Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1903-01-24

| AC the present time any WHERE IIoul ooO
| to 1000 letters are received at the White
| House every day. In addition to this
| hundreds Of pieces Of printed matter are
received every day.
The first step in the handling Of the
White House mail at it's destination is
| taken by the trusted employee of the
| White House who makes three or four
| trips daily to the posto1tice to secure
| the mail Upon the arrival Of the let
| tiers at the White House they are turned
/ over to a clerk whose sole duty is to
F.! open the envelopes and unfold the let
| tiers. The communications next pass to
| a clerk who sorts the missives. Many
| Of the letters pertain to what might be
| termed routine governmental matters,
| and are turned over to one or another OF
| the executive departments. The great
| bulk of the Presidents mail goes to his
| secretaries, and most of it they answer
over their own signatures without trou-
| bling the busy chief magistrate with the
! matter.
Doesn't Peruse Many.
The President does not peruse person
| ally one-tenth of the letters which are
| addressed to him. Indeed, fifty COM
| munications a day is a liberal estimate
| Of the number which comes under his
| eye. The letters which by reason Of
| their seeming Importance or the doubt
| of the secretaries as to their proper dis
position do finally pass the gauntlet and
| come into the hands of the President
himself are disposed in one Of three ways.
| In the cases of many of them he turns
| the letters over to the secretaries with an
| indication of the character of the reply to
| be sent. To a few of the letters the
| President dictates replies which he signs
personally, and to a very limited num-
| Der Of personal friends he pens conhden-
| tal letters.
Naturally such inscriptions as per
sonaf' and 'Private" cannot be regard
ed in opening the White House mail, but
| there are ways in which the initiated
may insure their communication reach
| ing the President personally. The ap-
proved plan is for the writer to place his
| initials or name in autograph in the low
| er left hand corner of the envelope. For
| instance, a confidential note from the
Presidents personal friend, Senator
| Lodge, bears in the corner the initials
| HI. G. L. In a majority of cases the
| provisions Of these safeguards is super
| fuous for the clerk who opens the mail
| has come by experience to recognize in
stantly the handwriting of the relatives
and intimates of the chief executive and
their letters go through without molesta-
! ton. Sometimes individuals not person
| ally known to the President but who
have learned of the plan in vogue, seek
| to reach his ears by placing their initials
| on a missive or occasionally even to re-
sort to the rue of afixing the initials of
some one known to be close to the chief
magistrate.
Topics Sad, Funny and Absurd.
The topics discussed in the White
House mail are varied. Some are sad
some humorous, others absurd. Many
writer's appeal to the President for aid
in securing them government berths.
The begging letters form a vast pro-
portion, ranging all the way from the
opportunities of professional beggars
to the requests of churches and chart
table organizations seeking subscriptions.
1t may be noted that every appeal for
aid which bears the slightest evidence Of
possible worthiness is turned over to some
charitable organization in the community
from which it has emanated. Great guam
titles of anonymous letters are received
and a surprisingly large number of APP
peals come from persons who seek to en-
list the aid Of the President in paying off
mortgages. Finally there are the threat
ening and "crank" letters of various
kinds and the number of communications
of this kind received is simply astounding.
Many of the letters addressed to the
President are induced by newspaper com
ment. A striking evidence of this was
afforded recently when an item went the
rounds of the press to the effect that the
White House was infested with rats. No
sooner had publicity been given the re-
port than there was an avalanche of let
ters recommending various plans for get
ting rid of the rodents Manufa cturers
of rat pOisons and traps donated their
wares and another solicitOus citizen sent
five cats which were declared to be ia
nous rat catchers. The latter donation
still further complicated matters for the
correspondence corps, for report was
printed to the effect that the felines were
being prosecuted by Jack. the White
House dog, and this brought a number
Of indignant protests from sympathetic
ladies who denounced as an outrage the
supposed cruelty.
The general public and particularly the
feminine portion of it appears to cherish
the belief that, whereas there is no pos
sibility that a letter can reach the Presi-
dent inviolate there is reasonable surety
that missive to member of his imme-
date family will reach its destination
unmolested This is utter fallacy. for
every letter addressed to Mrs. Roosevelt
or any of the children passes through ex-
actly the same channel as does the mail
designed for the head of the household
and the chances that it will ever come
under the eye of the intended recipient