NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
THE | 
National Capital 
| Events of ed from the Seat of 
overnment 
By J. E. Jones 
The Breeze Bureau 
Washington, Nov. 7, 1913. 
SECRETARY LANE RATTLING THE 
“BONES” 
Secretary Lane of the Interior De- 
partment has been driving it home to 
Washington that the cause of the 
complaints that have been coming 
from the people of the west in trem- 
endous volume during the past years 
must be alleviated. He takes issue 
against the policy based on the theory 
that the government of today must 
fight battles to extend over future 
generations, and also exact toll for 
the treasury before the interests of 
the living generation come in for even 
scant consideration. ‘The secretary is 
not patient with the idea entertained 
by a branch of the national govern- 
ment whch has been apparent to a dis- 
agreeable extent in the land office, 
where homesteaders are nearly al- 
ways treated as though they were 
speculators in disguise, and are fre- 
quently held up for years before com- 
ing into the long restricted possession 
of the little ground which they have 
struggled to possess. The secretary 
is a practical man of the west who 
knows the problems before him, and 
there is a growing confidence that he 
is “getting away” with his job. 
Tue SHIFTING OF TROOPS 
The fact that the Secretary of War 
has arranged for the transfer of caval- 
ry and infantry from the Mexican 
border to Fort Ethan Allen, Ver- 
mont; Fort Myer, Virginia; Fort 
Leavenworth, Kansas; Fort Sheridan, 
Illinois and other headquarters for 
troops does not signify that there is 
a pressing inclination to intervene in 
Mexico. ‘The troops that are being 
sent home to their barracks are being 
replaced by other forces. More than 
a year ago there was plenty of ex- 
citement in official circles over the 
holding of troops on the Mexican 
border, but gradually it has come to 
be understood that they, like our 
ships off the Mexican coast, are do- 
ing what amounts to police duty. 
THe Smitus oF ConcrEss 
Did you ever hear of the Smiths in 
Congress? In the Senate there is 
Smith of South Carolina, Smith of 
Maryland, Smith of Georgia, Smith 
of Arizona, and Smith of Michigan. 
The man from South Carolina has 
cotton balls sticking out all over him 
—he is such an authority upon the 
question. Smith of Maryland is a 
lumberman, while Smith of Georgia 
is the same old “Hoke” Smith who 
was Secretary of the Interior under 
Cleveland. Smith from Arizona is 
“Uncle Mark” a typical product of a 
typically new state. Smith from 
Michigan thas two large front handles 
been important in investigating the 
Titanic disaster, the Mexican situa- 
tion, and looking after the affictions 
of the Republican party in the Senate. 
Tn the House there are seven Stu ‘iis, 
of which two are from Michigan, 
Tue Bicuioriwr Route 
Representative James R. Mann, of 
Chicago, author of the white slave 
legislation and the pure food and 
drugs act, has let it be known that he 
will again arise to the occasion to 
stem the increasing number of self- 
inflicted fatalities that come by way 
of the use of bichloride of mercury. 
Paris green, carbolic acid, and other 
drugs have had their day, and now 
the rage seems to be a little pinch of 
bichloride as a means of escaping the 
troublesome affairs of the times. Mr. 
Mann has been in consultation with 
Secretary Houston and other offi- 
clals of the Agricultural Department 
with a view to more thoroughly re- 
straining the sale of bichloride in the 
hopes that there may be a useful con- 
servation of human lives. 
THE GROWTH OF THE POSTOFFICE 
The United States Postoffice was 
established in 1789 and there were 
originally seventy-five postoffices. In 
the first full year of its existence, 
1790, these seventy-five postoffices 
produced a gross revenue of $37.935,. 
and the expenditure of the Depart- 
ment amounted to $32,140. It is 
found that by the year 1800 the num- 
ber of offices had increased to 1.205, 
and a hundred vears ago, in 1812, 
there were 2.708 nostoffices with a 
gross revenue of $702,154, and gross 
expenditure of $681.o1t. The first 
nostage stamps issued in their nresent 
form were on July 1. 1847. and there 
were sold during the following vear 
&R60.280 worth. Bv 1852 the post- 
office denartment had become a con- 
siderahle institution. and we find 
that this was the first vear in-which 
stamned envelopes were isstied. and 
the sales amounted to & and on0. 
Letters were first registered on Trlv tT. 
T8c5. and the first newspaner wrap- 
ners were isstied in 1861. Special re- 
quest envelopes were first put into 
5 
use in 1865, and postal cards had 
their birth in June, 1873. In 1856 we 
find that the gross expenditures of 
the postoffice for the first time ex- 
ceeded $10,000,000 a year, while in 
1899 the expenditures reached $101,- 
632,160. In 1912 this had increased 
to $248,264,940. In 1899 there were 
Issued $3,692,775,815 in postage 
stamps, and in 1912 the amount was 
nearly three times as great, having 
climbed to $9,960,868,785. The sale 
of postal cards jumped from $91,000 
in 1874 to $909,411,045 in 1912. This, 
of course, did not take into account 
the private and picture postal cards. 
In the year 1912 we find that there 
were 50,729 postoffices in the United 
States producing a gross revenue of 
$246,744,015 with gross expenditures 
of $248,624,940. There were 43,620, 
498 letters registered during the year, 
The free delivery service was first es- 
tablished on July 1, 1863. During the 
year 1864 there were sixty-six post- 
offices enjoying this privilege, and 685 
carrlers were employed, with an an- 
nual cost of the service amounting to 
$317,063. In 1912.there were 1,621 
free delivery offices throughout the 
country, employing 89,962 carriers at 
an annual cost for the service amount- 
ing to $34,152,517. ‘The rural deliv- 
ery service was inaugurated as an 
experiment on October 1, 1896, sim- 
ultaneously on three routes from 
Charlestown, Uvilla and Halltown, 
West Virginia. It has grown to such 
proportions that for the year 1912 
there were 42,081 carriers covering a 
mileage of 1,021,492 miles at an an- 
nual cost of $40,655,740. ‘The postal 
savings bank and the parcel post are 
mere infants in the postal family, yet 
each has proven a success. It is the 
greatest reform, as used at present, 
ever undertaken in connection with 
the internal affairs of the United 
States, and in six months it has 
grown so much that it has become a 
tax on the business capacity of the 
postal officials to hold it within proper 
bounds. 
WoopEN Pavince Brocks 
According to the forest service 
wood block paving, tried and dis- 
carded in many cities of the United 
States thirty years ago, is now getting 
back in the American favor, due to 
new methods of handling blocks. 
That the power of a magnet in- 
creases as its temperature decreases 
seers to have been shown by recent 
tests. 
Paraffin oil applied with a_ soft 
cloth will cleanse soiled coat collars. 
