Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-18
Army Of Letter Writers Gives Unique Ideas to Governmer

have turned over the messages to the
prohibition officials to aid them In
their work.
or the Is 900 or more letters day
received by the Post ONCE Depart
ment more than 1000. or nearly half.
60 to the Third Assistant Postmaster
General. and deal mainly with the
financial affairs of the department,
such as money orders, stamps, regis
tered mail and postal savings. The
First Assistant Postmaster General
gets nearly 1000 pieces of mail a day
that has to do with the postal service
generally, postnlasters' appointments,
post Office quarters, the motor vehicle
service and the division Of dead letters
and dead parcel post
The Bureau OF Agricultural Eco
nomics receives about 1000 letters and
packages a day of the 10000 received
by the Department of Agriculture as
q whole. OF the Economies Bureau
allotment about 500 are letters, and
the remainder signed questionnaires
in connection with agricultural sur
veys and crop reports. The bureau
officials declare that a reasonably high
percentage of questionnaires sent out
Is returned signed, but, of course,
complaints are registered occasionally
by farmers and business men that
they haven't the time necessary to
answer the bureaus inquiries.
A farmer returning a questionnaire
recently declared that he was send
ing back the. blank (which decline
to I'LL out for the reason that be
lieve that the farmers have given out :
too much information in the past
which has been used to further the
interests Of the broker and Speculation
as against the interests OF the pro-
Queer. I believe the time will come
when we farmers, like the Israelites
of old, viii be led out Of bondage, but
1t will be by one Of our own people"
1--WE have answered queries on this
by the yard" said Kansas farmer,
"and don't see where It has done the
farmer a dimes worth Of good. Cut
out advice. the farm blocs, and let
the farmer 60 to work and he will be
all right. haven't time to spend
half day on your report.
Many letters are received by the
bureau inquiring as to climatic and
living conditions in various parts of
the country. Thus, a BROOKLYN man
asked recently whether the climate
of the state of Florida would affect
a mans health should he contemplate
going to that State for agricultural
purposes. 1t is said that the average
native-born citizen" he wrote, SIS a
thin.looking sort of individual. Is il
true that the air of Florida affects
ones health?'
THE Department of Agriculture. by
means OF educational campaigns,
is urging prospective farmland own
ers to inquire of Official sources the
land values and agricultural possibili-
ties of their proposed purchases. Most
Of the correspondence on this subject,
however. Is from persons who have
been defrauded in. the purchase of
land, and are seeking information as
to theil. course of action in trying to
recover their money. The depart
ment's activities in this respect have
resulted In the dissolution Of many.
fraudulent land companies, and in
many cases the recovery by pur-
chasers Of the money they had lost.
Included in the Governments Wash
ington correspondence. Of course. are
the letters addressed to the so-called
conscience Fund" in which the
writers endeavor to atone for past
misdeeds either I'm defrauding individ-
uals or the Government. Interesting
also is the correspondence received by
the Department of Justice, giving
clues to gem smugglers, the smug
Cling OF aliens into the United States,
and the bringing in Of contraband
generally.
An individual who Is instrumental
in aiding In the discovery and seizure
Of gems is given a percentage of the
value OF the goods by way. OF reward.
There are persons, in this connection.
who have made a. lucrative business
Of travelling the ocean liners as vol
unteer detectives. their incomes con-
sisting entirely of the Government re-
wards.
The Bureau of Standards is another
Government organization that receives
much correspondence with reference
to the results OF the bureaus expert
ments. Many Of the letters from indi.
viduals deal with tire and other tests
relating to automobiles. The bureau
Is asked frequently by motorists to
analyZe their individual car troubles.
Sample materials of every conceivable
kind are sent to the bureau to be
tested, but many of the requests must
be refused for lack Of a sufficiently
large organization to make the tests,
and also because the bureau really
functions primarily to test materials
that are to be purchased by the Gov,
eminent departments.
4 y f.
THE Weather Bureau gets volumes
Of correspondence daily on the
prospective state of the weather, for
the guidance of persons who contem-
plate being married and who do not
want the event spoiled by bad
weather. OF motor truck companies
engaged In shipping perishable COM
nodities, and Of farmers seeking to
arrange their planting. spraying and
harvesting schedules. An orchardist.
for example, is vitality interested in
spraying with some assurance that the
next day a rainstorm viii not wash
away the poison and thus compel him
to do the job over.
'sYoii told me 4 few days ago..
bride wrote the bureau recently, that
the weather probably would be clear
ION my wedding day, which was yes
terday. ! do not need to tell you
that yesterday was one of the ralniest
days this season, and It not only
spoiled my wedding, but ruined an ex-
pensiye trotisseau as well. don't
suppose / can make you pay for this,
but have lost all faith In your re-
ports. Furthermore, viii tell all my
friends who are getting married not
to bother with you. although they
might get your report so AZ to know
that IL you say 1t is going to be good
weather they VIII know that It IS
going to rain
Many inquiries arc rc.satsed by the
Census Bureau for statistics on birth.
marriage and death. People frequent
| ~ want to know. how much longer
they are likely, to live, and what are
their chances Of getting q mate.
Should they be married, they ask,