Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-04-30

How Some Of the congressman Do Theil
Errands In the Departments.

How Some Of the Congressman Do Thei,
Errands In the Departments.
The cunning man in Congress is he who
knows how to avail himself Of every opportu.
nifty that the contrivances Of Uncle Sam afford
for the Sinking of arduous labor. One of the
greatest plaques Of congressional life, which ha,
been bemoaned for many years, is the obliga-
ton which devolves upon members Of Congress
to hunt up pension cases and claims and all
sorts Of information from the departments.
Their department work is probably more
laborious than anything they do at the Capitol,
and their correspondence usually relates more
to this than to legislative affairs Even base
ball and horse races or defective fences at home
has not done as much to deprive the House of a
character from time 10 time as tho necessity
for members to absent themselves from the
Capitol while ''legging" it about the depart
ments. 1t is always 9 valid excuse, after a call
OF the House, for a member who has been
absent to explain that he has been to the PEN
sion Office, the treasury or to the Interior De-
partment. and. OF course, the most popular ex-
cuse Is that he has been to the pension Office.
This Congress, however, has opened a way for
the avoidance Of much of this "legging." and
while this means is not known to all members
those who have been shrewd enough TO dis
cover it are growing fat in the enjoyment Of
their good fortune.
now IT rs DONE.
In a little window sink in the main corridor
of the House there is table inclosed by an
iron fence armed with sharp spikes and be-
hind this sits the government telegrapher who
fingers the key which keeps him in commune
cation with the White House and with every
department. in the government. Heretofore a
man occupying the place Of government teleg-
rapher has been teegrapher and nothing
more, and the wires have been made use of
only for short dispatches of inquiry on
official business which members have taken
their time to write hastily. But in the
organization of the present House a change
was made in this position, and Congress has
now discovered that it is entertaining an angel
on the wires. The young man who was ap-
pointed to this position after hot contest IS
stenographer as well as telegrapher. and,
what ls still more important. he can telegraph
freely and accurately from his notes without
first transcribing them.
QUICK COMMUNICATION.
Members have been gradually getting on to
this fact and there are now many Who as soon
as they get letter OF inquiry from one of their
constituents regarding information frcm any
enc OF the departments, will quietly slip eff to
the telegraph desk and dictate long letter of
inquiry 10 the stonographer, who sends it free
OF charge instantly by wire to the OIL
cial addressed and receives reply in
the same manner. nyen letters OF three
and four hundred words are dictated
and sent in this way, and sometimes q member
sits there and holds a conversation with heads
of bureaus AZ satisfactory as if they were talk
ing face to face. The members who have dis
covered this boon find that it is very seldom
necessary for them to visit department and
they are not over anxious for their colleague
on the floor to discover the source of their re-
Lief and satisfaction. But the thing is getting
so general now that the new employe is kept
constantly on the jump.