The Harrison times. (Harrison, Boone Co., Ark) 1876-1938, 1886-04-17
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

- oman Ni4hAg VI iiNf 49, -
men re now engaged preparing
the Congressional seed supply, III
the annex of the Agricultural De-
Ipartment. AS there are four
| hundred and nine Senators and
| Representatives, the seed division
of this institution is busy place
at certain seasons of the year,
Each legislator is to have six
Thousand paper packages Of yege-
/ table seed, five hundred Of flower
seed, three hundred Of tobacco,
twenty quarts of sorghum, twenty
of corn, fifty of grass, twenty eight
quarts Of sugar beet and thirty two
/ quarts Of cotton seed. II put up
in one order each members allow
anee will ill eight large mail sacks.
The seeds distributed through
members Of Congress comprise
about two thirds of the whole
amount disposed of by the Agri-
cultural Department. The re-
naming third goes to persons in
various parts of the country who
act as agents of the department
but receive no Compensation.
The force of the seed division is
required to receive, assert, puck,
label and prepare the packages
for the mail sacks, in which they
are hauled away from the depart
ment. The little paper bags or
pockets are cut and made i'll one
end of the large room whore the
seeds are packed. The printing
upon them is executed in the
printing office in the department.
The labor is divided aud subdi-
vided, SO as to facilitate the work
as much as possible. One lady
who has a pan of seed before her
and tiny measure, fills the bag or
or pocket; her neighbor pastes
down the flap on the bag. At an
other table the department frank
Is put on, and SO on until the
package is finally placed in the
mail sack. All Of this work is car
ried on in most systematic
manner, with little noise and no
confusion.
The country expects from the
present administration not only
pure democracy, but pure and
good seed. Agricultural depart
ment seeds have, in the past, been
a sort of by-word among iokers.
The complaint received at the de
partment to some extent, justified
these jokers. The department has
always been large purchaser of
seeds for distribution, and it is be-
lieyed, has sometimes had imposed
upon it, supplies which the seed
men would not sell to a private
customer. After the seeds have
been distributed by the depart
ments, the seed man knows if the
seeds prove worthless it is not
likely ever TO be tracked back to
his establishment.
The seed division now makes it
a rule to send out no seed that it
cannot youch for. When an
American citizen receives seed
hereafter it will come to him guar
anteed by the administration to
terminate under proper conditions.
Of course, every seed of the mil
lions which each Congressman is
entitled to is not separately tested
and vouched for, but samples are
taken from every lot of seed re-
ceived, and if they do not show
good percentage, the lot is reject
ed.
The defeat by the Senate of the
Logan scheme to increase the Ar
my, and the passage of half Il
dozen bills by the House, among
them one to pension the Mexican
veterans, and another for the erect
ion of a Congressional library,
mark the present week in Con-
gress as one of the most indus
trious of the session.
Nor should the Washington
monument sensation be omitted
from the weeks record a stain on
the surface of the pure white mar
BILE was supposed to be a crack in
the masonry from the settling of