The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-09-11
MANY TONS OF LETTERS.
MISsITrS SENT TO AND FROM TIE
WASHINGTON OFFICIALS.
Fifty Thou~and n Day 90 the Presis
dent AIOnc--E1ONv nm Immense
Daily Mail il Handled.

which, as a rule are answered, or their
receipt acknowledged on the day of de-
livery. To enable him to cope with this
vast correspondence, III ich of which re-
quircs not simply a formal reply, but
considerable research and special knowl-
edge the executive is furnishedwith about
ten thousand clerks, who, for conven-
fence, are divided into seven depart
mcnts, according as their work has to
do with our foreign relations the army
or navy, the fiscal machinery Of the gov
eminent, its internal relations the pos
tai service. or the administration of
Justice. The heads of these seven prin-
cipal departments are asked by the Pres
ident to meet him once or twice week
at the White House, and form what is
known as his cabinet. At these confer
ences the more important business of the
departments is discussed, so that the
work may be done promptly and har
moniously; and so well regulltcd is the
system that it is not necessary for the
President to see personally but a very
small part of the executive correspond
cnce. Two or three sacks only, out of
the tons of mail matter that Is dumped
every morning on the floor Of the Wash
ington city postofice, goes to the White
House.
This postohice is the third in the coup
try in volume of business, though Wash
ingtOn is only the fourteenth city in
population. This is on account of the
enormous official mail that passes
! through Postmaster Conger's hands.
During the fiscal year which ended June
80, 1855, the letters received were in ex-
cess of %, O00, 600, or about 20, 600 daily,
and of this total it is estimated about
seventy per cent. goes to the depart
ments.
The refuent tide is even larger for the
outgoing delivery includes all the publ
cations of the government. Statistics
in this field would be staggering. They
would be on such huge scale that the
figures would lose their meaning. On
some days. for instance, during the busy
| days of Congress, 1000 large sacks,
mostly of executive documents, will pass
! through the office, and the average for
the summer months is 90, 600 sacks a
month. Much of this is IT gistercd, for
greater safety, so that the work thrown
on the city force is prodigious.
Evidently, then, the Washington post
! office is a busy place. The busiest time
of the day for the incoming mail is early
in the morning, when the great night
mails arrive. From till O'clock the
office secthes with activity. Shortly be-
! fore o'clock the mail wagons for the
/ departments and the outlying bureaus
are hauled up in the rear of the Office
and the mail is handed out to
them for distribution. These vehicles
If
red, circus-likc vans to neat covered CARR
| ages, which have Il strong suspicion of
| wilight and Sunday excursions about
hem. The heaviest mai generally goes
/ o The pos toiicc department, due to the
! outline correspondence between the dc.
partment and the 90 900 postmastcrS Of
, the country. Each postmaster has oc-
casion to write at least four letters each
| quarter TO the department. thus involving
a mass of 900. 600 letters every ninety
| lays, or more than 1000 day from this
"ause alone. Then there is an equal
volume of business in the dead letter
| bureau, where all uucallcd for, mis-.
| directed or unintcliigblc letters arc
/ sent. The other two departments that
i receive enormous mails are the interior
and the treasury. The mail for the pen
! sion bureau of the interior alone often
mounts into the thousands.
All the departments have a mail room
where the letters are received and sorted
In the larger departments these rooms
have quite a postoTiice ooll of their own,
and exceed in the volume of business
! transacted the figures of many towns of
considerable size. Here the sacks are
( opened and the contents distributed into
trays or boxes which represent the Office
of the secretary and the dillcrcnt bureaus.
When thus sorted the letters 90 to the
! chief clerks, who go through the pile.
whether "confidentlal" or not. Heads
of departments are not supposed to have
! any guilty secrets, ana they certainly have
/ not the time to read all the missives
which come TO them rs confidential mat
/ ter. 80 the clerk rips open everything
} and many confidential" letters drop
INTO his waste basket Communications
on business matters the clerk losses into
wicker trays, and these are borne bv
messengers to the chiefs of division and
the heads Of rooms having special super
vision of the matter. If, however, the
letter is seen TO be important, it is sent
up instead Of down, and eventually NAV
ind its way to the desk Of the secretary,
or even to the President. In the ordin
airy routine, however, letter goes first
to the city postotfice, then to the de-
partment, and then. step by step, to the
chief clerk of the bureau, the chief clerk
of division, and the particular clerk who
is assigned to attend to its uDject mat
| ter
Then, in due progress, the reply goes
back, on thick white letter paper of OIL
cial size, deliberately headed, and gath
cring endorsements as it proceeds red
marks and blue marks, numbers and
dates, circles, squares, and crosscs-till
it is finally signed, folded, and mailed
again. Necessarily there is some red
tape for unless a rigid system was fol-
lowed there would be fatal confusion in
A week in all the large departments.
These mysterious marks all have mean
ing, as the careless or stupid clerk finds
out soon enough, for by them every step
IS registered and blunder traced back
20 its source.
The last hour or two of each Office dav