NORTH SHORE BREEZE and Reminder 49 
THE, 
N ational Capital 
Events of Interest from the Seat of 
Government 
By J. E. Jones 
The Breeze Bureau. 
Washington, June 30, 1914. 
Sweltering and Statesmanship 
Obstreperous politicians have giv- 
en up all hope of adjourning Con- 
gress, and it is said that the Demc- 
cratic leaders are agreed with Presi- 
dent Wilson that the anti-trust legis- 
Jation must be on the statute books 
before the final curtain is rung down 
on the present session. In Boston, a 
favorite ‘‘humorist’’ has remarked 
that ‘‘when the days begin to short- 
en, the heat begins to hotten.’’ In 
support of the New England rhym- 
ster it is observed that since the 
twenty-second of June the weather 
has been so hot in the National Capi- 
tal that the pavements have furnish- 
ed an elasticity that ought to make 
the ad-writers for O’Sullivan’s rub- 
ber heels green with envy, because 
of their lack of power of description. 
The general notion that a Senator or 
a Representative is a big fat man 
who finds it necessary to mop his 
perspiring countenance with a hand- 
kerehief about the size of a pillow 
case, is a little far fetched—but the 
fats and the leans who are saving 
the country actually do flourish best 
in the shade. Most of them are apt 
to be discovered arrayed in light 
flannel or duck suits, and the negli- 
gee costume is completed with tail- 
ored silk shirts and white shoes. The 
net result is that in Washington peo- 
ple appear much as they do in the 
tropies. The older members of Con- 
gress have spent their summers at 
the Capital for six years, and with 
the heat to goad them, even the 
belligerents have given up the ghost 
of resistance, and surrendered to the 
wishes of the Administration. In 
fact, a good many of the mighty 
solons are in an almost comatose 
condition, and are quite willing to 
put through almost any kind of anti- 
trust bills, providing they can hast- 
en the return to their own baliwicks, 
and give their attention to their 
political fences, which in many cases 
are badly out of repair. Last year 
Congress had a continuous perfor- 
mance, and there was no vacation, 
and as the time approaches when the 
frost will be on the pumpkin and 
the fodder in the shock, sweltering 
statesmen hope to forswear head- 
achy politics, and renew their friend- 
ly relations with old cronies and 
neighbors. It is a queer sort of a 
Statesman that is not ready to say 
‘‘amen’’ to the demand of the coun- 
try that Congress adjourn. 
Live Stock on the Ranges 
The forest service makes the state- 
ment that at least one-twentieth of 
the stock bred on the open ranges 
of the west dies before it reaches 
market age. The waste in western 
live stock bred on the open ranges 
is said to add millions of dollars to 
the people’s meat bills, and gives 
one more cause for the high cost of 
living. Exposure is the principal 
cause assigned for the large death 
rate among stock. It is quite inter- 
esting to note that the development 
of the west has not materially re- 
duced the number of animals which 
prey upon domestic live stock, and 
the forest service estimates that sev- 
eral million dollars worth of stock is 
killed annually by wild beasts. How- 
ever, during the past eight years for- 
est officers have killed over 35,000 pre- 
datory animals, consisting of coy- 
otes, wolves, bears, mountain lions, 
wild cats, ete. Another phase of 
forestry is contained in a communi- 
cation from an Arizona Indian chief, 
read in the Senate a few days ago, 
in which the claim was made that 
the national forests were already 
overcrowded with stock. ‘The Indian 
further went on to say that his peo- 
ple could not compete with the 
white man as_ stock-raisers, and 
made a plea for money appropria- 
tions instead of continued allotments 
of live stock. 
The Dead Letter Office 
A year ago there were 180 employ- 
ees in the dead letter office. Now 
there are about eighty. The reason 
is found in the fact that the sleuths 
who fathom the mysteries of poor 
addresses have become more _ profi- 
cient in their work, and that better 
results have been obtained in tracing 
badly addressed mail and turning 
it over to the several postoffices and 
division and_ railroad centers 
throughout the country. Foreign 
mail, which has in the past been the 
source of much concern to the dead 
letter office, is now handled largely 
at the ports of entry of this country. 
The dead letter office was established 
almost ninety year ago, and is one 
of Washington’s oldest and most 
widely celebrated institutions. Un- 
lke many of the divisions of the De- 
partment it was created by statute, 
but became an institution resulting 
from regulations that letters be sent 
to the ‘‘dead letter office.’’ Before 
1860 no detailed record was kept of 
its transactions; although. the re- 
cords show the receipt of 380,000 
letters in 1830 and 900,000 in 1837. 
The Senate adopted a resolution on 
March 9, 1857, requesting the Post- 
master General to state the number 
of letters received in the dead letter 
office during the fiseal year, and to 
determine what further legislation 
was necessary to diminish the num- 
ber of such letters and to provide 
for their return to senders. The 
receipts for that year were 2,500,000 
letters and parcels. In 1861 Con- 
gress passed an act providing that 
all money found in undelivered dead 
letters was to be used to promote the 
efficiency of the dead letter office. 
In 1862 the report stated that when 
letters containing postage stamps or 
articles valued at less than $1 could 
not be restored to the writer, they 
were to be destroyed with their con- 
tents. In 1862 Congress authorized 
the return of all letters bearing the 
names of writers whose contents 
provided sufficient revenue to pay 
the clerk employed to handle them. 
The percentage of money found in 
unclaimed letters was nearly four 
times greater before 1864 than at 
present. The money order system 
was established in 1864. Stamped 
envelopes imprinted with the ad- 
dress of senders and request for re- 
turn were issued by the government 
in 1865 for the purpose of securing 
the return of letters to writers with- 
out opening. There were employed 
in 1875, 29 men and 50 women, and 
the office was mentioned as a model 
of industry and punctuality. Last 
year the force consisted of about 180 
persons handling more than 13,000,- 
000 pieces of mail matter annually, 
and returning without charge all 
matter paid at the letter rate. 
Mills of Government Grind 
Exceeding Slow 
There apears to be considerable 
joy in the Postoffice Department 
over the fact that after July 1 
money orders will be made payable 
at any postal money order office in 
the country. Postmaster General 
Burleson is certainly entitled to a good 
deal of credit for having really ac- 
complished this reform, as it is a 
thing that the postoffice officials and 
postmaster generals have been talk- 
ing about for at least twenty years. 
The ‘‘reform’’ shows difference in 
the manner of doing things under 
government and private methods, as 
the express companies have for 
years made their orders payable the 
manner now provided by the post- 
office. 
