The Opelousas courier., 1886-09-11
THE CAPITOL MAIL.
Maw CONGRESSMAN RECEIVE
AND SEND AWAY LETTERS.
Nocnments and Speeches Sent Away
Daily, by the Thousand--The
Correspondence of Mem
bers-PostaI Cards.

bers-PostaI Cards.
After the discussion of a great ques
4iaa the amount of mail matter that
masses through the postofices at the
House and Senate is something enor-
NOUS. writes a Washington correspond
ent of the Cincinnati I~smes-Star. Any
div. and almost any hour of tho day,
YOU are liable to see heavily loaded bags
Dnlied away from the door Of the House
and Senate, carrying tons of public docu-
mellts, speeches which have been made
ID the House and Senate, and are sent
out as campaign literature by the thou
sand, reports Of the various departments,
documents of all sorts and sizes and
kinds and characters. Even the letter
mail of the members of Congress is
something remarkable. The big mail
bags which go from the city postoficct to
tic House of Representatives postoffce
every day carry probably on an average
0f ten thousand letters daily. Ten
thousand letters a day seem a good many,
but 4 pretty careful estimate Of the mum.
Der received there shows that this figure
Is not too great. They come from all
directions and are upon ali conceivable
subjects. Your average Congressman
gets more letters, of course, from his own
district than elsewhere, but he is not.
confined to his own people and the sec
tion which he Immediately represents in
his correspondence. Many of them get
letters from all parts of the country, aud
from all parts Of the world, indeed. For
cign stamps and foreign postal-caid are
BY no means a novelty in the House and
Senate postofices.
All mail intended for members of Con-
gress issent direct from the Washington
postofice to the House and Senate post
Offices. Letters and newspapers for
members of the House and Sen tie are not
sent by carriers to the residences of mem
bers except by special directions. They
all so in huge mail bags as soon as they
reach tile ~Eostofice, and are hurried to
the offices at the House and Senate.
These postoffices, as they are termed by
courtesy, are not postolfices in the full
sense of the word; that is to say they are
net d part of the Postofice Department,
nor branch postoffices in any ems of the
word. True, you a mail any letter
there, buy postage-stamps and postal
cards, and if a Congressman wants a
money-order or a postal note he can get
it by leaving an order at these offices,
hut they are not d part of the Pc tofice
system. They are simply established
Tor the convenience of members Of Con-
grrss.
They look very much like an ordinary
country postoffice. There is q big screen
filled with letter-bags, and in the mid
die 3 window, behind which stands an
official who passes out the mail just about
as the Postmaster at a country postoffice
hands out the mail to a waiting populace.
Each member has his own box, and in il
IRE put his letters and papers. A thou
sand times a day on an average a page
rushes breathlessly into the p~ostofice
and yells at the top Of his voice: Give
me Nr. SO and Sos letters and papers. !
If he does not get them at once he yells
again, and keeps it up with ~pertinacity
until Mi. IS mail is deposited into
his hands, when he ~leisarely wends his
Say back TO the House. The registered
letters. however, he does not get, for
they are too precious to be trusted TO
1850 taiaDs y a sn ! 'o saassanaar 4 III
HI Z s1a.a a aeas eas ,aoa4a4ass sshosa b,,s.
$500 4 !. Is 9 49, i e ,see;o,,s naela ges
sslasss Z Il e s 49, : "a TX IA rdcs; Hsa,s :
aas1ag s1 ~ 49, an asiiyer nacla5e
$3.50 u T,sa nan,her 81 Thasa saa;s.
tered packages which reach the members
= Il 49, ssss Nh al Z FL ccntssss goe,,n,ants which
Ill s.a { NJ = All aslpa III T. a,Iers vii send, and
Sass:aas d rsn.rta, - IL ;ntr,,sted Il
NV sSsas ssa; &, a,a;f a q II & nroaahle
- xsss ~ a,sa.ae.a n,,n,har Il letters AMI
$3.50 ~ 81. as IN samsns,ars dal;yered 4
nsr,hsrs III IN Wa,,se and senate i
1919 ar o,.;ts sranty fhausand A. e
4bs 3,,y,baT II naakaaes that leave the
Hn,,sa and ses,ate nnstoffieesfo for ill nart.
u Nm nm world ma eoarfrys il would 81
si,nasf sanass;bIe "a make Al estimate
Wa,s 80 I'll liz figures IL tha nun1bej
II sass MI i q tRe nackages and let
Sers II would Be practically impossible.
Tic D0stal-card mail arriving at the
p9stofilces IS quite large also, tnou8n no