St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1907-12-28
MISSIvEs OF WOE
PRESIDENTS MAIL FULL OF APP.
PEALs FOR HELP.
All Pass Under the WatchfuI Eye Of
Secretary Loeb. and Only Most
Important Are Seen by
Chief Executive.

In President Cleveland's second ad
mfnistration letters that did not re-
! late to official business usually were
| left unanswered and even unacknowi
edged. 1t was Mr.. Mckinley who es.
tablished the rule that typewriter
form OF acknowledgment should be
sent in reply to every letter addressed
to the White House, no Blatter how
humble the writer or how Insignificant
his communication. This custom fire.
quently was misunderstood as imply
ing that, in referring letters. he had
recommended favorable action upon
them. There was then, and is now, a
firmly established rule that neither
the president nor any other executive
officer shall exert his personal influ.
ence in behalf of any private matter.
Only the letters of the presidents
personal friends and those of promi-
nent officials relating to confidential
matters are reserved by Secretary
Loeb for the perusal Of his chief The
bulk and scope of the presidents daily
mail renders any other course imprac-
ticable.
In every administration the White
House is the target for every form of
suggestion or appeal that presents it.
self to either the well ordered or the
discrdered mind. However, the great
err number of the presidents would-be
advisers-at least of the gentler sex
are neither erratic nor insane. They
are the good, patient. self-sacrificing
women Of the country, and by no
means all are of the solid and desira-
Bile class referred to by Abraham Lin
coin when he said that ''the Lord must
have loved the plain people or he
would not have made SO many of
them"
Tho letters written by women to the
president, almost without exception,
are extremely touching. No small
number bear evidence of hours of
careful and even prayerful effort in
preparation. In others defective SPELL
ing, false syntax and crippled logic
combine to present appeals which the
writer's firmly believe to be just
Many are profuse in their apologies
for encroaching on the time of the
busiest chief executive this country
ever has had, but all are convinced
that it is in his power to aid them.
The rapid advance in the intelli-
gence of the women of the United
States has failed to disabuse the mind
Of the average woman of the idea that
the president. if he would, could
right every wrong that besets the
country. This idea. while entertained
mainly by the uneducated, is not mo-
nopolized by that class. Hundreds of
young women who could pass almost
without an error an examination in
the civil government of the United
States in matters that concern them
personally are prone to attribute to
the president imperial power, and i'm
pulsively request him to exercise it.
During the administration of Presi-
dent Mckinley appeals for money
were the most numerous of the let
tiers sent to the White House. Many
petitions of this character are re-
ceived by President and Mrs. Roose-
welt, even though their numerous
'olive branches" furnish an abundant
explanation as to the manner in which |
the highest Of official salaries may be |
made to disappear. Parents of large
families, especially those including
twins or triplets, have a fancy for
making known to the chief executive
that they are taking due precaution
against race suicide. A very modest
gift sent to each of these interesting
families would cover Sycamore Hill /
with mortgages in less than year.