The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-06-18
WHITE HOUSE
MAIL STILL AT
5OOO-A-WEEK
But Correspondents Are
Apparently Out of Idea
For Plans
By ROBERT w. HORTON
Tines special Writer


WASHINGTON. June is-The
Presidents hundreds OF thousands
OF volunteer correspondents appar-
emily have almost exhausted their
ideas about how the country should
Be run and what TO DO about this
and that public problem.
At this time last year countless
plans" arrived daily at the White
House. offering what each writer
considered a much better system
than the one the Administration
had chosen for relief or housing or
some other New Deal operation.
The legion Of correspondents is
still on dutv-some 5000 letters ar
rive weekly-but the burden of the
remarks these days Is usually more
intimate and personal.
Appreciation Is Expressed
Many express appreciation for
benefits obtained through relief ac-
tivities But some complain that
Mrs. Jones or Mr.. Brown. who lives
next door and Is also on relief is
getting more than he or she de-
serves and certainly more than the
letter-writer has been able 10 get.
The White House sorts the letters
and transmits them 70 the appro-
pirate department Of the govern
ment for reply. Some are sent to
PWA. some 10 FERA, others 10
MIRA. and 50 on.
A typical letter tells how con-
struction Of a water system through
a PWA grant enabled residents Of
one community 10 reduce their wa
ter rents from a high Of $40
month when they had to buy wa
ter from a TailTOadJ 10 a high OF SO.
Tragedy Revealed in Letter
The city engineer Of a large north
ern community wrote that the act
Of the government in lending and
granting monies for this and SIM
liar purposes was the finest gesture
that the government had ever made
for the Improvement of the standard
OF living Of its people"
on the more tragic side of the
White House correspondence are
such letters as this. and il is typical
Of thousands. addressed to Mrs.
Roosevelt. Dear Unknown Friend:
7 call YOU friend because YOU and
your husband has proved a friend to
the farmer 49,.
Now the old age pension. they say
the Congress has threw il Oul.
believe that is wrong and wish you
and your husband would stop all
this relief work and pension the old
people and the ones not able to
work"
Managed TO Pull Through"
The letter went on TO ask If IT
would BE- possible for Mrs. Roosevelt
to send any of her old clothes. add
ing that your pictures shows you 10
be larger than I am. but you know
I can hem them up"
From a professional man in the
northern Great Lakes region the
President received a letter which
said: I hail from staunch old
PENNSYLVANIA Dutch stock. am 81
years OF age. married. have five chill
dren -four Of them attending puo-
lie SCHOOL,. came here sew
rral wears ago to begin all over
again. I have managed to collect
enough cash from my practice to
keep a-going-and 10 keep my little
family going through thick and thin
I have never asked for relief
and with the cashing Of my half Of
the Adjusted Compensation Certifi-
cate and once borrowing SO from a
friend I have managed to pull
through this irving and narrowing
depression o. K. I voted for you
and am still for you and your pres
ent policies so far as understand
them. II now or in the future I
can be OF any aid or assistance 1
shall be glad TO do so"
Apologies for Action
FERA recently carried on an ex-
tenSive correspondence with a man
who wrote abuSively Of the relief
allotments to hungry families. He
said every one seemed 10 get more
than he did. and that even then
il wasn't enough TO live. on.
His letter $aS routed through the
appropriate divisions and finally
TO the relief director in the county
where the man lived. A local rep
resentative called on the man and
explained to him that there was a
limited amount Of money which hao
10 be distributed equally and
widely. and that for this reason