Sierra County advocate. [volume] (Kingston, N.M.) 1884-1960, 1885-07-18
WASHINGTON LETTER.
I From our Regular Correspondent. }
WASHINGTON, July 4, 1883.

rOuOiC A)ACotAA'
Comodore, holding up chocolate
colored, sil-sldcd prism an anch
and a half in diameter, with round
hole Through it, and weighing over
two ounces. 'tthis is a grain OF the
celebrated cocoa powder OF which
YOU have head so much" lis 1t
made OF cocoa?" | asked. "No,
there is probably not a particle OF
cocoa in it. 1t takes its name from
its color, but its composition Is
profound secret. Ii is made abroad
and furnished the the world at a
reasonable rate, but | think we
shall soon be able to make it our
selves. There ale experiments
going forward here which we ex-
pect To be crowned with success.
The particular points OF excellence
Of the cocoa powder over the old
kind are that it burns slower 1T
the beginning and more rapidly
toward the enA. La other words 1t
has a tendency to burn more rap
ilIv under increasing pressure
With the black powder it is a aif-
ticult 10 keep down the pressure,
but it requires high pressure to
uake cocoa burn rapidly. lis
the cocoa powder economical?
"No, | cannot say that it is. 1t
takes good deal of it to impress
high velocity to a prolectlle- But
when everything IS properly ad-
justed it is not impossible to give
a velocity Of more than 1000 feet
per second to projectile. l
thanked the Comodore and was
glad to note another evidence that
oar Navy was waking up.
Numerous stories have. been
published III regard to the physl-
cal condition or Hon. Malcolm
Iiay, First Assistant Postmaster
General. He certainly has the
appearance of beng III poor health.
lie sits in an armed easy-chalr,
with his head resting languldly
back upon the cushion. tie IS
very pale, and his voice sounds
like that Of sick man, or OF one
who Is just recovering from a Sc
yere illness. | am told, however,
that he is not by any means SO
Lad OF az. ne mas tire uppotrf afIoo
of being. He is really 10 worse
than he has been for number of
wears past He is a very consci-
entious man, and attends to his
work very diligently and carefnl-
". He is not strong man ply
sically, to be sure, but he carefully
husbands his strength aud accom-
plishes a great deal. He works at
his correspondence every night
after he has gone home, and thus
works off very much more than
would be supposed.
A good story is told OF one of the
recent western sppointees in the
Trsssury Department. He had
only just been installed, when,
happening into one OF the other
Offices, he beheld q silver tray and
pitcher. His own room was fur
nished with an ordinary earthen
pitcher and tumbler. The silver
tray took his eye, and, returning
to his room, he wrote requisltion
for one upon the Secretary. The
Secretary read the requisltion and
returned it with the verbal mes
sage: "Tell Mr.. that he bet
ter get the prairie mud off his
boot-L eels before he sends to me
for silver trays"
Mr. Hay is something Of civil
service reformer il his way. lie
does not always please the Con
gressmsn and Senators, who have
sometimes crowded him pretty
hard for appointments for theil
constituents. He is determined
that Congressman shall be held
responsible for the recommends
tions which they make, and hal
sometimes been rather pointed ii
the questions he has asked. HI