Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-01-19
CAPITAL CHAT.
The Vast Proportions Of a
Congressman's Mail.
Only Committee Chairmen Have
Capitol Offices.
The Movement for a Building with
Offices for All.

"iieeSi ~ oSiidtoi anu members uuT-
Ing every session of Congress. The
Eumber daily, could they be counted,
would be found reaching into the thou
sands. Every mail train out Of Wash
ingtOn from early in December till the
time that Congress adjourns the fol-
lowing spring, Is loaded down with
Congressional letters. There is not n
town or hamlet in the land that sooner
or later does not have it's quota of these
letters written at the Capitol. II is Il
great industry that thrives in connec-
ton with legislation. 1t will never end
as long as the government stands, I'M
less in the fulness of time the tele-
phone and telegraph are made to fill
the functions of the mails.
Four hundred or five hundred type
writer's are humming most of every
Gay to turn out this great grist of Con-
gressional letters. Other officials Of
the government must write letters, but
none by any means as much as the
senators of the United States anH'
members of the House of Representa-
tives. Many of these typewriters arc
running from morning to night and the
task is never done, for when Congress
Gdiourns they are toted away to the
home towns of statesmen and there do
duty till Congress assemblies again.
There is an army Of clerks to operate
these writing machines. OF course all
CT them arc not constantly engaged
nut some Of them work day in and day
out. without ever being able to get very
far ahead of the questions and re-
quests that come pouring in from dis
tant thronS.
AS rule the Western members have
Il vast deal more letter writing to do
than the eastern and the New Eng
land members. In the West there is,
If possible, greater freedom in address,
ing members of Congress for every
conceivable sort of thing. In the older
Congressional districts, people gener-
ally have more distinct understand
ing of what the limitations of Il Con-
gresham are and govern themselves
accordingly in writing letters. But il
is also true that. as a rule, western
members have much more work to do
than Eastern members. Their districts
are in undcveloped country. There is
a vast deal of business before the lard
Office, Il vast deal of business about
WI csI ltSeI anu IL VAST uGdl VI
business about mineral matters which
never hothcr Eastern congressman in
the least. All those affairs increase
the amount Of correspondence so that
il is not rare for Western senators and
members TO engage separate offices
somewhere uptown from which they
conduct most of their correspondence.
Occasionally they find it necessary to
engage additional clerks; not only to
take care Of their letters but to help
look after the errands of their constft-
ucnts before the departments.
1t wasn't many years ago that one
frequently saw members of the House
industriously perninS letters by hand.
as they sat and listened to the pre-
ceedings. That has almost entirely
passed out. 1t is. il anything, regarded
as somewhat bad form to be writing
letters at ones desk while the House is
in session. The occasion for it has also
gone in the main, because Congress has
voted an allowance for clerk hire to
every member and it is no longer i'm
pcrativc for him to be constantly writ
ing in person if he wants to keep up
with his mail. Then nowadays the
~ ItNI1Itc!l letter Is IfloSl COITInOT ana
it is rare for a constituent to receive
autograph communications from his
Congressman.
While there are members of the
House with tremendous correspon-
dence, the senators. as a rule have
more than members. This is because
q mcilber only receives the correspon-
dencc Of the people residing in his own
district, whereas the senators receive
correspondence from all over the state.
That may not be SO marked in the
cases of Stnators Hale and Frye but it
is in the cases Of Senators Quay and
Penrose of Pennsylvania. and Senators
Platt and Depew, of New York, or
Senators Hanna and Foraker of Ohio.
or Senators Culom and Hopkins, of
Illinois. Each of those states has in
the vicinity Of so Congressional dis
tricts six or seven times as many peo-
pie as there are in Maine. Therefore
those senator's have a tremendous cor
dependence. which demands an extra
large clerical force. In the case Of the
big states it often happens that one Of
the senator's is chair.1an of his party
organization or the leading spirit in 1t.
That means an additional burden in
letter receiving and letter writing. Mr..
Hanna is not only the leading spirit of
the Ohio Republican organization but
likewise the chairman Of the Republf-
can national committee. Mr.. Penrose
is chairman OF the Republican state
committee of Pennsylvania. Senator
Platt is regarded as the mentor of New
York Republicans and SO on. i
All Senators now have an office at
which they can transact their business.
Some are lucky enough to have offices
i'll the Capitol building, for every Re-
publican senator is now a chairman of
some committee. Others have to ac-
cept accommodations in the Maltby
Building. or Senate Annex, which Is
just outside the Capitol grounds. There. !,
however, one finds most of the minority !
Senators.
At the House end of the Capitol It is !,
otherwise, because of the large number /
of members. Hardly one-fifth of the !,
Continued on page II