The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1910-12-08
PRESIDENTS DAILY MAIL
Is IMMENSE

Washington Correspondence Of tho Tran
script.
Letters and more Letters are received
days there may be about 100: again
the total Of 1000 has been reached. A
fair average, day In and day out, would
probably be 200. Mondays and Tues
days are the highest days OF the week,
due perhaps to the fact that compare
lively few people take their pens in
hand on Sundays. the Sunday mail
ordinarily arriving here on Mondays
letters. an unusually large number is
brought, In a direct way, to the per-
|sona attenSon Of the president. In
fact, h assurance may be given freely
that every letter receives exactly the
attention it deserves.
A perusal OF the daily mail offers a
liberal education in itself. Senators
and sinners, editors and ethnologists,
ministers and marketmen, diplomats
and dipsomaniacs, o~flceholders and
officeseekers, athletes and atheists,
~millionaires and murderers-all at
some time or other, all sorts and con-
ditions Of individuals, find it necessary
to address themselves personally to the
chief executive Of the nation. Be its
oouASo oNet eo humble, no scrap OIL
correspondence Is ever entirely neglect
ed. II 1t doesn't call for anything else,
1t calls for an acknowledgement from
some White House functionary, wheth-
er 1t be the president In person OF
merely one of his clerks.
Sorted on a Bread Table.
Three time a day a special messenger
brings the White House mall to the
executive offices. 1t is received In the
basement, spread out on a bread table
and Immediately sorted. Most of the
one for the president. the other for
Is q large mass Of personal c%orrespon-
dence Of Mrs. Taft, for instance, which
1s sent to her secretary, and hat of
the attaches of the office. Occasional
~ there is mail for some one not at
the White House with the request that
1t be forwarded. There was a letter,
for example, not long ago, from a
man in a northwestern state who want
ed to sell the president some calves.
Not satisfied with making a bid for
White House patronage the enterpris-
Ing westerner enclosed another note,
designed for former President Roose-
welt, with the request that it be for
Warded.
Four Summaries.
Inc nrSt distribution OF the White
House mail is completed by s o'clock.
The second arrives at noon, the third,
which is usually small, at 8 p. m.
The first step to be taken after sort
Ing is the opening Of the mail. The
clerk who is put at this task has been
at 1t for more than 10 years and he
carries more confidential c%orrespon-
dence in the back of his head thar
any other man in the country. If
the letters contain enclosures, such as
stamps. pins, photographs, souvenirs,
etc, these are properly accounted for.
Each letter is stamped 1.-The White
Eouse-Received." together with the
date. If the letter is on a purely tech
meal subject, the receiving clerk marks
1t for the department to which it
should be referred, such as Up. o.
tossing it into the box with the other
papers that are to go Forward to the
(, postoffice department that day. But
II there is anything personal in the
letter, or anything in which the pres
ident might be expected to take q per
sonal interest, different disposition is
made Of it. It is handed over to an
other clerk, who reads it carefully. anc