The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1897-05-09
Especial Correspondence.1

Requests For Souvenirs and OHices-Sift-
ing the Letters-HOw They Are Answered
Especial Correspondence
WASHINGTON, May 4.-The mail of
the president of the United States re-
ceives no more consideration from the
postoffice department than the mail of
any citizen. All official mail is handled
together, but it is distributed no more
rapidly and delivered no more promptly
than the mail addressed to a shoemaker
Or a merchant or millionaire. There
is discrimination in the handling of two
classes Of mail in the Washington local
postoffice A special delivery is made at
night to the hotels and special night
delivery is made along Newspaper row.
The transient visitor and the newspaper
correspondent at the capital are favored
above the president of the United States.
The official mail is separated from
the unofficial mail in the local postoffice,
for the convenience of the clerks and
UZrTiTrs.-A" No delivery Of mail is made
to the White House Or to any of the
departments. Each department has
wagon, which is sent to the local post
Office two or three times a day for the
mail. The letters have been separated
in the pestoffice, but they are rehandled
in the mail division Of the department
by a special set of clerks, and by them
distrib uted to the offices for which they
are intended The state department
wagon takes the presidents mail to the
White House on its first trip, about s
n5Clonly IN +lo A r.3o1Ao11
and at O'Clock in the afternoon
mounted messenger from the White
House comes to the postofice, puts the
mail in his saddle bags, and returns to
the executive offices. This messenger is
a colored man, who has been in the
service of the White House through half
a dozen administrations
Where 1t Mostly Comes From.
The Presidents mail does not fill
very big bag, though it includes several
hundred letters day. The biggest mail
is that which is received on the early
trains from the west and east, which is
taken to the White House by wagon.
At the White House this mail is as
sorted by three clerks-Pruden, Cortel-
you and Young. They are all veteran
employees of the White House, and the
routine of executive business they know
much better than the president Pru-
den is the gray haired, digniied man,
with close cropped mustache, who takes
the presidents messages to the capitol
The first sitting process through which
the letters go is their assortment ac-
cording to size and external character.
Big, fat envelopes which look as though
they contained petitions, envelopes from
the departments which contain only for
NAL communications, envelopes whose
addresses are illiterate or show in some
way that they are from persons having
no personal or official relations with
Mr.. Mckinley, are put i'll a pile by
themselves. Envelopes which bear the
frank of congressman, or which show
some evidence Of being personal or from
men of prominence, are laid aside for
the personal inspection of the president
or his secretary. But understand, if
you are addressing letter to the presl-
dent, that Personal" or Private, "
or Confidential, written ON the en-
velope will not be respected by the pres
ident's clerks. The president has marks
by which his personal mail is distin-
guished. No letter which does not bear
private mark gets past the presidents
secretary, even if it passes the executive
clerks. So, if you have anything of a
strictly confidential character to say to
Mr.. Mckinley, you would better come
to Washington and say it. If you put it
ON paper, it is bound to be seen by the
presidents people,
When the mail has been sorted the
part of it which is set aside for the
presidents secretary is taken into Mr..
Porter's room. Mr.. Porter sits this
mail. If there are any letters personal
to the president in it, he puts them on
the presidents desk unopened. The
others he opens. In some cases the sig
nature tells him that letters are for the
president personally, and those he leaves
unread. Most of the letters he reads and
few he lays aside to answer. The 9TH
ers he refers back to the clerks with
general instructions. The answers to
these letters are phrased by the clerks,
but Mr.. Porter reads them later and
signs them with his own hand.
The Important Letters.
Not more than 10 or 10 letters get
past Mr.. Porter to the president unread.
OF the other mail not more than 10 OF
IL letters are answered personally by
Mr.. Porter. OF the letters which the
president reads be may answer one with
the pen. 1t must be letter of very
grave, confidential nature to receive
that consideration. The remaining nine
or ten letters the president returns to
Mr. Porter, saying in each case what
reply is to be made. Mr. Porter dictates
the answers to his stenographer, and
the president reads and signs them later.
The mail which Sits through the Off
.cial boiling cloth and reaches the pres
ident is the most important grist of the
postoffice mill, but the 'tailings" are
the most amusing. These are the letters
written by men, women and children
in all parts of the country, and their
style is as varied as the character of the
writers. The envelopes are addressed il