Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-20

N~SN~NSSS -
enormous pile of correspondence relating t
past struggles for Federal offices. Their
are great stacks of letters, most of which
like similar ones nowadays, were unsuccess
full in their pleadings.
WASHINGTON, May 19.-Down in tn
sub-cellar of the Treasury Department
underneath the west hall of that building
are some hundreds of thousands of buried
hopes. In those vaults are kept the book
and papers of the mail and files division
which comprise the record of all the doing'
of the department of every sort, and that il
the final resting place of all applications fol
Office and recommendations of applicants
There are stacks of them, and of course the
great majority of them were unsuccessful
Letters which were written to President
Polk, or Tyler, or Buchanan, asking for an
Office and in full confidence that the office
would be given, are slowed away in file
box and growing dim with age, while the
writer's have died long ago, without ever
having drawn dollar Of that money which
they expected to get as workmen for Uncle
Sam.
There are not very many papers there Of
date previous to 1888, in which year the
Treasury building and its contents were de-
stroyed by fire. Only few books and pa
pers were saved. But since that date nearly
every scrap of writing that has come into
the building has been preserved. No paper
is destroyed, and, by law, the destruction of
any paper filed in the department is pun
ished by imprisonment in the penitentiary.
ONLY ONE WAY OF ESCAPE.
The only way in which paper can escape
when once it has come within the walls of
the Treasury building is by permission OF
the Secretary, given to some applicant for
Office to withdraw his papers, and that priv
ilege is sparingly given, and never if charges
are filed against the applicant.
There are charges and proofs on file in
those vaults against men who have made
every possible effort to get and destroy
them, and who would give thousands of
dollars to get possession of them. Some
times the charges are against men now dead,
and their families make the effort to clear
away the stain from their names. OF course
it is only when the charges are true, or
have some foundation in fact, that such eff
forts are made, but there are tons of charges
and abuse on file there against men who are
innocent. Officials who have been long in
the department say that the great majority
of charges made against applicants are base
less and malicious.
Some of those old applications for office
are very curious, viewed in the light of
these days of mechanical Office seeking.
There is an application of George T. Bacon,
or h.
Thomas Corwin on April 81, 1881, asking
for the. land Office in his town. He pre-
faces his letter by the statement that his
father was resident of Ohio and a friend
ofsthe Secretary; then he says he is lame,
and not able to do much work; that the Of
fee is little one anyway, only worth $500
a year, and closes his appeal with these
words, which sound most ingenious now:
II know it would be asking you good deal
to request you to turn man out of Office to
make room for me, but / believe such things
are sometimes DONE" 1t will be seen that
even then the 'Ohio idea" was strong, and
if an applicant was not an "Ohio man." he
thought it important to be the son of one.
CAN FIND ANYTHING.
About ten days ago it became necessary,
in order to establish the title to some prop
named Coltman, who was an applicant for
office in the Treasury in 1888. After search
ing everywhere else, the required evidence
was found among these papers, with the ap-
plication for Office. He was recommended
for the place by John P. Van Ness, who was
then a Congressman from New York, and
whose name is now remembered here by the
house which he then occupied, called to this
day the "old Van Ness mansion" though
now devoted to ignoble uses.
In his letter Mr.. Van Ness says the usual
things about Mr.. Coltman's integrity, abili-
ty and fitness for the place, and adds: "Be-
sides, he is very friendly to the administra-
tration, and ready to prove it." An insight
into the curious ofice-seeking ideas of those
times is given in a postscript to the same
letter, in which Mr.. Van Ness says he has
been asked to recommend another gentle
man, whom he names, who is, he says, 'of
politics." Nevertheless he says
make satisfactory officer.
The applications for Office, numerous as
hey are, comprise but small part of the
matter contained in these vaults. Some idea
IF the books and papers there can be gath
cred from their weight. Uutil about two
years ago they were all stored in the attic of
he building when they were moved into the
present quarters. The weight of the papers
alone was taken. 1t was little over 300
,ons. From this it was estimated that the |
bound books and documents weighed about
20 tons. 1t required five months to make
he change of quarters. Not paper or book |
vas lost in the operation.
HOW OLD COPIES WERE MADE.
Among the books one of the largest circu- |
- - @ho hon.1
press copies of all the letters written by any |
'fficials of the department since letter-press |
,opies have been made. Before copies were |
made by press, regularly written copies
gere made and kept. Then there are sew
raj books of original letters written by
arly Secretaries OF the Treasury. One
,ook contains the letters written by Secre-
aries of the Treasury to the collector of the
,ort of Baltimore from 1890 to 1880. Those
lated in 1899 are signed by o. W. Walcott,
N 1901 by Albert Gallatin, in 1888 by RIB
Tarrey. An indication of the light duties
# the Office in those days is found in the
act that very many of these letters are,
throughout, in the handwriting of the secre-
aries themselves. Many of them are signed
imply with the initials of the secretary.
Not long ago letter was found in those
,iles which affirmed the title to very large
ract of land IN Michigan. The Secretary
lad written letter to President Polk con-
erning some public lands in Michigan, and
that certain portions be re-
erved from sale. At this time such letter
Eould be properly filed, and the Presidents
eply, with his recommendations in the
ase, would be in separate letter addressed
0 the Secretary, but then President Polk
imply wrote his recommendations on the
ack of the letter, signed his name to them,
nd sent the whole thing back without the
cratch OF pen anywhere left in his office
0 show that he had taken such action.
The records in Michigan indicated that