GENERAL ADMINISTRATION AND PROTECTION. 37 



approving officer be entirely competent to pass on their correctness. For this 

 reason the practice of authorizing a clerk to sign as acting supervisor should 

 be discouraged. Forest clerks who are thoroughly competent may, however, 

 in the absence of the supervisors, act on and answer routine mail. 

 / 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Duties of Mail Clerk. 



The mail clerk will open and refer to branches and offices in Washington, 

 and to offices and sections In district offices, by dating stamp, all letters and 

 telegrams except tho^e obviously personal and those addressed to the district 

 fiscal agent and to th district assistant to the solicitor, which will be delivered 

 unopened. Telegrams will always be referred by messenger as soon as they 

 are received. In each branch and office one person will be designated by the 

 chief to whom incoming mail will be delivered. 



All incoming mail, no matter where it is received, will be stamped to show 

 date of receipt. Letters, maps, or papers which have any bearing on applica- 

 tions of any kind must on no account fail to show the date received. 



References to Other Offices and Districts. 



When a letter pertains to the work of an office other than that to which it 

 has been referred the clerk charged with the receipt of mail will refer it, by 

 rubber stamp, to the right destination. If the reference is to a district, notice 

 of such reference will be given to the writer by postal card (Form 41 or 42). 

 If, however, it is necessary to reply by letter to a letter which is to be re- 

 ferred from Washington to a district, an extra carbon, together with the letter 

 acknowledged, will be sent to the District Forester stamped "Action required" 

 or " For information," as may be appropriate. 



Reference to Other Departments and Bureaus. 



The reference of routine communications which require attention in other 

 bureaus or divisions of the Department of Agriculture or in the General Land 

 Office or in the Geological Survey will be made by rubber stamp, the blank space 

 in the stamp to be filled in with pen. Such routine communications will be 

 referred to the appropriate bureau or division, and not to any person by name. 

 When such referred communications require comment or explanation, the ref- 

 erence will be made by letter addressed to the chief and signed by the Forester. 



With the exceptions noted above, the reference of routine communications 

 for attention in executive departments other than the Department of Agricul- 

 ture will be made by indorsement prepared for the signature of the Secretary 

 of Agriculture and addressed to the secretary of the executive department 

 concerned. 



Letters on Law Matters. 



Letters requiring answers which involve interpretations of the law or the 

 discussion of legal requirements or procedure should be merely acknowledged 

 in the appropriate office and referred to the Solicitor of the department for 

 answer. In letters pertaining to Service matters, but incidentally involving 

 questions of law, the Service portion should be answered and extracts of the 

 portions pertaining to law should be forwarded to the Solicitor. 



FORM OF CORRESPONDENCE. 



WASHINGTON AND DISTRICT OFFICES. 



Spacing-. 



1 All letters will be doubled spaced, except for quotations, which will be single 

 spaced. 



Neatness. 



No soiled or rubbed letter will be signed nor any letter in which corrections 

 are carelessly made. 



Copying- Ribbon Record Ribbon. 



Purple copying ribbon will be used for letters prepared for the signature of 

 the Secretary of Agriculture. The ribbon should be changed often enough to 

 insure good press copies. All other letters will be written with black record 

 ribbon. 



Margin. 



Letters should have a margin of approximately 1 inch on each side of the 

 page. 



