Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-09-25

ure OF the wagon number OF other arJlcleS
purchased by that industrious shopper would
be discovered somewhere in the delivery
room. This made necessary another trip Of
the wagon out to IA, IA Penn avenue, a loss
Of time and money, besides causing good
Mrs. Smith no end of anxiety about the
safety and whereabouts Of her undehyered
purchases.
One day Dir. Wanamaker went down to
the basement of the big store, where the de-
livery room is, determined to devise some
plan that would put an end to the annoyances
and delays of that important branch Of the
business In few moments he sent for his
boss carpenter and instructed him to build at
once twelve hundred large boxes in tiers, rum
ming from floor to ceiling. For each of these
boxes a transfer card is printed and used in
the store upstairs. II a customer desires to
purchase in different departments of the es-
Enlistment and have all his purchases de-
Iivered at his house, he is given one of these
cards. Say it is No. 500. Every article pur-
chased by him is sent down stairs and put in
box 999 AS soon as the customer has COM
pleted his purchases and paid for them the
card is sent to the delivery room, where it
serves as notice that all the packages in boz
800 may be dispatched in the wagon. This
simple system gives perfect handling of the
thousands of packages sent out each day
from the Wanamaker store. The magnitude
of the delivery department may be judged
by the fact snat in the busy season of the
year $50 men and boys and 100 wagons, fifty
Of these owned by the firm, are employed.
saw on the street the other day young
man, now fast going to wreck, who once oc-
cupied place of the highest trust and re-
sponsibility. He had charge Of the door
leading to one Of the vaults in the treasury
in which were stored hundreds Of millions Of
dollars. The outer door had a time lock, and
this young man carried in his mind the COM
bination to the inner door. 1t was his duty
to open this door at 8 O'Clock each morning.
Passing the night in dissipation, he often ar
rived at the treasury with his head in such
an added condition that it would take him
half an hour 10 think of the combination,
then being able to recall it only by toning
himself up with few drinks of brandy from
a bottle kept conveniently near for just such
emergencies It is hardly necessary to add
that q man who carried such an important
combination in such poor head was unable
TO retain his place in the government service.
A former social queen at the capital, a
woman whose beauty and wit made her fa-
nous, was talking one recent day of Wash
ington society of the present compared with
Washington society of her day. Then, u
she said, brains counted. The select circle
was composed of the ablest men, the wittiest,
the most brilliant To gain entrances to this
charmed circle, full membership, one had to
prove his mettle Mental drones and lag
a., Cd n
had nothing to do with it. The poorest man
has Just as good chance as the richest, and,
what is more strange, the wife of the poor
man, 80 he was man Of ability, could hold
her head as high as the millionaire's wife,
and good deal higher if the millionaire
CHANGED to be sluggish and stupid, as million
aires often are Financial ability to give
dinners and lunches was no mark of social
strength twenty-five years ago We rarely
served refreshments, or, if at all, of the sim
plest and most inexpensive sort
Nowadays added the reiguing belle of
years ago, 'terrapin appears to have taken
the place of brains"
A veteran member of the house of repre-
sentatives was recently asked which is the
great American game, baseball or draw poker
His answer was: Neither. The great Ameri-
can game is politics. That is a game at which
millions play, and but few win. The cards
are the white ballots which fall in the box,
the stakes fame and emoluments. Politics is
like poker in that it is partly a game Of
chance, but one in which nerve, skill and
finesse are of more Importance than luck.
Like poker, it is a game of human nature.
The man who doesn't know human nature,
who cannot read faces and guess purposes,
cannot be successful poker player. Nor
can he win at politics. At poker, as at poll
tics. the man with the longest purse has an
apparent advantage at the beginning of the
game, but in the end the poor though skillful
player is likely to be at the head of the pro-
cessiou, while the rich man and his money
have been soon parted"
All of which sounds like good philosophy,
coming ms it does, from one who is a better
poker player than politician, and a good
enough politician to hold a congressional
seat away from score of ambitious men
during the last ten years.
ROBERT GRAVES