West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-10-02

tme TO read all the miSSiveS which
come to them as confidential matt,c~
30 the clerk rips open everything. and
many "contidental' letters drop into
his waste basket Communication on
business matters the clerk toSscs into
wicker trays, and these arc borne by
messengers TO the chiefs of divis on aud
the heads of rooms having special
supervisio-, Of the matter. If. however.
the letter is seen to be important il is
sent up instead of down. and eventual
~ may find its way to the dc X OF the
Secretary. or even TO the President In
the ordinary routine. however, letter
frst goes to the city post-ollicc, then TO
the department, aud then. step by step.
To the chief clerk of the bureau. the
chief clerk of division and the particu-
lar clerk who is assigned TO attend TO
it's subject matter
Then. in due progress, the reply
goes back, on thick white letter paper
OF Official size, elaboratcly headed, and
gathering endorsements as il proceeds -
red marks and blue marks. numbers and
dates, circles. squares and crosses till
1t IL finally signed. folded and mailed
again. Necessarily there is some red
tape, for unless "A rigid system was fol-
week in all the large departments.
These mysterious marks all have n
meaning, rs the careless or stupid clerk
finds out soon enough, for by them
every step is registered and blmider
traced back to its source.
The last hour or two of each office
day in the departments is devoted to
hnishing up the correspondence and
signing it. Tho latter means great
drudgery TO the Secretaries and
their responsible subordinates Some
days these officers sign their names for
two hours as rapidly rs they can write,
with n messenger at their elbow to pass
them sheet after sheet, and blot the
signature rs it is scratched of. Rarely
are the contents of the letter noticed. It
comes TO the desk through the proper
channels, and is assumed to be correct.
lfnot, the one who suffers by the error
Will be likely to complain. OF course
the more important correspondence is
trcate more carefully.
And now the reply begins it's travels.
Again the department wagons from the
heavy rcd vans To the suspiciously neat
carriages, convey the SACKS 20 the CITY
post-oitico. whore they are emptiod and
the letters hurried from clerk TO clerk.
One arranges them in piles. then the
canoeing stamp and the post mark are
put on, and then the first rough distri-
button by States and chief cities begins.
At the city post-oilice, also, a further
distribution takes place to ease the
strain on the railway postal clerks
About 10000 post offices are located by
the most direct railway lines, and let
tcrs nrerdietrihutod for these line thus
saving the railway clerks from vast
task that would have TO be done very
quickly.
The great official mail goes out TO the
North and West at ten O'clock at night.
but rs much matter as possible is sent
at four O'Clock 10 help the railway
clerks There are few buster spots than
the postal cars on the ten o'clock train
between Washington aud Baltimore.
The Government mail consists almost
entirely of sealed packages. so that lit
tic need be said of the methods of
handling the lower grades Of mail mat
ter. Some parcels go 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 n pigeon-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
IL looks easy. but il is q special art.
One calm elderly clerk who has spent
life shooting pouches, has n perfect
aim. IL is as beautiful TO watch him as
he pops the bundles into the proper
holes as it is 20 sec DR. Carver break
glass balls or Ewing throw TO Gerhardt
at second base. N y Sun