4. Letters mailed in foreign countries... 369, 902 5. Printed matter, samples, &c., mailed in foreign countries and return able 30,008 The following was the disposition made of the mail matter treated during the year: Domestic mailable letters: Card and return-request letters delivered unopened Held-for-postage letters forwarded unopened to address on receipt of .... Misdirected letters forwarded unopened after correction of addresses.... Letters without address opened (disposed of as below).. 61, 348 3,788, 234 218, 531 4,371 263 77, 618 114, 731 245, 088 15, 178 1,389 Letters containing unmailable articles opened disposed of as below.... Parcels opened and disposed of as below.... Foreign matter: Letters returned to country of origin or delivered to ad dressees Letters on hand at close of year 81, 221 366, 379 Parcels of printed matter, samples, &c., returned unopened or delivered to addressees. 3,523 30,008 399, 910 Returned to country of origin or delivered to addressees. 11, 218 203 11,421 Total.. 5,023, 745 The following was the disposition of mail matter opened in the DeadLetter Office: Delivered: Letters containing money. 12, 138 Letters containing drafts, notes, money-orders, postal notes, Destroyed: Letters containing worthless inclosures, and which could not be returned to writers... 41, 700 59,117 560 Letters without inclosures, which could not be returned to writers.... 2,053, 929 Parcels containing pamphlets, fruit, cake, seeds, &c...... 11, 033 2,065, 522 MATTER RETURNED FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES. The following number of pieces of matter originating in the United States was returned to the Dead-Letter Office from foreign countries during the year as undeliverable: Of the 15,717 unclaimed registered letters and parcels received there were: Delivered to addressees or restored to senders...... 15,043 Returned to postmasters for delivery and awaiting receipts Filed upon failure to discover ownership, subject to reclamation.. 66 602 15,717 VALUE OF INCLOSURES IN MATTER RESTORED TO OWNERS. The following shows the number of letters restored to owners or in course of restoration, with the character and value of contents: Number of letters containing money restored to owners Amount of money inclosed therein.... Number of letters containing money outstanding in the hands of postmasters for restoration to owners 12, 133 $21,732 00 717 Amount of money inclosed therein. Number of letters containing drafts, checks, notes, money-orders, &c., restored to owners Value contained therein Number of letters containing drafts, checks, notes, money-orders, &c., outstanding in the hands of postmasters for restoration to owners... Value contained therein.... REVENUE DERIVED FROM DEAD MATTER. The amount of revenue derived from dead matter during the year is shown by the following statement: Amount separated from dead letters that could not be restored to owners.. Amount realized from auction sale in December, 1835, of parcels of merchandise... Amount realized from sale of uncurrent funds remaining from last year Amount received from the postal administration of Canada for redemption of Canadian stamps received in payment of postage on matter forwarded to that country Total The money was disposed of as below: $6,426 39 2,397 17 6 85 48 88 8,879 29 Deposited in the United States Treasury during the year $8,858 33 17 96 3 00 Total...... 8,879 29 POSTAGE-STAMPS. The following amounts of postage-stamps were received in the divis ion of dead letters from the several sources named, and were destroyed under proper supervision: Separated from dead letters for which no owner could be found.... Total value of stamps destroyed................. $310 87 232 79 931 76 1,675 42 In addition to the above, postage-stamps to the value of $105.74 have been received since February 1, 1886, and affixed to parcels of matter addressed to foreign countries, which, under a modification of the regulations, were transmissible in the mails at letter rates of postage. DEAD MATTER GIVEN TO CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. During the year, 16,164 magazines, pamphlets, illustrated papers, picture cards, &c., which could not be restored to the owners, were distributed amongst the inmates of the various hospitals, asylums, and other charitable institutions in the District of Columbia, as heretofore, by order of the Postmaster-General. The following are the numbers of the various articles: The increase of matter received at the Dead-Letter Office during the last as compared to the previous fiscal year is not nearly proportioned to that of the volume of matter committed to the mails, and the fact may justly be regarded as a tribute to the growing efficiency of the postal service. In the total number of pieces of dead mail matter received for treatment there was an increase of only 239,552, or a little over 5 per cent. The statistics given in a previous part of this report of a count of mail matter at twenty of the principal post-offices showed an increase of 19.1 per cent. on the number of pieces of matter mailed for the last week of June of this year as compared to the corresponding week of the previous year. For the last week in September of the present year there was an increase at the same offices of 16.7 per cent. over the number of pieces mailed during the last week of September, 1885. The report of the Superintendent