The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1885-10-14
MANY TONS OF LETTERS.
ETssIvEs SENT TO AND PROM THE
WAsHTNGToN OFFICIALS.
Fifty Thousand n Day 10 the Presi-
dent AIOne-HOvy an Immense
Daily Mail is Handled.


The President of the United States re-
ceives daily an average of so, 600 letters,
which, as rule, are answered, or their
receipt acknowledged on tho day of de-
livery. To enable him to cope with this
vast correspondence, mich of which re-
quires not simply formal reply, but
considerable research and special knowl-
edge, the executive is furnishedwith about
ten thousand clerks, who, for conven-
ience, are divided into seven depart
mcuts, according as their work has to
do with our foreign relations, the army
or navy, the fiscal machinery of the gov
ernmcnt, its internal relations, the pos
tai service, or the administration of
justice. The heads of these seven prin-
clpal departments are asked by the Pres
ldent to meet him once or twice week
at the White House, and form what is
known as his cabinet. At these confer
ences the more important business of the
departments is discussed, SO that the
work may be done promptly and har-
moniously; and so well regulated is the
system that it is not necessary for the
President to see personally but a very
small part of the executive correspond
ence. Two or three sacks only, out of
the tons of mail matter that is dumped
every morning on the floor of the Wash
ington city postofice, goes to the White
House.
This postofiice is the third in the couD-
try in volume of business, though Wash
ington is only the fourteenth city in
population. This is on account of the
enormous official mail that passes
through Postmaster Congers hands.
During the fiscal year which ended June
30, 1855, the letters received were in ex-
cess of %, 900, 900, or about 20, 900 daily,
and of this total it is estimated about
seventy per cent. goes to the depart
ments.
The refuent tide is even larger for the
outgoing delivery includes all the publ
cations of the government. Statistics
in this field would be staggering. They
would be on such huge scale that the
figures would lose their meaning. On
some days, for instance, during the busy
days of Congress, 1000 large sacks,
mostly of executive documents, will pass
through the Office, and the average for
the summer months is 90, 900 sacks a
month. Much of this is registered, for
greater safety, so that the work thrown
on the city force is prodigious.
Evidently, then, the Washington post
office is busy place. The busiest time
of the day for the incoming mail is early
in the morning, when the great night
mails arrive. From till o'clock the
Office seethes with activity. Shortly be-
fore 8 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, circus-like vans to neat covered carri
ages, which have strong suspicion of
wilight and Sunday excursions about
hem. The heaviest mail generally goes
the pos totfice department, due to the
outline correspondence between the de-
partment and the 80, 900 postmasters of
the country. Each postmaster has oc-
casion to write at least four letters each
quarter to the department, thus involving
a mass of 200. 900 letters every ninety
days, or more than 1900 day from this
cause alone. Then there is an equal
volume of business in the dead letter
bureau, where all uncalled for, mis-
directed, or unintelligible letters are
sent. The other two departments that
receive enormous mails are the interior
and the treasury. The mail for the pen
sion bureau of the interior alone often
mounts into the thousands.
All the departments have mail room
where the letters are received and sorted.
In the larger departments these rooms
have quite postoifice look of their own,
and 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 go to the
chief clerks, who go through the pile,
whether 'conhdenlaln or not. Heads
of departments are not supposed to have
anyguilty secrets, ana they certainly have
not the time to read all the missives
which come to them as confidential mat
ter. SO the clerk rips open everything
and many confidential" letters drop
into his waste basket. Communications
on business matters the clerk tosses into
wicker trays, and these are borne by
HitcoCAASN " NlI Iilltlo VI ulNloAoh anu
the heads of rooms having special super
vision of the matter. If, however, the
letter is seen to be important, it is sent
up instead Of down, and eventually may
find its way to the desk of the secretary,
or even to the President. In the ordin-
airy routine, however, letter goes first
to the city postofiice, then to the de-
partment, and then, step by step, to the
chief clerk of the bureau, the chief clerk
of division, and the particular clerk who
is assigned to attend to its subject mat
ter.
Then, in due progress, the reply goes
back, on thick white letter paper of Off
oial size, elaborately headed, and gath
erlng endorsements as it proceeds red
marks aud blue marks, numbers and
dates, circles, squares, and crosses-till
it is finally signed, folded, and mailed
again. Necessarily there is some red
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