St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-01-10
HE NEVER READS THEM.
The Cranks and Office Beggars Should
Bear in Mind That Cleveland
Never Sees Their Epistles.
A Little History of the Curious Gifts and
Threats Sent to the Coming
President.

ALBANY, Jan. THE general belief that
President-elect Cleveland is overwhelmed by
office begging pilgrims to this Mecca of tri-
umphant Democrats, and by office begging
letters, is not justified by the facts. OF the
many thousands of Democrats who have
visited Albany since the election to congrat.
ulate the president-elect, not dozen of them
Informed him that they were desirous of office
under his administration, and the statement
may be confidently made that not one OF
those who did give him such information
will ever realize his Office obtaining desire,
and of the many thousands Of let
tiers addressed to Gov. Cleveland
since the election, not many
have been petitions for office. From fifty 20
seventy letters addressed to the president
elect are received daily, but only few of
these are seen BY the person to whom they
are addressed. They are all opened by Col.
Lamont, confidential secretary, and Col.
Rice, assistant secretary, and these gentle
men answer the few that require replies.
The applications for offices are placed in
pasteboard box labeled applications, :" and
will be referred to the proper cabinet officers
after the Inauguration day. Most of these
applications for offices are evidently from
men who are not qualified fol the offices
they are seeking. Their letters, in
most instances are the productions of
ignorance, but all are accompanied by the
best of Endorsements. One petition for
postoffice in one of the large towns of the
Fourteenth congressional district of Illinois,
is addressed to His Majesty, Grover Cleve-
land, President-elect," and is crude in its
penmsnship, phonetic in its autobiography,
and Loganish in its grammar, but with it
are letters indorsing its writer as compe
tent as we'll as an honest man, and all these
letters were written by prominent business
and professional men.
Some of the letters addressed to Gov.
Cleveland inform him that Democratic boy
babies have been named "Grover Cleveland
Smith, and "Cleveland JONES'" and
''Grover Brown Probably hunds.d
boys born since the last November election
have been named after the president elect.
To the parents of each of his little namesskes
Gov. Cleveland writes letter in which he
encloses his photograph.
Many letters are sent with gifts, with
canes, with liquors, books, pictures. dogs,
pin cushions, etc. These letters are ac-
knowledged and the gifts are returned with
acknowledgements. Letters of invitation
are numerous, but none Of the Indications
they contain to visit different parts of the
country can be accepted. One pasteboard
box in the secretary's room is labeled ''curi-
~ In vyh n ha Ia nuo
victory of 1884 is celebrated In boiling lines Of
gushing Democratic enthusiasm. In 1t are
also letters written in Greek, in which lam
guage the writer's give valuable advice con-
cerning the best methods Of governmental
administration. In it also are letters from
inventors, from discoverers Of perpetual
motion, and from women who express their
admiration.
One woman has been writing letters to
Gov. Cleveland ever since he became gov
ernor. Her letters are received with great
regularity and she always writes as II she were
receiving answers to them, but in fact not
one of her letters has ever been replied to,
and Of late none of them are ever read by
the man TO whom they are addressed. This
fair, or unfair, correspondent does not gush.
She gives Cleveland the best Of advice in
scholarly sentences and in a most earnest
manner. Occasionally she sends little
womanly gift. Lately she sent scarf pin,
but this was returned to her. She is a Michi-
gan school teacher.
Another of the pasteboard boxes is labeled
'cranks," and contains letters of peculiar
import. Some OF them are from Republicans,
threatening death to the Democratic presi-
dent elect If he shall dare to clniin the Office
to which Blaine was, In the opinion of the
writer, really elected. Three threatening
letters are from Washington. The writers Of
each of these warns Gov. Cleveland to not
come TO the national capital. Each
Of these cranks asserts that he has
taken a vow to assassinate the president
| elect. Among the crank letters are warning
epistles written by the Democrats who have
discovered conspiracies TO murder Gov.
Cleveland, conspiraces in which Blaine, Lo-
gan and other prominent Republicans are
parties These alarmed and alarming De-
mocrats advise the president elect to be on
his guard, and TO act as II behind every tree
in the country and around every corner in
the city Republican assassins we're lurking
In great numbers, each anxious TO become
| Guiteau.
Indeed the letter boxes Of the president
elect contain, besides grave and important
| communications Of wise and patriotic cit-i
zens, who kindly furnish advice about men
and measures, many curious epstles from
many men and women Of curious minds,
aud day after day the mails continue 10 de-
liver TO Cleveland, who never reads them,
irrelevant, and foolish and curious letters.