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-
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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.
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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.