Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-10

close sums amounting from lO cents TO
thousands of dollars, and there are thou
sands of letters referring to the war claims
and these all go to the Second Auditor Sec
retary Fosters personal mail amounts to
about $50 letters day.
An Ohio Uoman's Tale Of Woo.
These are handled by his private secre-
tary, Mr. r J. Wynae, and only the really
important ones meet the Secretary's eve.
Mr.. Foster is very charitable, but the beg
gins letters never get to him. They are
torn up as matter Of principle and thrown
into the wastebasket The other day the
wife of State Senator from Ohio, who
knew Secretary Foster quite well, came in
and took him to task for not answering her
letter asking for aid for the Ohio church
with which she was connected. Secretary
Foster looked up astonished. and said:
"Why, my dear madam, never got your
letter. You must be mistaken. did not
see it"
"Well. 1 wrote it." was the lady's an
swer, "and L stamped it, and know 1t
must have come here.
"Jt must have gone to ny private secre-
tary if it did," said Secretary Foster. Chow
about it, Mr.. Wynne?"-speaking to the
man across the table. 'Do you remember
the madam's letter."
Eyes, do" said Wvnne, "I remember it
very we'll 1 tore it up and threw it in the
wastebasket. do that with all such let
ters, and if didn't, you would be as poor
as church mouse before this administra-
tion is over"
After Green Goods Shark.
Nj. Wynne then explained to the lady
how these letters came in and she left the
Office seeing that it was impossible for Sec
retarv Foster to attend to them, but asking
Mr.. Wynne to hereafter make an exception
in her case. This he promised to do. A
vast number of letters are received by Sec
retary Foster in regard to green goods cir
culars, and the men who write these always
say they are willing to help the Secretary
ferret out the offenders for consideration.
There is little toy now sold which through
a trick enables one to apparently make
good greenbacks ont of white paper. 1t is
done with genuine bills however, and is
only clever sleight-of-hand arrangement.
The other day the Secretary received letter
telling Of this trick and saying that the
little clothes-wringer- like machine would
make any kind of bills from 81 up to $40,
that the machine would be a very bad thing
for the Government aud that he would ex-
pose the man if he were paid for it.
The private secretaries are expected to
keep beggars and cranls away from their
chiefs, and it will be surprising to many to
know that begears come right IN to the
offices of the Cabinet Ministers and try to
get at them while they are at work. These
men wear all sorts of clothes, and it is hard
TO detect the crank or the mendicant from
business man.
Pulled a Tenner Out of Foster
One called at the Treasury Department
the other day and said he wanted to see
" L l.
Mr.. Wynne received him in the ante-room
The man wore clothes of preachers cut
and he had white cross on the lapel of his |
coat. He said he was minister, and that |
he had known Mr.. Foster in Ohio and that |
he merely wanted to pay his respects to |
him. He protested that he did not want |
any Office or money, but to merely shake |
hands with his old friend, the Secretary. |
Mr.. Wynne concluded to risk him. He |
was admitted Secretary Foster did not re-
member him, but he talked in a most famil-
lar way and finally struck the Secretary tor
$40. AS Mr.. Foster took this out of his |
nocket and gave it to the man ne looked at
Wynne as if to ask how the man got in
there, and Wynne stepped up to him and
said:
Didn't YOU say that you did not want
either money or all Office, and you would |
not ask Secretary Foster for anything if 1
let you in?''
The man said, eyes, did, but I changed
my mind about the money after I got in,
and L forgot what 1 told you"
THAT seems rather thin,' said Wynne,
Is he let the man out, ''and can assure you
you won't get in again
Wanamakers Reputation for Charity.
The Postmaster General. perhaps, re-
,eives more begging letters than any other
Cabinet Minister. He is known to have an
income, and the vast sums which
he has spent on Sunday schools and other
charities have made him the target of all
he professional and other beggars of the
United States. He gets thousands of let
.ers every year of this kind, and churches
If every denomination, Sunday schools and
lecture rooms send appeals to him every
lay for aid. He gets hundreds of letters
rom cranky business men asking for lit
lie capital to star: them on the road to for
une, and his letters for charity come from
Utmost every country OF the world.
One lies before me from Germany. 1t is |
Tot translated, but there is brief connected
With it, and this brief states that ''Gottlieb
Hess, of Saxe-Meiningen, Germany, states
hat he is in the habit Of keeping daily
amily prayers and that he can play the
piano. He thinks these family prayers
night be mucn more Impressive II the sing |
ng could be accompanied by piano, but
lie is too poor to buy one and asks Mr..
Wanamaker to send him a check for enough
money to get one"
Samples of wanamaker's Letters.
. These letters are of course never pre-
ented to the Postmaster General, and it is
,nly those OF real merit that ever meet his
'ye. 1t is impossible to investigate the
,ases, and did the letters present genuine
want the fortune of Jay Gould would be too
mall to satisfy them. 1 looked over large
lumber of them to-day, in a pile which
represented the pickings of those received
~ way of illustration. Here is one from
be South:
81 am poor colored boy, not having any
,hance to school, never seen the inside of
college, not able to get books. ask you,
he great head of the Philadelphia Sunday
school, in the name of the Lord, please send
re the book called the American Cyclo-
,edis, containing 2,796 pages. 1 take all
nv idle time trying to read and write, and
think you are great and good man. Our
post Office box is 134''
One is letter from Omaha, written evil
lently by a Swede, which asks Mr.. Wana-
maker 'for S., $4 of 81, or 80 cents or %
ents, and closes with, "you are rich and I
IN poor. II you will send me some will
'e very thankful"
Booming Him for President.
Some of these begging letters quote Latin
nd not few of them quote the Scriptures
they offer to sell Bibles and paintings and
n hn 70 IT. |