The Washington times., 1914-08-02
Flood Of Strange EntreatieS and AdUice Finds
Oblivion in C0n9resSn1en's Waste Paper Basket
Iequests Range From Hurry Up
Call for Flower Seeds to De-
mand for Ambassadorship
at Court of st. James.

tie 4SS Congressman having rooms
n the House of Representatives Of
fee building come expressions OF
every human emotion.
Also many curious samples II the
Ingenuity Of office seekers, to say
soothing Of the pleas. supplications,
and entreaties that are received a.
most daily from the constituents Of
the brave 435.
The requests made and expected to
be fulfilled by the members in Con-
Eress range from the elevation of
Tome influential ward heelcr to the
post Of ambassador to the court OF
ST. James to a hurry-up call for
Negetdbie CT flower seeds fran srile
frenzied Give beautifier.
The Sixty-third Congress Is re-
reputed to be the gabbiest Congress
yet, but II You had the privilege of
looking through the mail of the
t35 Congressman or a small portion
thereof, the vocal efforts OF the legis-
lstors would diminish into a whisper
tn comparison with the English that
flows into the offices of the Con-
Eressmen of today.
These letters are carefully read
and promptly answered by the Con-
6 -essmen or their Woodworking sec
/ T"taries, and IL touching on some
grave affair that merits saving they
/ are filed. A large majority of the
CDmmunications, however, eventually
/ find their way into the waste paper
baskets and oblivion.
Car Loads of Waste Paper.
From the baskets these letters and
other refuse matter go to the stor-
age rooms in each of the touy cor
rdors of the House office build
ing. and from there they are trans
ferred by husky armed hostlers to
storage room In the basement. where
they repose until sufficient quantities
accumulate for carload lots. Then
they are packed in large sacks and
holsted onto a large trunk and cen
Neyed to a car in which the pleas,
applications, entreaties. and written
emotions are shipped to a paper mill
in KALAMAZOO, Mich.
Eventually the communications and
other waste paper come back to
Washington, after acids have eaten
of the ink and other marks, and the
product is reduced to pulp and new
material The letter heads used by
the Congressman and much Of the
other writing materials employed by
the Government departments are the
finished product of the waste paper
from the House office building and
other departments of the Federal
Government
In the House office building there
are. to be exact. ~ Congressman
offices. Also there are offices pro-
viGed for the resident commissioners
from the American possessions, the
Philippines, Alaska, and Hawaii. In
each of these offices there are three
waste paper baskets, and hardly a
night passes but that each of these
refuse receptacles is well filled
II falls to the lot of the fifty-five
charwomen who cleanse the Con-
Eressional offices to first handle the
waste paper. emptying the 1.29O bas-
kets nightly in large sacks that are
left outside the doors. TO be carted
away by hostlers the following morn
lngs. The next move of the discard
ed letters takes them to the storage
room, in the basement, where the
sacks are emptied only to be gath
cred in sacks again each month and
sent on their way to the paper mill.
The Government carefully weighs
each sack, and is paid thousands of
dollars by the purchaser each year.
One Man Lacks Freaks.
Daily contributors TO the Govern
ment's waste paper fund are numer-
GUS in the House office building. but
in room No. ITO. on the New Jersey
avenue side of the four-squared
structure, was discovered one Con-
gresham who pleaded guilty to the
receipt of nary a letter from a con-
stituent that could be classed in the
peculiar or unusual class.
He is Congressman Maurice Con-
molly, representing the Third Iowa
District. whose mail since two
months ago has rapidly increased Ia
volume by reason of the fact that
he is the Democratic candidate for
Senator in the Hawkeye State. But
A careful scrutiny of his mail for
sixty days has failed to disclose any
thing more unusual than a request
for setting OF pheasant and turkey
eggs. Appreciation, however, il not a
minus quantity among ConnOllys
people. One remittance of s. and
TWO Enclosures OF 30 cents each from
farmers IN front OF whose doors
Connolly arranged TO have three
rural routes run, testify to this. OF
course. the remittances were re-
turned to the senders with an an
preciative note from the Congress-
man.
Another Iowa Congressman from a
district bordering on Connolly's re-
ceived the following communication
from a woman:
Il have 449 stamps which I have
saved from envelopes that have been
used. Is there any bounty on them
or are they useful for materials in
stamps again.
Here Is Prize Letter.
The prize letter from a constituent
OF a Western Congressman that has
been preserved because of its IN
usual composition was received while
the parcels post law was being CON-
in the House. The name of
the writer was not divulged. but the
text OF the communication verbatim
Is as follows:
Il wish you would hurry up an