Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1894-07-07

THE PRESIDENTS BUSINESS DAY
II Begins &C $50 and Sometimes Lasts
Until After Midnight.

At $3.50 he is seated In a big, leather.
covered chair at the desk in his Office
and Private Secretary Thurber comes
in with his morning budget. For an
hour Mr.. Thurber has been busy with
the mornings mail, which consists Of
800 to 500 letters. Early in the admin
istration, when office-seekers were more
active, 1900 was not an unusual batch.
A few epistles, evidently OF a private
nature, he puts aside. Those which do
not appear to be Of any special impor-
lance he sends TO the executive clerk,
who dictates replies to a stenographer.
Others he reads, reserving for the presi-
dents eye such of them as require his
attention. OF these last there may he
a dozen or twenty.
The bulk OF his correspondence is
seen by Cleveland. II he tried
TO attend to il all himself he would have
no time for anything else. Civil an
swers are sent TO courteous communica-
tons. Autographs of the president and
his wife are mailed To most persons who
ask for them. Missives from palpable
cranks are thrown into the wastebasket.
The whole Of this business is accom-.
plished without even bothering the chief
magistrate for instructions. The same
remark applies To a majority of the let
tiers addressed by strangers to Mrs.
Cleveland. 1t is one of the penalties OF
her popularity that she is appealed to
for advice and help by people all over
the United States whom she has never
seen or heard of.
An hour add a half is the time a~vaila-
bic for going over the selected letters
with Mr.. Thurber and for giving in
structions on affairs Of immediate i'm
portance. At IL, if the day be Tues
day or Friday. the cabinet meet Each
secretary has a budget of business to
lay before the president, comprising
matters which only he can pass on and
decide. 1t is apt to be 2 or 3 p. m. be-
fore everything is disposed of and the
conference %adjourns. Then Mr.. Cleve-
land goes to lunch-too late. of course,
to meet his wife at that meal, which he
eats in solitary state. Mrs. Cleveland
usually chooses those days for the la
dies luncheon, which she gives fire.
quently during the season.
After lunch the president goes back
to his Office and works until Z o'clock,
which is dinner time. Gen. Harrison
always put on evening dress for the
formal meal of the day, but, as a rule,
Mr.. Cleveland performs that ceremony
only when there is company. Dinner
over, he and his wife have a half hours
romp with the children. Ruth is get
ting big enough now TO appreciate
larks. Then the father Of the family
returns to his desk and resumes his toll,
which continues until long after mid
night, often until /, z, or 3 a. m. When
it is considered that all of the depart
ments are constantly engaged in pre-
pairing matters for him to determine,
and that every question which comes
up in congress must reach him sooner
or later for consideration and decision,
il will be understood. He is the man
from whom all things emanate and in
whom all things center so far as the
government of the people Of the United
States is concerned.
Even the kilograms addressed to Mr..
Cleveland rarely get beyond Private
Secretary Thurber. The president, by
the way, conducts most of his daily cor.
respondence with officers of the eXecu-
tive departments by the wire which
connects the latter with the white house.
He communicates with the capitol in
the same manner A very laborious
part of his business is signing his name
to documents. Early in this admins
tration an old friend of his spent an
hour with him in his Office. At the end
- 49, 49,. a. ..n.4o. Az.
the whole, Grover. / don't know that |
envy you your job" Said AR. Cleve-
land in reply: You've no call to, jim"
Another annoyance which the president
has to put up with is inflicted by dele
cations which visit him from all sections
of the country. He has TO be polite to
them. though they may take up valua-
BILE time and bore him dreadfully. Usu-
ally they wish to urge the claims of can-
didates for Office. philadelphia Times