Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1891-08-03
TILE SCIENCE OF, TRIPLES.
How tho Clerical Portion or Diplc-
+ "a. tnacyI s Conducted Il;
Manner Of Preparing and sond,ng Omcls'
Documents In tho Do-
partmonk OF =. - .- B
State. SO L.


Ever since the department OF state
was first organized it has been the reg
ulation that all its letters shouldibo writ
ten on the same kind of papcr-a ino
bluc-white linen - about the.isizc of
foolscap. Before beginning to write the
sleft-hand edge of each sheet must b..
folded over for one inch and half AID
tho lines must not be- permitted to c1-
-roach upon this margin, in order that
press copies may be taken to greater
advantage. In the British foreign of
fec the style of handwriting employed
is required to be just the same always,
says Il writer in the Washington Star,
and the particular nffectation assumed
in this matter is series of dashy curli-
queues, with each pair of letters sepa-
rated from their Immediate neighbors.
1t would be Interesting to know what
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. ago, very likely
originated this peculiar hand for perpct-
uation ever after. Nosuch uniformity
is aimed ut in Washington, the only OBJ
5cct sought being the execution of the
ncatcst and clcarcst script attainablc
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 commani-
Gated about;. but now the invari-
able rule is to. give each sub
jcct n 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
CT do lnt ,,,;A
to reach lis destination. Modern cable
improvements having done away with
these pcrils no moro than q single copy
is ever transmitted. The old rule was
that u minister addressing Il note to the
government to which he was accredited
must never under my 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 cctcrl marks; but
this has become obsolete. Even di-
plomacy progresses, and the time may
yet arrive when the typewriter will be
put into rcquisition for such purposes.
All dispatches of International i'm
portancc arc written by Mr.. Blaine
with his own hand. Each communion
ton of the sort he indites in the shape
of Il rough draft, which is apt to be full
Of corrections and intcrlincations.
This goes to Il copyist who produces it
in fair ana beautiful script on the big
sheets of a fine linen paper already de-
scribcd. 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 OH linen
paper is omitted, the record bool, only
preserving Il transcript of it for future
reference, if needed. A single wire
connects the Office with the Western
Union, and IN operator is always ON
hand TO receive ana TRANSMIT messages
to all parts of the world ut cut govern
ment rates. When the dispatches nr.
rive. they arc handed over by tho chief
clerk to tho officials for whom they are
properly intended, and such of them as
require translation nrc given for that
purpose to Mr.. Thomas, the polyglot
official translator for the department.