Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That for the greater security of valuable letters posted for transmission in the mails of the United States, the Post Master General be and hereby is authorized to establish a uniform plan for the registration of such letters on application of parties posting the same, and to require the pre-payment of the postage, as well as a registration fee of five cents on every such letter or packet to be accounted for by post masters receiving the same in such manner as the Post Master General shall direct: Provided however. That such registration shall not be compulsory; and it shall not render the Post-Office Department or its revenue liable for the loss of such letters or packets or the contents thereof.
The delivery of letters can be greatly facilitated by means of a very simple improvement in the letter case for the "general delivery," which has already been adopted to some extent, with the most satisfactory results.
In the early history of post-offices, the old-fashioned letter case divided off in alphabetical order, or by vowels, answered a tolerable purpose, and so it would now in very small offices,—but as population increased, and fifty or more letters had to be overhauled before the applicant could receive an answer, some relief both for post masters and the public became absolutely indispensable, and various trifling changes and improvements were adopted—but none of them were found to be "up to the times," till the introduction of the labor and time saving invention called the "Square of the Alphabet." It is believed to have been originally planned and adopted in the post-office at Providence, R. I. Since then, the dimensions of the case and the arrangement of the boxes have been varied to suit the amount of business in the comparatively small number of offices that have introduced it. But the size and plan exhibited in the prefixed diagram, is believed to be the most convenient and simple, and well suited to places varying in population, from five thousand to fifty thousand.
The practical advantage is, that by the division of the letters when placed in the pigeon holes, at least four applications can be correctly answered, where one can be under the old plan of crowding a large number of letters together. And where this improved case occupies a position opposite the "general delivery" window, many individuals soon learn the location of the box where their letters should be, and in case it is empty, inquiry becomes unnecessary.
The rows of letters of the alphabet running horizontally, from left to right, represent the surname, and are several times repeated for convenience, and as an aid to the eye in tracing given initials; while the perpendicular rows of letters stand for the Christian name, and are used doubly, to reduce the size of the case. Where it is necessary, however, the Christian initials can also be placed singly, by enlarging the case, or making it in two sections, using only half of the alphabet for each, placing the two sections in an angular form, or backing one against the other, and putting the entire frame on an upright shaft turning upon a pivot at top and bottom, near the general delivery, so as to admit of turning the case, as the locality of the initials inquired for may require.
The plan for example works thus:—John Jones calls for a letter. The person in attendance glances at the J. on the horizontal line, and then runs the eye to the range of the J. on the perpendicular line, and that is the box in which Jones' letter ought to be. One for Isaac Jones would be in the same place, in a case constructed after the above arrangement.