Savannah morning news., 1885-01-18
PEOPLES AUTOGRAPHS.
THE CRAZE AS ILLUSTRATED
AT WASHINGTON.

Congressional Pages Turning a Pretty
Penny in Securing Those of the Mem
bers and High Government OmciaIs-
Fac Smiles of Some of the Popular
Signatures.
CogrssDOndence Of the Morning Neeos.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16.-The autograph
hunters are hard at wolk again. Itis a
curious place, is Washington. Every
body who comes here must carray away,
ne thinks, something with him to remind
him OF his visit, and to show his friends
that he has rubbed against greatness
somewhere. If ne can get chip of the
Washington monument he is content,
or if he does not get this he sets about
securing somebody's autograph. In this
he is quite successful, for scarcely any
body in official life Will refuse his auto
graph to a respectable looking person,
except at the bottom of check or official
document of some scrt. OF course, the
greatest demand is for the autograph of
the President. Letters come from every
direction every day asking his autograph.
They are sifted out of the general cores
pOndence by the private secretary, who
attends to the reception, opening and
arranging of his mail, and throws aside in
a heap. each marked on the envelope
"autO.D to indicate that it is a request for
an autograph. When the days mails have
been worked over these letters, which are
sometimes a dozen or twenty in a day,
are laid aside and opportunity awaited
to present them to the President for his
signature. They are usually placed in
the hands of Charley LOeff1er, the
Presidents usher, who watches the oppOr-
tunity when the Presidents not engaged or
tired. and obtains the coveted autographs.
Sometimes the autograph is affixed to the
letter requesting it, but usually it is
written, or rather scrawled, on a card,
which the experienced Charley has ready,
waiting the moment when he may catch
the President with sufficient leisure for
this work. Often a hundred or two of
these requests will accumulate before the
President gets time to attend TO them.
Sometimes they VIII run even
higher than that, and often his
hand gets tired with the mo-
nOtOnOus scraWl of Chester A. Arthur,
which he has affixed in an official way
perhaps hundreds OF times during the
day. 1t must not be supposed, however,
that the President signs everything that
bears his name or even that which ap-
pears to bear his ''autOgraph." There
are probably many people in this country,
especially in the West, who are fOndly
supposing that they have the Presidents
own signature. written by his own hand,
simply because the name as signed tC
some official document looks like
Mr.. Arthur's own signature. 1t would
| he q physical lmpossibility for Dim tC
sign ali the documents required to bear
his name, and at the same time attend tC
the more important duties OF his office
The land warrants alone, for instance, are
! 50 numerous as TO take constant signing
of the Presidents name for several hours
every day. Then there are many Other
cases Of q similar sort. 50 there are GER
tain clerks whose duties are simply tC
sign the Presidents name for him. AnC
they fail into way of making the sigma
ture like his, because it is his in all essen.
tial particulars, and so it might as wei
be like his in appearance. The result is
that thousands OF signatures Of the Presi
dent are not written ny him. This does
not apply to the question Of autographs
sent in response to requests. Those are
regarded as not the sort that may be dele.
gated.