The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-04-24

Congressional Correspondence.

| Washington, D. C.. April IA
humorist once dubbed congressman
"sublimated srrand boys" and thu
name has certain appropriate
ness.
In the opinion Of his constitu'
| ents, nothing is too fdifiicult for Z
congressman to perform. from get
| ting sugar when there is none
magician fashion. to influencing thu
president to select the hometown
mayor for secretary Of state.
The daily mail received by a sen
ator or representative does not pre-
sumo to rival in bulk that Of ouI
most glittering movie stars. When
Senator Borah attacked the League
Of Nations recently, he broke the
congressional mail record by get
ting 10000 letters in the following
| week. This is, of course, a>paltry
figure compared with the best st0r'
les Of movie press agents, where
the beautiful ingenue has to sign
her photographs in the hall be-
cause her dressing room is piled to
the ceiling with requests for them
So far as variety goes. however
exact measurements show that
there is more of it to the square
inch in the correspondence Of
congressman than in that Of any
other class Of human beings. The
president is popularity supposed II
hold this record, but a great man!
Of his letters should be addressed
to government departments, and
are dispatched to them as soon a:
they are opened.
Americans have always been FOND
Of writing to their representatives
but the war, the present economic
situation, and the coming election.
have aroused them recently to un
paralleled activity. Never in thu
history of the nation has congress!
been 80 besieged with petitions, re
quests. complaints, praise, infor'
nation and advice.
The postmaster of the senate fig
ures that each representative get
on an average 100 pieces of mail
day, and each senator 70. Thi.
brings the capitol correspondence
for the day to around $4,000 pieces
which would be a good sized mai
for a town of 10000 people.
1t is a remarkable thing that con
gressmen ever get good deal o
their mail. for comparatively few
people seem to know how to ad
dress them. Letters are sent il
care of every known government
department in Washington, and no
a few imaginary ones. "Senato'
Blank, The White House." is a fire.
quent designation, while "Senato
Blank" without any further ad
dress is often considered sufficient
The postmasters of the hous'
and senate have comparatively lit
tie trouble getting mail to the mel
now in congress. Most of thei
worries are over letters sent t
Washington for senators who ar
in a state legislature or were il
congress ten or twenty years ago
According to the senate postmaster
letters still come to Marc Hanna
who died in 1904.
1t isn't the postofice's fault i
congress fails to read the congress
sional record. Part of the capito
force goes to the government print
ing Office at o'clock in the morn
ing to get yesterdays record AM
distributes it at the senators
homes, together with their hom
papers and private correspondence
if they wish it. in time for break
fast. Correspondents have recent
lily taken to addressing their letter
to the residences instead of to TIL
senate or house Office buildings
thinking that in this way they viii
get more personal consideration
for their requests. In this they ar
Imore often than not foiled, as tn
mail usually goes to the capito
postoffices first, and unless tn
congressman has asked for his mai
to be sent to his home, it all goe
to his Office and is opened by hi
secretary.
| An old-timer in congress regard
the great part of his correspond
ence as routine business which hi
secretary and typists can dispose O
without annoyance to him; but
tfirst-term representative sometime
gets panicky when he reads hi
mornings mail and sees the thing
Ibis constituents think he ought t
do for them,
The extent to which congress
will serve the people depends en-
tirely on the individual congress
man. Some lawmakers who ar
naturally obliging or are approach
ing an election will introduc
bills, answer nut" letters person
ally. and run little errands to gov
eminent departments.
Sometimes these genial servant
of the public set an unfortunat
precedent and let themselves in TO
trouble. One such instance oc
j CURED recently, when a certai
, sailor under arrest wrote to hi
, representative that he had been ur
: justly accused and asked for hell
The representative inquired int
the matter. and succeeded in hurry
ing up the trial bit. Word Of thi
got around the brig, and in the ne1
three days ID more incarcerate
sailors demanded retrials and in
slant release. That congressnu
has lost his accommodating dispc
: sition forever.
Copyright, 1920 by James Morgan
u with The Mcclure New