in advance, for as long a period as they can afford, and they will be credit- ed with the amount and the paper sent the full time — or paid in advertising — if it be for a thousand years. ”