The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1912-06-21
HOW A CONGRESSMAN WORKS

IL wish | had a picture of you
pulling that mail sack" was the
salutation given Congressman Neel-
ey Of the Seventh District of Kan
sas, by one of his neighborly con-
gressmen one day this spring. Mr..
Neeley was just in the act of plac-
ing sack of mail in the hall, to be
picked up by the mail man. THAT
makes $50 sacks that | have sent
out since the first of February" re-
piled the big Congressman.
The above conversation started Mr..
Neeley's secrtary to thinking and
figuring, and he is authority for the
following statements: Up to the thir-
tieth day of May, just four month
from the day that Mr.. Neeley took
his seat in Congress, he had pre-
pared and sent out $50 sacks Of
mail to his constituents in Kansas.
These were all regular U, S. No. 2
mail sacks. 1t is estimated that each
sack would weight at least 100
pounds, which would make total of
12h tons of mail matter. This con-
sisted Of farmers bulletins, govern
ment seeds, government publications
of all kinds, and a total of about
80, 900 regular letters. All of these
sacks were filled in Mr.. Neeleys Of
fee, where the mail In them was adj
dresses. In handling this work, Mr..
Neeley had the assistance of two or
three stenographers, whose salary
he paid out of his own pocket. The
stenographers were kept busy part
of the time addressing, as that part
of the work alone is no small job.
For the first six weeks the Congress
man and his Secretary worked until
nearly midnight every night. Mr..
Neeley did not even get chance to
visit the business section of Wash
ington, and had not even visited the
Senate wing of the capitol. 1t is
one of the Congressman boasts
that every letter written to him re-
ceived personal attention in as short
time as 1t was possible to handle It,
and when it is taken into considera-
ton that frequently he would re-
ceiye as many as three hundred let
ters in one day, the reader will real
lie that he had something to do. II
anyone ever failed to receive re-
ply to letter, it was because the
letter either failed to contain the
proper address, or was not received
at all.
In addition to taking care of the
demands made on the Congressman
through the mails, he had to attend
the sessions OF Congress, attend COM
mittee meetings, study the various
bills under consideration, prepare
speeches, assist the old soldiers in
fixing up pension papers, besides q
lot of private matters to look after
An old-time congressman who recent
ly paid Congressman Medley visit,
made the statement that the Kan
san had done more work in three
months than the average Congress-
man did in three years.
1t Is q matter of common knOwl-
edge on the fourth floor of the House
Office buildinge where Mr.. Neeleys
office Is located, that his Office Is al
ways the first one open In the morn
ing, and the last one to close at
night. Neeley works like they do in
the harvest fields of Kansas. 1t Isl
the custom to start in business in
most places in Washington at nine
O'Clock In the morning and close at
four-thirty in the afternoon, and OBJ
serve anything like the slightest sem
blance of a holiday. Mr.. Medley
didn't observe a single holiday, and
never was off duty in the day time.
The Congressman from Kansas is
considered one OF the best posted
men on. national affairs in the House
of representatives, and his opinion
on matters is considered valuable.