THE 
National Capital 
Events of piel eee the Seat of 
By J. E. Jones 
The Breeze Bureau 
Washington, Nov. 25, 1913 
Tur SCRAMBLE FOR “FREE SEEDS” 
Those Congressmen who owe their 
mighty position in part to their skill 
and artfulness in distributing ‘“‘iree 
government seeds” are ever and again 
threatened by withdrawal of this 
privilege, which during the past year 
has been considerably curtailed. The 
Department of Agriculture has taken 
a positive stand against the present 
modus operanda. ‘These seeds cost 
$300,000 a year, and the government 
experts say that the money is largely 
a dead waste. For many years the 
governnent supply has been inade- 
cuate, and the result has been that 
the large seed houses of the country 
have dumped their old goods upon 
the government to meet the shortage 
at fancy prices, and these are the 
seeds that “never grow.” In _ both 
Houses of Congress the seed: distri- 
bution has been fought for years, 
and last session it was only with the 
greatest difficulty that the appropria- 
tion was kept in the Agricultural bill. 
Secretary Houston has been up in 
New Hampshire talking to the Na- 
tional Grange and he has emphasized 
his condemnation of the present 
nethod of spending the entire appro- 
priation in supplying ordinary vege- 
table and flower seeds. In his new 
estimate to Congress the secretary 
has recommended that the usual ap- 
propriation of $300,000 for seeds be 
made available for the introduction 
and distribution of new and valuable 
seeds and foreign forage crops. This 
idea is in line with the intention of 
Congress when the free seed distri- 
bution was first established. The 
main idea at that time was to secure 
new and rare seeds and plants from 
foreign countries for introduction 
and distribution in this country, but 
the practice gradually degenerated in- 
to a scramble for “more seeds” by the 
members of Congress. 
Tarr’s OPINION OF “EXPERT 
EXAMINERS” 
Two years ago: the tender-hearted 
President Taft was touched by appeals 
of Mrs. Morse of New York, who 
succeeded in securing the release of 
her convicted husband, Charles E. 
Morse, the banker and ice king, from 
the Atlanta prison. It was found to 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Mr. Taft’s satisfaction that Mr. 
Morse was dying, and ill with an in- 
curable disease. ‘The former presi- 
dent undoubtedly has felt very keenly 
the fact that he was imposed upon 
in this instance, for during his recent 
visit to Washington he returned to 
the case, stating that Morse, whom 
he had pardoned, is apparently in ex- 
cellent health, since he was seeking to 
re-establish himself in business ‘‘in 
the state in which he had committed 
a penitentiary offense.” The con- 
clusion by the former president is 
that inasmuch as he did not act on 
the application for pardon until he 
had instituted a thorough investiga- 
tion to find out the truth through 
the army medical corps, that the re- 
sults shake one’s faith in expert ex- 
aminers. 
GOVERNMENT ContTROL OF TELE- 
PHONES 
What promises to result in far- 
reaching legislation is the inquiry in- 
to the telephone company of the Na- 
tional Capital, instituted by Senator 
Norris of Nebraska. It was not 
many years ago that the country was 
torn asunder by the fact that public 
officials profited from free railroad 
transportation and other sorts of 
gratuities. It now appears that the 
telephone company at Washington 
has been extending special privileges 
to Senators, Representatives and 
other high officials of the govern- 
ment, which have been denied to pri- 
vate subscribers, who in turn have 
been compelled to submit to stiff reg- 
ulations and insolence from tele- 
phone officials, who assume that 
most rights of existence are centered 
in them. It is very likely that the 
investigation instituted by the Sen- 
ate will result in some interesting in- 
formation being secured in reference 
to business methods of telephone 
management throughout the country. 
Since the telephone is practically a 
monopoly, and experience teaches that 
more than one system in a community 
is a nttisance, it is strange that advo- 
cates of government ownership have 
not frozen tight to the telephone as 
a method that is far more practicable 
in testing their theories than would 
be railroad tand telegraph manage- 
ment or control. 
THE LeNcCTH oF THE SESSION 
Most everybody will agree that a 
really hard job is that of doing noth- 
ing, and this is the task that has been 
confronting members of the House of 
Representatives most of the time 
since last March. Representative 
Fowler of Illinois expresses the ssit- 
uation: “We came here before the 
golden dandelions were born, or the 
sluggish snakes had left their winter 
dens. We were here when the fair 
bosom of nature began to swell into 
beauty and activity, and by the aid 
and encouragement of sunshine and 
rain we have seen that beauty and 
activity develop into a bountiful 
crop.” The sole excuse of the four 
hundred and thirty-five members of 
the House of Representatives for 
hanging about Washington for 
months has been to be on hand when — 
the currency bill should come~ back 
from the Senate, and since this has 
been mostly a wasted effort the wise 
men on Capitol hill, who have stayed 
constantly on the job, are lamenting 
the fact that they did not go home 
to help with the threshing. 
BareFoot Boy With CuHErKs oF TAN 
What Uncle Sam does not know 
is hardly worth asking about. He has 
even tabulated the calloused and ten- 
der feet of the youths of the country. 
Though this has not been done di- 
rectly, yet the information contained 
through a report on hosiery and knit 
goods shows that in the decade ended 
1909, the output of socks and stock- 
ings and like articles more than — 
doubled in value, which is a much 
greater increase than the growth of 
population. The inference offered 
by the experts is that barefooted 
youngsters are now no longer the 
fashion, 
U.S, M. C. Retrer Asso. SHow 
The first public theatrical perform- 
ance in two years conducted by the 
United Shoe Machinery Mutua! Re- 
lief association will be a _ musical 
comedy, ““The Masquerade Party,” to 
be presented with a cast of 125 peo- 
nle from the plant at the Larcom 
theatre, Beverly, on the evenings of 
Dec. 8, 9, and toth. The perform- 
ances are held to replenish the treas- 
ury of the charity fund of the asso- 
ciation. The show will be under the 
direction of a professional teacher of 
dramatic art. 
The charity work of the Shoe or- 
ganization is not confined to the 
members of the plant, as many cases 
of philanthropic work in Beverly | 
among outside people have been car- 
ed for. It is a worthy cause and it 
is safe to say that there will be three 
full houses for the show. 
Tom—They say that every woman 
is beautiful in some one’s eyes. Do 
you believe it? 
Jack — Certainly — if you include 
her own.—Philadelphia Press. 
