Weston weekly leader. [volume] (Weston, Umatilla County, Or.) 1878-189?, 1885-07-17
oUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
From Our Regular Correspondents

From Our Regular Correspondent
WAsHINeroN, July 4, 1885.
While walking through the Navy
Yard the other day, I met Comme-
dore Sicard "Thif, said the Com.
modore, holding up a chocolate
eolored, six-sidsd prism an inch
and . half in diameter, with . round
hole through it, and Weighing over
two ounces, .4this is a grain of the
celebrated cocoa powder Of which
you have heard 30 much" is it
made of cecoa" / asked. .sNe,
there is probably not a particle of
cocoa in it. It takes its name from
its color, but it's composition is a
| profound secret. 1t is made abroad
and furnished to the world at a
reasonable rate, but I think we
shall soon be able to make it our
selves. There are experiments GO.
ing forward here which we expect
to bt crowned with success. The
particular points Of excellence of
the cocoa powder over the old kind
are that it burns slower at the be-
ginning and more rapidly toward
the end. In other words it has a
tendency to burn more rapidly un-
der increasing pressure. With the
black powder it is difficult to keep
down the pressure, but it requires
high pressure to make cocoa burn
rapidly" "Is the cocoa powder
economicalp' "No, 1 cannot, say
that tits. 1t takes a good deal of
it to impress a high velocity to a
projectile. But when everything
is properly adjusted it is not i'm
possible to give velocity of more
than 1000 feet per second to pro-
jectile." )" I thanked the Com modore
and was glad to pote another evi-
dence that our Navy was waking
up.
Numerous stories have been pub
lished in regard to the physical
condition Of Hon. Malcolm Hay,
First Assistant Postmaster General.
He certainly has the appearance Ct
being in poor health. He sits in
an armed easy. chair, with his head
resting languidly back upon the
cushion. He is very pale, and his
voice sounds like that Of sick
man, or of one who is just recover
ing froa severe ,llness. I am
told, however, that he is not by
any means SO bad off as he has the
appearance Of being. He is really
no worse than he has been for a
number of years past. He is a
very conscientious man, and at.
tends to his work very diligently
and carefully. He is not strong
man physically, to be sure. but he
carefully husbands his strength and
| accomplishes great deal. He
| works at his correspondence every
night after he has gone home, and
thus works off very much more
.han would be supposed"
A good story is told of one of
the recent Western appointees in
the Treasury Department. He
had only just heen installed, when,
happening into one of the other
Offices, be beheld a silver tray AMI
pitcher. His own room was furn-
ished with an ordinary earthen II
pitcher and tumbler. The silver
tray took his eye, and, returning to
his room, he wrote requisition for
one upon the Secretary. The Sec
retary read the requisition and re-
turned it with the verbal message:
"Tell Mr.. - that he better get
the prairie mud off his boot-heels
before he sends to me for silver
trays"
! Mr.. Hay is something of civil
service reformer in his way. He
does not always please the Con,
gressmen and Senators, who have
sometimes crowded him pretty hard
| for appointments for their constitu.
ents. He is determined that Con.
gressmen shall be held responsible
for the recommendations which
they make, and has sometimes
been rather pointed in the questions
he. has asked. He inanifestly be
heves in doing business in a bust
ness like way.
Postmaster General Villas is the
last man in the Cabinet Who wa,
expected to be civil service re
former and yet l was told by {
candidate for Office today that b,
! lectured nearly every one who CALI
upon him on this subject. "It il
extremely difficult to see the Post
master General at all, and when
one does see him it is only for /.
minute, and it Is rather moneto
nous to have that minute occupiet
with a lecture on civil service re
form. But that is the way yer,
' often," said this gentleman.
E The single rate letter postag'
r law, which reduces the rate to tw'
! cents an ounce, instead of tw,
: cents for each half ounce, as here
tofore, has made very little chang