Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-01-28


Of the letters pertain to what might be
! ermed 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 pers
! ally one-tenth of the letters which are
addressed to him. Indeed. fifty COM
nunications 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 contden-
tial letters.
Naturally such inscriptions as "Per-
sonal" and Private" cannot be regard
ed in opening the White House mail, bur
there are ways in which the initiated
may insure their communication reach
ing the President personally. The APP
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, confidential note from the
Presidents personal friend, Senator
| Lodge, bears in the corner the initials
II. G. L. In a majority of cases the
provisions of these safeguards is super
| tiuous 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 affixing the initials of
some one known to be close to the chief
magistrate. Such efforts never avail
however, for if the deception is not de-
tected by the assert llg clerk, the schem-
FRS letter is turned luck into the proper
channel by the PreSi ent when he detects
| its character.
The work of answering the Presidential
mail is a task of herculean proportions.
An effort is made to acknowledge in some
manner every communication sent to the
White House. Five or six stenographerS
are constantly employed typewriting the
letters dictated by the President and his
secretaries.
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-
| lent inyioIate there is reasonable surety
| that missiye to a 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
are quite as remote.
Topics sad, Funny and Absurd.
The topics discussed in the White
| House lndAl uft NdIltus tNbhtie are Sdtly
! some humorous. others absurd. Many
| writer's appeal to the President for aid
| in securing them government herths.
| The begging letters" form vast pro-
| portion, ranging all the way from the
! opportunities of professional begsars
| TO the requests of churches and chart
table organizations seeking subscriptions.
| Ii may be noted that every appeal for
aid which bears the slightest evidence of
possible worthnesS 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
| Comparatively but a small portion OF
them. however, are deemed Of sufficient
| Importance 10 warrant investigation by
the secret service.
Many of the letters addressed TO the
| President are induced by newspaper com
ment A striking evidence of this was
afforded recently when an iteIn went the
| rounds of the press 10 the effect that the
/ White House was infested with rats. No
, sooner had publicity been given HE r.
port than there was an avalanche OF .et-
ters recommending various plans for get
ting rid Of the rodents Manufacturer
| Of rat poisous and traps donated their
wares and another solicitous citizen sent
| FIVE cats which were declared 30 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 feliHes wer :
| being prosecuted by Jack. the Nhi.s
! House dog. and this brought a numb 2
OF indignant protests from sympathetic
| ladies who denounced as an outrage ;hs