The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1885-09-18
TONS OF LETTERS.
Missives Sent and Received by
Washington Omcials.
Fifty thousand Letters . Day Received by
the Presidsnt Aione-How the Mall IL
Assorted. Distributed and An
swcred-Post- once Notes


The President OF the United States
receives daily an average OF fifty thou
sand letters. which. as rule, are an
swercd or their receipt acknowledged
on the day Of delivery To enable him
TO cope with this vast correspondence.
much Of which requires not simply .
formal reply but considerable research
and special knowledge. the Executive
j. furnished with about ten thousand
clerks. who. for convenience. are divid-
ed into seven departments. according
A. their work has 70 do with our foreign
relations. the srmy or navy. the fiscal
machinery Of the Government. its in
ternal relations. the postal service or
the administration Of Justice The
heads Of these seven principal depart
ments are asked by the President to
meet once or twice week At the White
House and form what j. known n his
Cabinet. At these conferences the
more important business Of the several
departments i discussed so that the
work may be done promptly and har-
moniously: and so well regulated is the
system that il j. not necessary for the
President TO see personally bur very
small part Of the Executive correspond
ence. Two or three sacks only. out Of
the tons Of mail matter that Is dumped
every morning on the iloor ~ the Wash
ingson City post-oiiicc. goes to the
White House.
This post-oiiice 10 the third in the
country ia volume Of business, though
Washington i only the fourteenth city
in population. This i 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
excess of 25.WN.Ooo. or about 10000
daily. and OF this total il is estimated
about 10 per cent goes 70 the depart
ments.
The reflucn, 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 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 docn-
ments. will pass through the Office, and
the average for the summer months 10
20. 90 sacks month. Much 81 this il
registered. for greater safety. so that
the work thrown on the city force Is
prodigious.
Evidently. then. the Washington
post Office Il busy place. Il i in .
vile building, hut the clerks agree to
condone its contracted spaces. dingi-
ness and vermin on nm understanding
with il that II won't tumble down dur
ing Office hours. The postmaster j. a
son Of Senator Conger and an active
Republican polite an. The clerk in
charge OF the manipulation Of the mail
Is Mr.. Springer. lie looks and acts
much like General Francis A. Walker.
and, like that gentleman. has a knack
nj turning Oh hus ness quickly and well.
There are ..crews" of men in the office
all the time. night and day, week days.
Sundays and holidays One section
works from seven a. m. 10 three p. m.
one from three 10 eleven p. m, and one
from eleven y. m. 10 seven M
Tt UU-lt-i tltfit VI ttt hat W. -. -
coming mail is early in the morning.
when the great night mails arrive.
From seven till 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.
aud the mail is handed out 70 them Tor
distribution. These vehicles are 81
every description, from heavy, red, cir
cus-likc vans to neat covered carriages.
which have strong suspicion Of twilight
and Sunday excursions about them
The heaviest mail generally goes 70 the
Iost-oilcc Department. due 70 the rou-
tine correspondence between the depart
mcnt and the 30. 900 postmastcrs 81 the
country. Each postmaster has occasion
10 write NJ least four letters each quarter
10 the department. thus involving =
mass II 100000 letters every ninety
day.. or more than 2,Oo0 = day from
this cause alone. Then there y 81
equal volume 81 business IN the Deau
Letter Bureau, where all uncallcu-ior'