Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1890-02-01
(From our regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Washington, D. c., Jan. u, 1890

Washington, d. c., Jan. 81, 1890.
When one learns that Mr.. Peters, of
Kansas, receives on an average one
hundred letters every day, there is seen
at least one reason why he writes to his
constituents that private interests must
take him back to private life. Think
of what it is to write one hundred let
tiers day when you know what to say,
and then add to that the labor of re-
ferring in many cases to the various
departments for information upon
which to base reply. OF course in
some offices, as in the Pension Office, a
reply comes to the Congressman in the
shape of letter to his constituent and
all, it generally needs is to be endorsed
and transmitted, but even this repre-
sents double labor.
OF representatives from the central
States, Mr.. McKinley's mail is the
largest, though this has only been true
during the present Congress. Owing
likewise to his position, Mr.. Reeds
mail exceeds that of any Eastern men,
Der. Mr.. Carlisle, of course, receives
the largest mail, of any Southern
member. The Western members are,
however, the most richly favored, or
cursed with correspondents.
Apart from the letters received from
pension and other claimants which
always have legitimate purpose, there
are a wonderful number of idle and
purposeless letters received by Con
gressmen, and generally answered. In
every community you will find some
man who is always offering the Con-
gressmen advice by mail. In private
life he may be the soul of mild good
nature, but he harbors about him a
wild desire to write, and in the secret
watches Of the night he indites reams
+ of wisdom to his member. Perhaps he
is an influential man in his way, and
can control a dozen votes among his
relatives, and if so, the Congressman
probably knows it, and he gets patti
ent answer.
Senator ingalls, gets more letters
than any man in the Senate, his mail
often reaching three hundred letters in
a single day. No other Senator gets
nearly so many. Senator Plumb, his
colleague, receives very large mail
and so one must conclude, considering
also Representative Peters immense
correspondence, that Kansas is great
Stota for letter writer's
To certain extent, Senator Ingalls,
succeeded John A. Logan as the man
to whom old soldiers must frequently
write about pension claims. Senator
Logans mail was simply enormous, as
regards. pension matters. 1t grew SO
burdensome during the last few years
of his life that the majority of the let
tiers of reply from the Pension Bureau
were never transmitted to him at all,
but were mailed by the bureau directly
to the claimant.
The only men in Congress who es-
cape a great mass of correspondence
are new members from remote Eastern
and Southern districts and extremely
unpopular old members serving their
confessedly last term. The amount of
labor attached to many years of such
work is appalling. The secret of sue
cessfully doing it lies in never neglect
ing it. Up to his last illness, "Sunset,"
Cox never retired at night until the
days correspondence was disposed Of
The letters that he could answer in
diligently were answered at once, be
the reply ever 50 brief To this I'M
varying promptness and to the courte-
Gus character of his communications,
he owed in no small measure his very
long and successful public career.
Now that everyone is trying his
hand at civil service reform, General
Rosecrans has turned up with bill,
which he has submitted to several
members of the House committee and,
he claims, has been received with favor.
1t provides that the clerical force of the
government shall be classified accor-
ding to Congressional districts, each
district to have its proper quota, and
when any vacancy exists, the particu-
lar Congressman entitled to the APP
pointment shall be notified. He shall
then nominate not less than four can
didates for the place, who shall present
themselves for examination, before the
Civil Service Commission and the one
passing the successful examination
shall be selected. The period of office
holding shall be six years, but the
Congressman may renominate the man
and he may, after submitting again to
a competitive examination, be reap
pointed The government clerk would
by this simple and pleasing system be
obliged to hustle around and keep in
the good graces of his Congressman, or
take the consequences at the end Of his
six years.
1t is difficult to realize that the
giants of the early part of this century
often moved the Supreme Court to
tears. Nowadays, if an ambitious young
lawyer-those old to the practice
never hazard it--attempts oratory, he
is cut short by the chief justice or some
associate with polite request to stick
to the law and the facts in the cause.
The arts of persuasion are never per-
mitted to be exercised. There must be
Just as eloquent masters of pleading as
there ever was, but the arguments be-
fore the Supreme Court are dull affairs
to an outsider. The calm, colloqual
tone, the business-like relation of facts
surprise the visitor who is present for
the first time.