Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1885-12-12

a Talk with the State Department Trsns-
lStor - Correspondence.

lStor - Correspondence.
fPittsburg Dispatch Interview.)
Mr.. Henry l.. Thomas. translator Of
the state department In Washington. has
had quite a varied experience. and now,
after travelling over n greater part Of the
globe and dc otin q large portion of his
lie L" the stud OF languages. 10 one OF
the most W deiv posted aud cultured gen.
t.cmcn IL is one $ z ,Od for une to meet
For sixteen years he has bee, con-
aected with the sta department.
aud In that time has kept up
his study OF la gua.es till to day
he can speak lueatly $ me eight or ME
aud is aD.e to make himself uDde.stO"d N
A. M y more. When u Dov he took but
i,tt e inte ct in the study OF Language -.
bat start n : cut IN lie as IA printer he
found his TT start. ami used to employ
him>eIf durins all his leisure nours W III
pouring o er the grammar of some tor
eigu tongue. Along IN tho "lft.cS" he
s aried on his ira es aud was a profess r
IA a col eye IN me o: the est India
Is anis for several years. lie iecame
tired Of this kind # "a lie however. AMI
during the SIXTIES" returned TO thi, cOun.
try. In .l>O6 he was Il pa ntcd translator
III the sta'e department by Mr.. Hamilton
Flsh. then score airy III state. lie has
served constantly e er since during all the
changes OF administrations
10 u representa- We OF this paper ne sad
MY duties ate sometime, very light and
sometimes very arduous. 1t Is hard 10
average the work. a. some DAYS there will
be "A rush Of matter, and GA others but
little My duties are confined largely "
orciaI correspondence. though ofteh let
tiers addressed 10 the presideut or some Of
the cabiuet officers are handed to me for
trans alton. Most of The countries
repre- en'el at our courts use Their W
language or French in their diplomatic
CORRESPONDENCE, Some. however. use
English.
Austria. for instance, used Its own Ian.
guage up ill about SIX year ago. when II
chan ,ed. and now all its o cial CORES.
spondence is carried on in inglish
Italy and some of the other European
countries use French. So did Germany
until the ant:pathy between her and France
became so bitter. Since then her CORE
spondence has been in pure, hard German.
The south :. mcrican countries all uso
: parish. and their o nc al Cores pOaden Q
must ali he lransia ed.
in what language are the treaties
wrilteh
In the language of the country with
wbicn trc [ eatv is made aud n Eugl sh
some Of he old treaties have been rather
loosely translated. though there nave been
no s,riOl, errors. nee a while | have
10 go la k To The Old correspondence n d
treat es of years ago. In this way I can
see how the tralslatiols were made.
some lime since | had To 20 back thirt
years 10 The Official CIR. esp audience be
tween this country and the Argentine
c. federation A great many rcfcrc ccs
were made in the correspondence to those
cd DAYS"
81 ocs the department ever re Give per
20 al letters"
.es, quite often, and from MI over
the world Every preside It VIII, has
occupied The White iiou>e since have
been IN Washington las received more or
cess letters contain NJ advice or begging
for something. ub pcts Of other coun
tries 81 On VII e ami ASK he president hrw
he Sit aid act. Many sf the foreiru let
&c CONE from germany, ASKING The
p.cSded 10 send the writer a assase
t!Che' across the coca as he wishes 10
Ia, III a citizen of this country. Nn
other man Woe from holland the other
dag II dylsing President ievcland TO pay
od The Confederate b"Dds.
-.ut II pu&ller was received some
months ago from sam "a 20 one cou Il
rel il, We had "A "out given it mp VIA n
81 nglish translation was discovered
II was pre- ~ ia r English, too. have t.
make an abstract of the lc trrs. which arc
snt TO the persons To whom they wee
d rected. some OF them are ausweted
and some are no.. We g, q good many
letters from Germans living ia this coul-
Try, They are mostly flied with gtiev
anees { s me kind
"buring zen. Grants administration
some fun ietters Wtrc received One
0i them was from IA crm n woman who
C aimed hal her cighbor threw Siop yer
l.cr back ard "A vi lie Wa ted u stop ed.
The \ O throwing may he going "n ct
f,r al | know. Tie e are 30 many inc
dents Ut tnis kinl hat / forge nj of
them. Lut these c,tecs come r. m every
VIII re tn. came from ayStiw tue
o.n,r lay written in chew The TURK
isn lang "a re ST l'np, a., 81 rs. th II H.
M { I unnta1" an Ing sh trals.i ,on ~
companies H.