The Red Cloud chief., 1885-09-18
TONS OF LETTERS.
Missives Sent and Received by
Washington Officials.
FIfy Thousand Letters q Day Received by
the President AIonc-How the Mail Is
Assorted. Distributed and An
swcrcd-Post- ON &C Notes


the President Aionc-How the Mail Is
Assorted. Distributed and An
swcred-Post-U tic Notes.
The President of the tni,eI safes
receives daily an average Of fifty thou
sand letters. which, ~ a rule. are al.
swercd or their rcce pt acknowledged
on the day of delivery. To enable him
to cope with this vast correspondence,
much Of which requires not simply a
formal reply but considerable research
and special knowlc!.c the Executive
is furnished with about ten thousand
clerks. who, for convenience, are div:d-
cd into seven departments. according
rs their WORK has TO do with our foreign
relations, the army or navy. the fiscal
machinery Of the Government. its in
fernal relations. the postal scrvic: or
the admin straton of Just CO. The
heads of these seven principal depart
mentS are asked by the President to
meet once OF twice Il week ut In. White
House and form what j. known a, his
Cabinet. At these conferences the
more important business of the several
departments is discussed. so that the
work may he done promptly and har-
~moniou>ly; and 80 well regulated is the
system that il is no. necessary for the
Pres dent Ia see personally but "a very
small part OF the Executive correspond
cncr. Two or three SACKS only. ont of
the tons Of mail matter that is dumpe
every mOrnin" on tn. floor Of the Wash
Ington City Post-Ofice. goes 10 the
White House.
This post-ofice il the third in I'll,
country ia volume of business. though
Washington is only the fourteenth cIty
in population. This is on account of
the enormous official mail that pa>Sc,
through Postmaster COngcr's hands.
During the fiscal year which ended June
30. 1859. The letters received were in
excess of 2.,.uD. 900. or about 1n.ND
daily. and of this total il is sstfiEahel
about 20 per cent goeS0 The deprH
mcnts. -
The rciueyf tide Is even larger, q
the out-soi3g delivery includes all ~
publications Of the Government. 81
tistics b this field would be staggera
Thcy1would be on such q huge sca1e
thaS the figures would lose their mean.
lug. On some days. for instance. due
Sog the busy days of Congress. ZOO
large sacks. mostly of Executive dOcu-
msnts. will pass through the Office. aud
the average for the summer months il
sIk lnh s.aIa a. .na1H Nlnl AL.. -
registered. for greater safety. so ih k
the work thrown on the city force 10
prodigi0us. I
Evidently. then. the Washington
post Office is a busy place. 1t is in .
&c building. but the clerks agree 10
SN,S2n" lis contracted spaces. dinci-s
ness ant. .yermin on an understanding
with Il thatY + won't tum Nc down dur
ing Office hours The postmaster is q
son of Senator Conger and an active
Republican polite; an The clerk N
change Of the manipulation>0t ths MAJ
is Mr.. Springer. He looks and acts
much like General Francis A. WalSsrr:,
and, like that gentleman. has 4 knack
AT turning OF bus ness quickly and we'll.
There are crews" of men in the Office
all the time. night and day. week days.
Sundays and holidays. One s~cctiort
works from seven a. m. TO three p IN, ;.
ono from three to eleven p. M, and ono
from eleven p. N. to seven = m. =
The busiest time Of the day for the 10
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.
and the mail is handed out to them for
distribution. These vehicles are Of
every description. from heavy. red. cir
.cus-l'kc ans to e covered carriages
which have \ strong suspicion oftwilight
and Sunday excursions about them.
The heaviest mail generally goes to the
Fost-ofice Department. due to the rot
tine correspondence between the depart.
ment and the 10000 pOstmas:ers of the
country. Each postmaster has occasion
u write at least four letters each 9uartet
10 the department. thus involving =
mass Of 2OO. 600 letters every ninety
days, or more than 1000 = day from
this cause alone. Then there is an
equal volume of business in the Dead
Letter Bureau. where all uncalled-f for.
misdirccted or unintelligible letters are
sent The other two departments that
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 a mail
room where the letters are received and
sorted. II the larger departments
these rooms have quite n post-oiiice lock
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 sorie
the letters 60 10 the chief clerks. who
go through the pile. whether ''conti-
deu,ial'' or not Heads of departments
are not supposed to have any guilty
secrets. and thew Urtxinly have not the
time % read all the missives which
bone % them q confidential matter.
So Tie clerk rips open everything. and
many s.conidential" letters drop into
.his Waste basket Communications on
Ansinsss matters the clerk losses into
wicker Raya and these are borne By
DsDsaGs1 20 the chiefs OF division and
80 hoo1s a rooms having speci4
s0p9vbioa q - matter. II. howevpJ
49, , Oen b = important 81