The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1885-09-18

80. sh' VAh'f TWO departments tnnL
receive enormous mails are the Interior
and the Treasury. The mail for the
Pension Bureau Of the Interior alone
often mounts into the thousands.
All the departments have q mail
room where the letters are received aud
sorted. In the larger departments
these rooms have quite post-oilice 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
the letters 90 10 The chief clerks. who
go through the pile. whether ..conii-
Dental or not Heads Of departments
are not supposed to have any guilty
secrets, and they certainly have not the
time TO read all the missiyes which
come 70 them as confidential matter.
30 the clerk rips open everything, and
many confidential" letters drop into
his waste basket Communication on
business matters the clerk losses into
wicker trays. and these are borne by
messengers To the chiefs Of division and
the heads Of rooms having special
supervision Of the matter. II. however,
the letter i seen TO be important ii Is
sent up instead Of down. and eventual
~ may find its way to the desk of the
Secretary, or even TO the President In
the ordinary routine. however. letter
first goes TO the city post-oilice. then TO
the department, and then. step by step.
10 the chief clerk OF the bureau. the
chief clerk Of division and the particu-
lar clerk who il assigned to attend to
its subject matter.
Then. in due progress, the reply
goes back. on thick white letter paper
Of official size. deliberately headed. and
gathering Endorsements n II proceeds
red marks and blue marks. numbers and
dates. circles. squares and crosses-till
it j. finally signed. folded and mailed
again Necessarily there is some red
tape. for unless rigid system was fol-
lowed there would be fatal confusion in
a week in al the large departments.
These mysterious marks all have q
meaning. a the careless or stupid clerk
finds out soon enough. for By them
every step il registered and blunder
traced back 70 its source.
The last hour or two OF each Office
day in the departments Is devoted to
finishing up the correspondence and
signing il The latter means great
drudgery to the Secretaries and
their responsible subordinates. Some
days these officers sign their names for
two hours a. rapidly a. they can write.
with messenger at their elbow 10 pass
them sheet after sheet and blot the
signature as it is scratched of. Rarely
are the contents OF the letter noticed. 1t
comes 10 the desk through the proper
channels. and is assumed TO be correct.
lfnot. the one who suffers by the error
will be likely 10 complain. OF course
the more important correspondence is
treated more carefully.
And now the reply begins its travels
Again the department wagons. from the
heavy red vans to the suspiciously neat
carriages. convey the SACKS 10 the city
post-oiiicc. where they are empticd and
the letters hurried from clerk to clerk.
One arranges them in piles. then the
canceling stamp aud the post mark are
put on. and then the first rough distri-
button by States and chief cities begins
distribution takes place to ease the
strain on the railway postal clerks
About 5000 post-oilices are located by
the most direct railway lines. and let
tiers are distributed for these lines. thus
saving the railway clerks from vast
task that would have to be done very
quickly.
The great oilicial mail goes out to the
North and West at ten o'clock at night.
but as much matter as possible is sent
ut four O'Clock 10 help the railway
clerks There are few buster spots than
the postal cars en- the ten o'clock train
between Washington and Baltimore.
The Government mail consists almost
entirely OF sealed packages. so that lit
tie need be said OF the methods Of
handling the lower grades Of mail mat
ter. Some parcels 90 open. however.
and these are handled in connection
with newspapers. samples. books.
shoes. horned toads and other bulky
articles The size Of these parcels does
not admit Of pigcon-hole basis Of dis
tribution. The clerks therefore stand
| In the arena Of mimic amphitheater
OF labeled pouches rising about them in
overlapping tiers. and toss the bundles
into the gaping mouths Of the sacks
II looks easy. but II is special art
| One calm elderly clerk. who has spent
life shooting pouches. has q perfect
aim. 1t as beautiful TO watch him as
he pops the bundles into the proper
holes a. IL il TO see DR. Carver break
glass balls or Ewing throw 10 Gcrhardt
4 A.s..