, 1885-09-23
a Wan OF MANY tongues
, rain with the State department Trans.
lator Correspondence.

lator -torresp ondenoe.
lpntsburg Dispatch Interviewl
Mr. Henry l.. Thomas. translator Of
the state department in Washington. has
had quite n varied experience, and now,
after travelling over a greater part of the
globe and devoting n large portion Of his
life 10 the study Of languages. is one Of
The most widely posted and cultured gen
tlemen 1t Is ones good fortune TO meet
For sixteen years he has been con
nectcd with the state department.
and la that time has kept up
his study OF languages till to day
he can speak %fluently some eight Or nine.
and is able to make himself understood in
AS many more When a boy he took but
little interest in the study of languages.
but starting out in life us "A printer he
found his first start. and used to employ
himself during all his leisure hours with
pouring O er the grammar Of some for
eign tongue. Along in tho "nfties" lie
started on his travels. and was IA professor
in II college in one of the West India
Islands for several years lie became
tired of this kind Of a life. however, and
during the "~sixties" returned to this coun.
try. In 1866 he was appointed translator
In the state department by Mr.. Hamilton
Fish. then secretary Of state. lie has
served constantly ever since during all the
'uhuBcs oil NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..
To a representative OF this paper he said
My duties ale sometimes very light. and
sometimes very arduous. 1t is hard to
average the work, as some days there will
be a rush of matter, and on others but
little. My duties are confined largely TO
Official correspondence, though often let
tiers addressed to the president or ONE Of
the cabinet officers are handed to me for
translation Most of the countries
represented at our courts use their own
language or French in their diplomatic
correspondence Some. however. use
English
Austria, for instance. used its own Ian
guage up till about six year ago. when ii
changed. and now NIL its Official CORES
%spondence is carried on in English
Italy and some Of the other European
countries use French. SO did Germany
until the antipathy between her and France
became so bitter. Since then her corre-
%spondence has been in pure, hard German.
The South American countries all use
Spanish, and their official correspondence
must all be translated. "
In what language are the treaties
writtenYT
in the language Of the country with
which the treaty is made and in English.
Some of the old treaties nave been rather
loosely translated, though there ave been
no serious errors. once In a while | have
TO go back to the old correspondence aud
treaties of years ago. In this way | can
see how the translations were made
Some time since | had to 90 back thirty
years to the official correspondence be
tween this country and the Argentine
confederation A great many references
were made in the correspondence 10 those
old days.
Does the department ever receive per
sonal letters?"
YES, quite often, and from all over
the world Every president who has
occupied the White House since | have
been in Washington has received more OF
less letters containing advice or begging
for something. Subjects of other coun
tries often write and ask the president how
he should act Many Of the foreign let
ters come from Germany. asking the
president to send the writer a passage
ticket across the ocean. as he wishes to
become a citizen of this country. An
other mar wrote from Holland the other
day advising President Cleveland to pay
oil the Confederate bonds.
But II puzzler was received some
months ago from Samoa No one could
read it. we had about given it up when
an English translation was discovered.
1t was pretty fair English. too. have to
make an abstract Of the letters, which are
sent to the persons to whom they were
directed Some of them are answered
and some are not We get a good many
letters from Germans living in this coun-
try. They are mostly filled with griev-
ances of ZONE kind.
During Gen. Grants administration
some funny letters were received. One
of them was from a German woman who
claimed that her neinhbor threw slop over
her backyard aud she wanted it stopped.
The slop.throwing may be going on yet
for all | know. There are so many Incl
dents Of this kind that l forget all of
them But these letters come from every
where. One came from Palestine the
other day written in Hebrew. The Turk
lsh language stumps all Of US. though.
But fortunately an English translation &C
companies Il.