and prevailing honesty of the very great majority of those who have to do with the collection, forwarding, and distribution of the mails, but it is unreasonable to look for perfection in so large an organization. In spite of the repeated attempts of the post office department to show the danger involved, people continue to send so much money and other valuables in ordinary, unregistered letters and packages that thousands of dollars are lost in this way every year. Nor is it the writer alone who suffers as a result of shortcomings in this direction. The loss or inconvenience is almost always twofold, the addressee indeed being sometimes the principal sufferer. And obviously such inconvenience or loss to the receiver of a letter, through the carelessness or ignorance of the sender, can not be conducive to further and more profitable business relations.

It is, then, of the highest importance for every one, whether still a student or actively engaged in the affairs of business life, to be able to write letters correctly, and to carry on correspondence with ease and precision. It is the object of this book to make available the knowledge required for this purpose.

136 Genesee St., Utica, N. Y., January 19, 1906.

Messrs. Anderson & Oliver,

Gentlemen:

Springfield, Mass.

The reply to your letter of the 13th inst. has been delayed

in the belief that I should be able to inclose a remittance for at least a part of your account. My inability now to do so is due to circumstances which I trust will justify you in deviating from your usual rule in such cases and prompt you to grant me an extension in this instance.

Although business just now is very good, it has not been so brisk as I had good reason to expect at this season. I bought heavily for the winter trade, and as a result I find I am carrying about eight thousand dollars more in stock than I carried a year ago this month. This may seem like poor judgment in buying, but I expected a large increase in sales. I do no credit business, so the whole difficulty is that my money is tied up in a surplus stock. This I am moving out as fast as possible, but it is very difficult to increase business just now even at a sacrifice.

Under the circumstances, I trust it may be convenient for you to accept my sixty-day note for the amount due.

Yours very truly,

CC. Mille

=

II. THE PARTS OF A LETTER

The primary purpose of a business letter is the adequate expression of the subject-matter with which it deals. It is above. all else a means of communication and, as such, might be cast into any form whatever, provided the message it contained were properly set forth. It might be on any size paper or arranged in any conceivable fashion and still fulfill its purpose the transmission of thought in written words. But by common consent and usage of generations of business men, there has been evolved and perfected a special outward form which has been found to be at once clear and convenient. This form, though in many ways arbitrary, is now so deeply rooted in custom and so admirably adapted to the needs of modern business system, since it presents to the eye immediately and clearly such minor yet vital parts of a letter as the date, place of writing, addressee's name and address, writer's signature, etc., that no serious deviation from it can any longer be sanctioned or even tolerated. It is the conventional framework upon which all good business letters are to-day constructed, and so customary has it become that any departure from it is in bad taste and may indeed be taken as an indication of ignorance. Whimsical or negligent irregularity in regard to this fundamental form not only prejudices a man against the writer, in much the same way that bad manners do, but, what is perhaps more important, it may cause serious inconvenience in the process of handling and filing; for no small amount of business system has grown up around the accepted form of a business letter and is dependent upon it.

A letter may be divided for convenience of analysis into six distinct parts. Each part has a clearly defined position on the page with reference to all the other parts and to the arrange

ment of the page itself.

shown in the outline and

They are fitted together in the manner letter on pages 10 and II.

Heading

The purpose of the heading is to indicate the date and place of writing and thereby furnish the receiver with such information as he will need in directing his reply. Whether the county, street and street number, post office box, etc., should be given depends upon the conditions which govern the receipt and distribution of mail in the town or city where the writer resides. If his place of residence is a city, his post office address usually should contain the street and number, city, and state; if his place of residence is a small place, the address usually should include the name of the post office, county, and state. When the writer's post office address is different from the place of writing, or when a request is made to direct a reply in care of a third party, this fact is perhaps best indicated in the body of the letter or just after the signature. In general it may be said that the greatest care should always be taken to give data sufficient to render mistake in addressing the reply impossible.

The heading may occupy one, two, or even three lines, according to the information it contains. The date should in all cases come last, and in it the order should be month, day, year. The month may be written in full or properly abbreviated; thus, December 10, 1908, or Dec. 10, 1908. The English custom of writing the month after the day, as 10th Dec., 1908, is in favor with some correspondents in this country. Also occasionally the month, like the day and year, is written in numerals; as, 12/10/1908; but this last method is obviously indefinite and uncertain as long as there is any lack of uniformity in the order of writing the month and the day. When the order is month, day, year, it is better not to put st, d, or th after the day; thus, Dec. 10, not 10th.

Never under any circumstances should the date of a letter be omitted. It forms perhaps the most important factor in determining a letter's place and bearing upon any given business