Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-08-18
ANXIOUS INQUIRERS
The Treasury Deluged With Demands
for Financial Information.
Two HUNDRED LETTERS 4 DAY
Character of the E pistIes Received
From all Sections.
REPLIES THAT ARE SENT

Not In the memory of the oldest employe
of the Treasury department has the de-
Inand for ir formation on financial matters
been 80 great as al present.
Mr.. Preston, director of the mint, is
daily in receipt of about 200 letters of in
quiry about financial matters, every one
of which is replied to provided they are of
a character that can be answered. In some
cases these letters are referred to three or
four bureaus of the department, in order to
get the required information Most of the
letters can be replied to my a mare refer
ence to circular 12'. which is sent marked
so as to indicate where the information
sought can be found. Other letters contain
questions which have to be specili ally an
swered by letter. In order to give out in
formation being sought. MIR. Pres .on has
detailed one clerk whose sole duty ii is to
attend to such work, while he gives his own
time to q like employment. Great care is
taken to express no opinion III these re-
piles. and only the coolest facts are
given
Sometimes Abusive.
Now and then an abusive letter Is re-
ceiyed from a free siiverite, but they are
very rare a few days ago a letter was
received from a town in Virginia asEi &
certain questions and couched in ordinary
language, but at the end OF the page the
correspondent marked over" ON the
other side of the sheet was a deluSe of
abuse OF government officials and their
lying circulars" all of which the corre-
Spoudent said would be changed after
March !, when Bryan, he predicted, would
come in and give the people a clean ana
pure government. The questions were po-
Hteiy answered. but no attention was paid
to the deluge of abuse. About that time
member OF the republican congressional /
committee happened in the office in quest
OF Information, and Mr.. Preston thought
he saw good chance for a harmless Joke
ON his abusive correspondent.
"HeIe,' ne said, send this man Il hurcl.
Of all the Soli-DuS literature You have
Accordingly, package of all the tinancia,
literature III the possession OF the commit
tee Was later on dispatched to the silverite
under Mr.. Babc0cK's frank.
No Partially shown.
The political proclivites of inquirers after
financial truth never Influences the replies
that are given Since circular Is was got
ten out the queries of correspondents have
gone off in new directions not thought OF
when that document was compiled, thus ne
cessitating the writing of many letters to
hit eacn case. The seekers after informa-
ton 10 not always regard answer t.
tner requests as courtesy, but demand
what tnev want.
f>uiHe time ago Il correspondent IN ONO
sent for a certain publication Of the Treas
Try Department. The edition of the desired
pamphlet had become exhausted and the
request was filed until new edition could
he gotten cut. a few Gays later ne wrote
again, saying he had previously requested
the document, but now he demanded il by
the right of an American citizen and tax
payer. He was sent g card in reply an
Louncing that the edition had become ex-
hausted and informing him that he would
get the desired UamDhlet when new elti-
ton was put out.
Requests From All Sections.
The Inquiries for Information on financial
questions come from all parts of the coLn-
try. Earlier in the campaign they were
received chiefly from Ohio, Indiana, Kan
sas and Nebraska. but during the past
lew weeks the letters are confined to no
one locality At present great numbers of
them are being received from Michigan
and Pennsylvania
No discussion of financial matters in
Congress has ever resulted in many let
terS from the people to the treasury Of
fcials as are now coming in. When the
repeal of the Sherman act was under dis
cusson the only call for Information was
from Senators and Representatives, al
though the country at large WAS following
that discussion with great interest.
The letters now being received show a very
wide range of Information among the men
who are to vote next November Fhe
strangcSt feature of the letters is that the
CTudest questions frequently received
from bankers and editors of country news
papers In many instances the men who for
years have been associated with the bank
ing business show that they have paid but
little attention to financial questions beyond
mere money Setting-qucStions of interest
and Investment There is no doubt that the
American people are studying finance as
they never before studied it. and the Treas
ury ID, partment is doing what it can to dis
tribute cold facts. allowing the students to
draw their own conclusions.
No Opinions Are Given.
One class of inquirers do not get replies
that are satisfactory to them. They are
the men who write to know what the effect
of this or that kind of legislation will be,
the answer to which would naturally In
volve the giving of an opinion of which tine
department Is supposed to be devoid An
other class Is of those who refer their bets
to the department. The other day a man
wrote, saying he had bet 800 with a neigh
Dor, the winner to present his winnings TO
a charitable institution, on a certain dis
puted question. and asked the director of
the mint to act referee, saying they
would abide by his decision. Mr. Preston
declined to decide the bet, and the sports
men had to look elsewhere for a referee
III Is likely that the seekers for informa-
tlon Will increase as the campaign pro-
sresses. and 1t may become necessary for
the Treasury Department to establish q
special bureau of information, which 1t Is
IN fact now conducting.