West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-10-02
TONS OF LETTERS.
Missives Sent and Received bv
Washington Officials.
FIFTY Thousand Letters Day Received by
the President AIone-How the Mail Ia
Assorted, Distributed and An
swered-Post- Once Notes

The President of the United States
receives daily an average of fifty thou
sand letters, which. as n rule. are an
swered or their receipt acknowledged
on the day of delivery. To enable him
To cope with this vast correspondence,
much of which requires not simply a
formal reply but considerable research
and special knowledge, the Executive
Is furnished with about ten thousand
clerks. who, for convenience, are divid
ed into seven departments, according
as their work has TO do with our foreign
relations, the army or navy the fiscal
machinery of the Government. its in
iernal relations, the postal service or
the administration of justice The
| heads of these seven principal donert-
ments are asked by the President TO
meet once or twice week at the White
House and form what is known as his
Cabinet At these conferences the
more important business of the several
departments Is discussed, so that the
work may be done promptly and har-
moniOusly; and so well regulated is the
system that u Is not necessary for the
Fres dent to see personally but very
| small part of the Executive correspond
ence Two or three sacks only, out of
| the tons of mail matter that N dampetl.
every morning on tho lloor of the Wash
inglon City post-oilice goes TO the
White House
This post-ollice is the third i'm the
country in volume of business. though
Washington 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. 1889, The letters received were in
excess of 25.0OO,00O. or about 10. 600
daily, and of this total IL is estimated
about 40 per cent goes to the depart
| ments.
The reiluent tide is even larger, for
the outgoing delivery includes all the
| publications Of the Government. Sta
tistics IN this field would be staggering.
They would be on such a huge scale
that the figures would lose their mean
ing. On some days, for instance, dur
ing the busy days of Congress 1000
large sacks, mostly of Executive docu-
ments, will pass through the office, and
the average for the summer months is
~'fEfF OWNS - ilOhAl- MUCH Oh Nlllh lS
registered, for greater safety, so that
the work thrown on the city force is
prodigious.
Evidently. then, the Washington
post Office is a busy place. II is in
vile building, but the clerks agree TO
condone its contracted spaces. dinpi-
ness and vermin on an understanding
with it that 1t won't tum bic down dur9
ing Office hours. The postmaster is
son Of Senator COnger and an active
Republican politician. The clerk i'm
charge Of the manipulation of the mail
is MIR. Springer. lie looks and acts
much like General Francis A. Walker.
and, like that gentleman has n knack
at turning of bus ness quickly and well.
There are "crews" of men i'm the Office
all the time, night and day, week DAYS,
Sundays and holidays. One section
works from seven a. m. to three p. m,
one from three 10 eleven p. m, and one
from eleven y. IN. 30 seven a. m
The busiest time Of the day for the in
coming mail is early i'm the morning.
when the great night mails arrive.
From seven til nine o'clock the Office
seethcs with activity. Shortly before
nine 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 10 them for
distribution Thoee vehicles are Of
every description, from heavy. red. cir
cus-llke vans 20 neat covered carriaoes
which have strong suspicion Of twilight
aud Sunday excursions about them
The heaviest mail generally goes TO the
POst-oiiice Department due TO the rou-
tine correspondence between the DEPART
ment and the $1,000 postmasters Of the
country. Each postmaster has occasion
tO write at least four letters each quarter
to the department. thus involving
mass Of 200. 900 letters every ninety
days, or more than 1000 day from
this cause alone. Then there is an
equal volume Of business IN the Dead
Letter Bureau where all uncalled-for
misdirccted or unntelligible letters are
sent The other two departments that
receive enormous mails are the Interior
and The Treasury. The mail for the
IcnTion Bureau Of the Interior alone
often mounts into the thousands
AT the departments have mail
room where the letters are received and
sorted In the larger departments
these rooms have quite post Office look
Of their own. aud 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 different bureaus. When thus sorted
ths letters go 10 the chief clerks. who
go through the pile whether "couf-
deniiap' or not Heads Of departments
are not supposed TO have any guilty