of Foreign Mails shows that 30,405,847 letters of foreign origin were received in this country for delivery during the past year. This was an increase of 3,605,616, or 13 per cent., over the number received during the previous year. The number of undeliverable letters of foreign origin received at the Dead-Letter Office during the last year was 364,242, and this was a decrease of 28,017, or 7 per cent., as compared to the number received during the previous year. The number of letters of domestic origin sent abroad during the last year, according to the report of the Superintendent of Foreign Mails, was 37,002,893, an increase of 794,131, or 2 per cent., over the number sent during the previous year. The number of undeliverable letters of domestic origin returned to the Dead-Letter Office from foreign countries during the past year was 159,888, and these were 10,960, or 6 per cent., less than the number returned during the previous year. In registered matter the number of pieces of domestic registered articles received at the Dead-Letter Office as undeliverable was 2,656, a decrease of 77, or 2.5 per cent., and the number returned from foreign countries was 1,786 pieces, an increase of 478, or 36 per cent., over the number returned the previous year. The number of pieces of registered matter of foreign origin sent to the Dead-Letter Office as undeliverable in this country was 11,275; and this was a decrease of 1,171, or over 9 per cent., as compared to the number sent during the previous year. Of the ordinary unclaimed domestic mailable letters received at the Dead-Letter Office during the past year, there was an increase of 136,507, or 4 per cent., as compared to the number received during the previous year. The letters returned from hotels showed an increase of 7,745, or 7.5 per cent., and the letters bearing fictitious addresses a decrease of 1,947, or 7.5 per cent. In letters containing unmailable matter there was a decrease of 376, or 21 per cent. In held-for postage letters sent to the Dead-Letter Office, there was an increase of 1807, or about 1.5 per cent. In misdirected letters, and letters bearing only partial addresses, there was an increase of 38,348, or 13 per cent., and in letters wholly without address there was an increase of 510, or 3.5 per cent. The domestic parcels of third and fourth class matter showed an increase of 22,025, or 37 per cent., as compared to the previous year; but even this large increase was not in keeping with the increase of such matter committed to the mails during the year. In the treatment of the matter received at the Dead-Letter Office there were 61,348 card and request letters delivered unopened, and this was an increase of 4,205, or 7 per cent., over the number delivered unopened during the previous year. The held-for-postage letters addressed to Canada and forwarded unopened from the Dead-Letter Office, upon the receipt of the postage, numbered 4,371, a decrease of 265, or 5.5 per cent., as compared to the previous year. The misdirected letters forwarded unopened upon correction of addresses showed an increase of 10,368, or 15 per cent., over the number forwarded during the previous year. In the letters opened in the Dead-Letter Office there was a decrease from the number opened during the previous year of 31,549, or less than 1 per cent. The number of opened letters restored to owners was 2,103,243, and this was an increase of 481,830, or 29 per cent., over the number restored during the previous year. The number of letters containing nothing of value and which it became necessary to destroy for want of any clew for their restoration was 2,053,929, and this was a decrease of 314,695, or 13 per cent., as compared to the number destroyed the previous year. The number of letters received at the Dead-letter Office inclosing money was 15,911, and the amount contained therein was $28,130.41, a decrease of 668, or 4 per cent., in the number, and of $2,037.07, or 6 per cent., in the amount. The number of letters received which contained money-orders, notes, checks, and other evidences of monetary value, was 19,488, an increase of 437, or 2 per cent., over the previous year. The nominal value represented was $1,240,506.89, a decrease of $548,349.33, or 30 per cent., as compared to the amount received the previous year. The number of letters containing receipts, paid notes, and other papers of minor value was 32,033, an increase of 5,776, or nearly 22 per cent. The number containing photographs was 30,773, a decrease of 1,958, or nearly 6 per cent., and the number containing postage-stamps was 96,509, a decrease of 11,251, or 10 per cent. The number of letters containing articles of merchandise together with the parcels of third and fourth class matter sent to the Dead-Letter Office during the year was 92,196, and this was an increase of 10,530, or 12 per cent., over the number received during the previous year. The number of letters inclosing money which were restored to their owners during the year was 12,138, containing $21,732 41, being 76 per cent. of the total number of letters received, and 77 per cent. of the total values inclosed. Of the letters inclosing money-orders, notes, drafts, &c., 18,105, containing a representative value of $1,121,151.74, were restored to the owners, and these were 93 per cent. of the total number and 90 per cent. of the total value received. |