Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-07
THY Have Not All Left the City
Yet.
WAITINGFOR THEPRESIDENTS RETURN
The Executive, However, Can Be
Easily Reached.
NEXT WINTERS RECEPTIONS

The impression may be had that the
office seekers have disappeared from Wash
ington, now that the President is out Of
town. That is a mistake. They are not
much in evidence. but they are here still
in considerable numbers. They are no
longer at the hotels or the first-class CEN
t!ally located boarding houses. To cheap
and secluded quarters they have retired
and to many it is a blessing to be relieved
of the necessity Of keeping up appearances
Their presence is disclosed only by a pitt
full wall now and then about the civil serv-
ice law and declaration in the name of
the people that the future will look gloomy
for the republican party if heroic patron
age treatment is not speedily resorted to.
The nearby country resorts and the cheap
boarding places on back streets hold in
hiding horde ready to rush into action
soon as the President returns. The
President will find then that the starving
cut process has not worked. He has prob
ably calculated that six weeks wait, with
him away, would tax the resources as
well as the patience of his many torment
ors; but instead Of that they have simply
gone on short rations. Cleveland is the
Only man who ever commanded office seek
ers to leave Washington. He told them
that if they cid not 90 home and stay
there they would not get anything. Many
of them went and still found that they
cid not get anything, but us Il rule Dy the
time they discovered that going home did
not work they were not so fixed financially
as to come back, their friends not being will
ing to advance money for a second venture.
Some only pretended TO 80 home and after
being in hiding for several weeks without
results appeared again and renewed Inc
attack SCme of these never did ger home
any more. President Mckinley does not
order the Office seekers around as did Cleve-
land, and probably some of them will be
worse off for it. He is suave, courteous
and cnnsiderate, even sympathetic. in his
manner toward them, and grants them the
privilege Of remain ing in Washington as
long as they want to and of holding to
their hopes until they are threadbare.
A COld-BlOoded Card.
Secretary Porter, who has a much less
sympathetic nature than has the President,
has adopted a rather cold-blooded way CT
responding to letters sent to the President
by office seekers. 1t is at once calculated
to relieve himself from letter writing dur
ing vacation, and also to discourage letters
being sent directly to the President while
at his present retreat. He has printed in
blue letters on little white card in SUBJ
stance this:
Your letter to the President of recent
date has been received and has been re-
ferred to the department having charge of
the natter"
Even the signature of Mr. Porter as sec
retary to the President is printed on the
card, and the expression "of recent date"
saves the necessity of his having even to
write In date line. All that has to he
done Is to take one of these cards out of
the Isck that has been printed and put it
In an envelope with the address. 1t is like
one of those buttons some persons wear on
their coats with printed legend
Ialked TO DEATH, or, Go tell your trou-
bleS to a policeman"
If is a frip TO
is the display of one of those buttons TO
conversation. After receiving one of those
CARDS, the office seeker either stops writing
a!together, or sends future letters to the
w hite House, or to the department. 1t has
happened, however, that some of thess
cards rave been misfit, and that some
nave gone to persons whom the President
himself would have responded to in a less
abrupt and formal manner
Easy to Reach the President
The mail at the White House has been
extremely heavy since the President has
been away. 1t has been running between
TWO hundred and two hundred and fifty
letters day. These letters all come ad-
dressed to the President and are opened
py the executive clerks very few of
them are such to demand the immediate
attention of the President in person These
are put in an executive envelope and sent
are sent to the several departments or
placed on file, where they may rest undis-
turbed for heaven knows how long
Though miles lie between Washington and
Lake Champlain, 1t takes practically no
longer to communicate with him than II
does when he is In his office at the White
House. The only difference is that he is
not accessible to as many persons. 1t NAV
take anywhere from half an hour to an
hour and half to communicate with him
when he is in the next room. In as short
a time he can now be placed in direct COM
muntcation with any member of his cabinet
or other person in Washington with whom
he may want to consult, and anything it is
deemed desirable for him to know can be
communicated to him almost instantly.
Every day during Office hours Mr.. Mont
gomery, one of the executive clerks, who is
a telegraph operator, has a telegraph in
strument at his side. Communication from
this office can be had with any part of the
country where the telegraph is in use. If
something were happening in any part of
the country the President wanted to know
about he would make inquiry through the
White House, and that Office would be
placed at once in communication with the
place to be heard from, whether it were
Key West or California. If cabinet off,
Ger wanted to talk with the President a
few minutes would suffice for the tele-
graph company to give the White House a
clear wire to Lake Champlain. and the CON-
versation could be carried on through the
operators in perfect security the Secretary
sitting near the instrument at one end and
the President at the other, If SO desired,
and questions and answers could be passed
back and forth with almost the promptness
OF direct conversation.
Next Winters Receptions.
While the executive house cleaning is in
progress during the Presidents absence,
plans are being thought over for the Off
cial receptions of next winter, which will
be the first of this administration. The
purpose is to devise some means of doing
away with the tremendous crush at the
doors which characterizes all of the card
receptions at the White House. One of the
first steps to be taken to this end will
probably be to increase the number of re-
ceptions, and to strictly limit the attend
ance to persons having cards. Usually one
person having a card takes in a party.
This will be done away with. The next
thing to be done Is to provide a temporary
entrance for receptions west of the portico,
SO that the guests may enter there and as
semble in the state dining room, passing
from there through the red and blue par
lors, and, after shaking hands with the
President, into the east room, and from
there to their carriages without crosSfpu