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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 1963)
M ft US. MONDAY. AUGUST 28. 1963 JlBBMftD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFOHD, OREGON fffic e Ds World's Largest luflsimiess Editor's note: This is the first of a five-part series de scribing the operation and activities of the. U.S. Post Office. ;- Br HARRY FERGUSON . Unittd Press Inttrnational Washington - lUPIl - "I could easily do without - the post office," wrote Henry David Thoreau. "I have never re ' ceived more than one or two letters In my life that were worth the postage." Most Americans violently disagree with Thoreau, a 19th century nature lover and philosopher who once broke off a conversation with the abrupt statement that he had a date to go commune with a tree. Americans are the world's greatest letter writ ers and the United States Post Office processes more than two-thirds of all the mail in the world. Every working day the Post Office delivers 180 million pieces of mail - almost one for every person in the na tion. It claims to be the world's biggest business with more than 500,000 employees and an annual budget of $4.9 billion. That claim is correct in the sense tiiat the Post Office Department is engaged in selling services and mate rials for a fee. But the De fense Department with an annual budget of around $50 billion, makes the Post Office look like a pygmy In the fed eral structure. The difference is that the Defense Depart ment isn't selling anything but is primarily a buyer in terested in the security of the United States. Most Common Complaints By and large the American public and the Post Office Department get along pretty well, but there arc irritations which cause both to com plain. The most common com plaints from the public: -The stamps don't stick, or they stick together in book lets and rolls. The Post Office department is trying to solve this by putting silicone treat ed interleaves in the booklets. -It takes longer for a letter to get from the Bronx in New York to Manhattan than it does for one to get from Bos ton to the same address. That happens, all right, and for this reason: a clerk in the Bronx Post Office makes a mistake and tosses the letter in the West Side Manhattan slot in stead of the East Side. But it's fairly rare. . The postman stuffs the mail box with "junk mail." This is a highly controversial ques tion which we shall examine in detail, but a brief explana tion is that the Post Office Department merely delivers the mail; it doesn't originate it. Congressional action would be necessary to eliminate "Junk mail," and Congress itself is one of the worst of fenders. Delays in Delivery -A letter sometimes will be in transit for years. Exam ple: On April 9, 1923, a store in a Kansas town mailed a let tcr to a man in a Missouri village. On Aug. 30, 1962, the letter was delivered to the man in Stockton, Calif. What had happened was that on July 31, 1982, the letter was found under the platform of a weighing machine in the Missouri village post office where it had been for 39 years. Sometimes letters slip through cracks in the post office floor and remain there until the building is lorn down or renovated. The Post Office Department is reluctant to criticize the public, but it does have some things to chide us about: -Last year there were 22, 300,117 Americans who ad dressed letters and packages in such crazy fashion that no body could read them. All that mail ended up in the Dead Letter Office. The worst part of it was that, not only was the ac".dress illegible, but there was no return address or if there was one it, too, was unreadable. -Americans are restless people and 30 million of us change addresses every year. This makes things lough for the Post Office, but they re alize nothing can be done about it and carry on the best they can. -Many people like to play games with the Post Office Department by simply writ ing "Bing" on an envelope and mailing it. Thirty years ago, when the mail was not so heavy, postal employees had time to try to figure things out and usually the "Bing" mail was delivered fairly quickly lo Bing Crosby who was at the height of his radio popularity. This is call ed "puzzle mail" and the Post II Small Worlds Around Us By LYNN M. WATKINS (Regikter and Tribunt Syndicate '.9631 Old Legends Never Die, They Just Turn Into Facts With sophisticated smug ness wc laugh at those unin formed folks that believed that leprechauns inhabited hollow trees, birds migrated to the moon, or spent the cold winter months buried in the mud of a pond bottom. We have slammed the door on such nonsense, but wc smugly hold onto some equal ly silly legends and become extremely vocal, if not abu sive, when told our beliefs have no foundation in scien title fact. Many old legends, myths and even superstitions are very comforting to live with. They provided us with an cs- Need back-to-school cash? Get an HFC Shopper's Loan Shop now for the best clothing values. Pay for books, tuition, supplies. Borrow confidently from the oldest and largest company-HFC. Auk about Credit Life Insurance n loans at (roup ralee MONTH IY PAVMINT MANS . 