, 1884-10-09
FOR THE PEOPLE
Distribution by Congressman I
Their Constituents.
Nearly -Four million Packages Yearly
Mailed from Ia Agricultural
Depnrtnacnt-PuttIng UP
the Pnrccls-MailIng.
[cor. Cincinnati Commercial Ganette.l

tCor. Cincinnati Commercial Gazette-l
An average congressman prizes nothing
more than his seeds. They are always APP
preciated, and appeal TO tho grcnt mass Of
country constituencies. This seed distribn
ton is a peculiar affair. From Its inception
the agricultural department has relied upon
1t as a chief means of keeping in the good
graces OF congressman, with remarkable sue
cess The seed business begun small, but last
year $4,000 was voted for its support, and
this year s1O0, 900 is set aside for that pur-
pose. Formerly the business was done in ths
BASEMENT OF the agricultural department,
but two years ago a spacious building was
erected for that purpose, which now also
shelters the civil service commissioner.
l went down there the other day to find
100 women and lfty-eight men busily EN-
plOyed in putting up the seed. The men get
$50 a day and women S1.25. Mr.. Longley,
tile chief, presides. Every year he buys
tons OF seeds. Some come from abroad, the
greater part all grows in his country. He
is constantly on the lookout for new varie-
ties, which are bought, tried by the depart
ment gardener, and, II a success. sent out.
Two-thirds Of his appropriation he spends In
seeds. the rest In putting them up. Half the
women paste together stiff paper envelopes
for the smaller kinds, and others sew
cotton bags for the farm seeds. The boys
with different sized scoops fill them, and at
long tables other women gum the envelope
laps, or, with a few quick stitches, sew the
bags. Then they are piled up in heaps like a
small grist-mill, waiting TO be sent away.
This work Is going on all the year. Now the
winter wheat is being prepared, to be fol
lowed by the cotton OF the south.
During the year just over Mr.. Longley has
mailed 3,622, 7Ss packages, all going free. OF
these :, 0S, 73U are given to the congressman,
although by law they are only entitled 10
twu-thirds- Then the agricultural depart
ment has a crop correspondent in every
county and q general one in each state.
The former got 395, 005 packages, the
latter 72,4bO, while miscellaneous -appli-
cants received 27D,653. And 50 per-
feet Is the system that great books are
kept wherein each recipient and what he re-
ceives are set down. The seeds are Of all
sorts, from field corn and potatoes to the
rarest flowers. Peas, beans, corn n pota-
toes are put up in quart sacks and the flower
seeds in tiny envelopes. The list includes
over fifty kinds, while Of vegetables there are
i2S varieties, and Of flowers 1871. These swo
are more than two-thirds Of the whole. Last
year 1881 ,S35 lots OF vegetables and 7563, 63s
OF flower seeds were distributed, turnips
ranking next, with 49,, S58, wheat 90, 200, to-
bacco 1l4,Cu, potatoes lie, 229, sorghum a.
800, while Of the poor despised sunfower 565
packages were given away.
But, the reader will say, what a job il must
be for u congressman TO do up and address
such a number OF packages. Allowing that
the division was made equally, each one re-
ceiyed last year Z, IO4. This is not literally
true, for the city members very often ex-
change their seeds with bucolic statesmen for
books and other perquisites, While the coun-
try members, who never can get enough
seeds, go In troops to Dr.. Loring to beg for
more than they get by allowances and ex-
change. He always manages to squeeze out
Il few extra, which accounts for their having
more than two-thirds. But taking the
average number, over 1000 OF these bundles
to direct would oe a large job. Instead OF
that, they do this: Every congressman
keeps a wonderful book OF names. He
ransacks directories, writes TO local poll
ticians and relies on his memory to get a list
Of all the men in his district who for any
reason are worth looking after. Thousands
Of them, with addresses, are thus on hand.
This volume is sent TO the seed office. There
the clerks direct to each namc a variety OF
seeds, and in the mail goes ut the same time
n neat official postal card which bears these
words, the blanks appropriately flied:
Sm-At the request OF Hon. - we send
you a package Of e.
Very respectfully,
GEORGE b. LoRISo, Commissioner
Thus the recipient sees whence the dona-
ton comes, even IL the member does not
have the bags sent to his room 10 be directed
hv his nxrn hnud Dpa bacon fo toNt ,,,-