Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-17

start a chain Of kilograms through its
members. and IL the membership be large
the result is a flood Of messages directed
to the President.
OF course, such a chain of kilograms
does not really register public opinion,
which fact is well understood by every
President. but 1t does indicate the opin-
ion of a greater or smaller number OF
individuals who are members of the
organization engineering the chain OF
messages. 1t is not unreasonable to
believe that the standing of the or
ganization in question and the respon-
sibility of its leading members may
carry as much weight as the hundreds
or thousands of chain kilograms. for
artificial public opinion is easily man.
ufactured. every experienced jour-
nalist knows. yet IL seldom has more
than passing and Intellectual results.
None are quicker to detect worked
up campaign of artificial public opin-
ion" than the experienced men who
spend their lives in the stafroom OF
the executive office.
From two hundred to a thousand let
tiers each day are received at the exec
utive office. and they are delivered to
the mail clerk, who opens a very large
majority of them. The Presidents per-
sonal mail goes directly to his private
ONCE without being opened and the
mail clerk unerringly recognizes let
tiers that are genuinely personal" He
can spot" them at glance. and 1t is
said that he does not make a mistake
one time in a thousand. Scores of let
tiers directed to the President. written
personal or private" reach the mall
clerk day after day. but almost none
OF them is GENT to Mr.. Wilson's own
ONCE until they have been examined
It is not that the President holds aioof
from his fellow citizens who are suf-
fciently interested to sit down and
write him. but that it is physically I'm;
possible for any one man to read and
reply to such an enormous mail and
also ind time enough to attend tn any,
thing else.
- Now there are multitudes of Ameri-
cans who have legitimate reason for
writing, on occasion, to some high Of
ficial in Washington. and are not sure
whom they should address. AS a def
mite case in point, let us suppose that
John Smith, residing in some little VIII
lage. east or west, north or south,
wants to be postmaster. He knows
that his local post office comes under
ments" and very likely thinks that the
President himself selects the occupant
finally chosen. So he gets his friends
to write Mr.. Wilson-or whoever may
mail clerk in the staffroorn opens
these letters he promptly sends them
over to the Postmaster Generals office.
While a great deal Of mail is addressed
to the President which should not be
so addressed. and which. Of course. he
never sees, yet all letters thus directed
are carefully read and are delivered to
the official or the department to which
they should have been sent by the in
dividual writers.
Notwithstanding this careful sitting
of mail addressed to the White House
and forwarded from there to other
branches of the government, a great
deal remains that must be answered
by the President or by his secretary,
and in normal times the services OF
six or seven rapid stenographers are
needed to handle it. Supervision of
this vast correspondence is one of Mr..
Tumultys most important duties. He
does not attempt to dictate all replies
written on White House stationery. but
he does see every note that is sent out
from the executive office. In no ether
way could he possibly keep in hand, or
in mind, the thousand strands of COM
munication upon a thousand subjects,
running from the White House to the
uttermost parts of the earth, any one
of which may be potentially alive with
spark of vitality meaning much to
the national comfort and prosperity. SO
great is this task that the secretary to
the President himself has secretary.
Copyright, 1915, by the Wheeler Syndicate. IncJ