14 JO 11 4y ptlmti tttmti P4mtt fumti ! S 5.90 S 6.72 $10.05 S18.t(i 2M 11.81 13.44 20.09 36.92 3 17.71 20.16 30.14 55.38 Mt 28.86 32.97 49.64 91.66 IMt 53.89 62.21 95.64 179.56 ISM I 77.87 I 90.38 140.57 L'Mv36 Iksl frl hUf m, d.n.i.r f too, t HUSGHO fimamg 121 East Main St., 2nd Floor-Phono: 773-5301 Howi: Mod. rhra Thar. 10 hi 5 30-Frl. 10 hi 7 r. M. L9 WW cape of sorts from more pres ent worries or complex prob lems with which we know we cannot cope. Some legends were so colorful or so roman tic we just can't bear lo give them up. Childhood holds no monop oly on legends, for many adults also enjoy living with the beliefs handed down by forefathers. Age old supersti tions arc difficult to abandon. Legends wc have believed in for years, wc strive lo retain. And many legends deal with animals. Actually it could not hap pen, but just who should con tradict the lady that saw a mother snake swallow her young and later allow them lo escape after the danger was past? If told she was seeing things that didn't happen, she would be pretty indignant. "You mean to tell me,'' she demanded, "t lied about it when I saw it with my own eyes, and my molhrr has seen it countless times?'' Own Eyes How can you argue with thai person who with his own eyes saw a load that had been scaled up in a concrete corner stone for many years hop away as lively as ever when the cornerslone was broken open? This person, by his own vehement admission, was there when the stone was opened. His father was there when the cornerstone was placed, and he himself had liv ed in the near vicinity all his life, and knew Ihe concrete had not been disturbed for many years. "Just how," he wants lo know, "can science or anyone else contradict what he and dozens of his neighbors saw the day the old cornerstone was split.'" The legend of the toad in the cornerstone has a pretty firm place in some branches of folklore and leg end. Horsehair Rope Or consider the man who had been a cowboy and had slept more nights on the prai rie than in a bed. He always protected himself by encir cling his bedroll with a horse hair rope, firmly believing that no rattlesnake in the world was ever known lo cross a horsehair rope. Consider a man who con stantly makes decisions and is recognized as a serious thinker that can discuss in telligently many subjects hut who canceled his subscription to a newspaper because it contradicted his boyhood be lief that a horsehair soaked for a time in water would turn ! into a horsehair snake. He j said that he had, while a small j boy on the farm, placed the j hair from a horse's inane in ; a water trough and later re- j moved the snake. Besides, he knew of ninny other hoys that had performed the same ex periment. What persists ill the way of legends or superstitions is usu ally that which is spectacular, romantic, colorful, or that which catches our imagina tion. Seemingly, old legends never die. they Just turn into tacts. MAR KILLED Portlind - n - The run Pftrker, 23. Portland, wis kill ed ha bu n-.--'tor scooter collided ith mini-truck and trailer here Friday after noon. The driver of the truck , was Frank James, 38, Wood- ' burn. i Office wishes you would stop it. Advertisers Are Problem -Advertisers are a problem when they send samples by first class mail. Some of the things sent through the mail are tops of tin cans, nails ("nail down you future with life insurance"), tops of soft drink bottles, bleaches and detergents in thin cakes that look like candy. These things make it difficult for the Post Office to put letters through the automatic machines. -Women estranged from their husbands have a habit of taking all their oills on the first of the monlh, stick ing them in an envelope car rying a five cent stamp and mailing it to him. The five cent stamp isn't enough post age and the weight of the bills frequently breaks the enve lope and spills everything. -There is a heavy traffic in newspaper reports about weddings, deaths, promotions, debuts' and births. Many peo ple try to mail the whole newspaper instead of clipping the item, thereby incurring a delay because of insuffi cient postage. Has Many Enterprises If the Post Office Depart ment had nothing to do ex cept pick up and deliver the mail, life would be easy and it would not incur an annual deficit of S293 million. But it is in all sorts of enter prises: It is a giant detective agency with 1,500 postal in spectors in 400 cities; it regis ters 3 million aliens each year; it distributes income tax forms and census blanks; its rural deliverymen lake a cen sus of wildlife; it is one of the world's biggest auction eers of articles that cannot be delivered; it is an enor mous bank selling postal mon ey orders and taking in postal savings accounts; it merchan dises $3.5 million a year worth of special stamps to philatelists. Nextf Case history of a let ter: How it gets to its destination. DBLdDS 12" and 2' Mixed Big Double Loads Summer Prices S & H Green Stamps MEDFORD FUEL CO. Telephone 772-2111 X - 1 Jell-well Fruit flavored Saving money is not a hit or mi matter for our customers. YOUR TOTAL FOOD BILL IS LOWER - At Safeway. We invito you to check for yourself and see. GELATINS Fresh fruit flavors plus real economy 3-oz. pkg. Pooch, regular or liver flavored DOG FOOD 12 Tall Cans Delicious, yet so nutritious CAMPBELL'S SOUP $I00 y All vegetable varieties of this year-around favor ite brand soup. CANS DOLE PINEAPPLE Chunks 211 Can 25 Sliced No. 2 Can 49 Crushed No. 2 Can 35 Tidbits No. 211 Can 25' Safeway Produce . . . Always Best! Perfect for slaw! n c Head Bananas Yummy good 2.b,29c Nectarines ir,;" 3,b,49c 16) Small size, lean pork Spareribs from Mid-Western young porkers. Bologna SrPCickslit 39c Oysters individual oysters ea. 39c Veal Steaks HZX""... 59c (4 steaks) Per Pound D..I Manor House 12 oz. pkg. ea 59c Barbecue Sauce XPi siX. 49c Alka-Seltzer W'Sfi. 288c Lifebuoy Soap ::l0Z, 2 39c Rinso Blue ZrtZ.T: 75c $2.19 Active "All" :i"n9. 39c Kikwwliir "AH" 5 ixoved 49c Heavy duty blue detergent. 32 oz. Cliifftf "III" Clothes come out llUliy HII softer. 3-lb. pkg Wisk Lux Liquid Swan Detergent Detergent for fine fabrics. 32 oz. liquid for dishes. 22 oz. btl 89c 83c 99c 69c Vim Tablets v:"7Ptr Saven even more at Safeway with GOLD BOND stamps! Prices effective Monday. August 26 through Wed nesday, August 28 at Safeway in Med ford, limit rights reserved.
