The St. Johns herald., 1891-11-26
THE SCIENCE OF TRIPLES.
How tse Clerical Portion of Diplo-
 macy Is Conducted.
Manner of Preparing and Sending Official Documents in the De-
 partment Of State.

Ever since the department of state was first organized 1t has been the reg ulation that all its letters should be writ ten on the same kind of paper-a fine blue-white linen - about the size of foolscap. Before beginning to write the left-hand edge of each sheet must be folded over for one inch and half and the lines must not be permitted to en- sroach upon this margin, in order that press copies may be taken to greater advantage. In the British foreign of flee the style of handwriting employed is required to be just the same always, says a writer in the Washington Star, and the particular affectation assumed in this matter is a series of dashy curli- queues, with each pair of letters sepa- rated from their immediate neighbors
 1t would be interesting to know what individual-centuries ago, very likely originated this peculiar hand for perpet- nation ever after. No such uniformity is aimed at in Washington, the only Ob- ject sought being the execution of the neatest and dearest script attainable. Before the days of the telegraph it was customary to make each dispatch, for the sake of condensation, include as many topics as were to be communi- cated about; but now the invari- able rule is to give each sub- iect separate letter. In old times, when war ragged and vessels were liable to search and capture on the high seas by one party or another to the conflict, all such documents were sent in triplicate, copy on each of three ships, so that one might be sure to reach its destination. Modern cable improvements having done away with these perils no more than single copy is ever transmitted. The old rule was that a minister addressing a note to the government to which he was accredited must never under any circumstances write more than four lines of the body of the letter On the first page; the rest of the space is to be taken up exclusive ly with titles and ct cetera marks; but this has become obsolete. Even di- plomacy progresses, and the time may yet arrive when the typewriter will be put into requisition for such purposes.
 . All dispatches of international i'm portance are written by MT. Blaine with his own hand. Each communica- ton of the sort he indites in the shape of rough draft, which is apt to be full of corrections and interlineations. This goes to copyist who produces it in fair and beautiful script on the big sheets of fine linen lper already de- scribed. Next it is copied into the record books, after the secretary of state has signed it; but if it is to be sent by telegraph, the pretty copy on linen paper is omitted, the record book only preserving a transcript of it for future reference, if needed. A single wire connects the office with the Western Union, and an operator is always on hand to receive and transmit messages to all parts of the world at cut govern ment rates. When the dispatches ar rive. they are handed over by the chief clerk to the officials for whom they are properly intended, and such of them as require translation are given for that purpose to MT. Thomas, the polyglot official translator for the department.