The Portland daily press., 1890-12-03
NATIONAL DIRECTORY.
The Wonderful Scheme Of St
Louis inventor.
rst. Louis Globe. Democra

[St Louis Gl0be- Democrat
While looking for furnished room in
tenement and Office building near the
corner of Fourth and Market streets
last night a reporter from the Globe
Democrat stumbled upon genius who
was burning the midnight oil in back
dingy room up two flights of stairs. To
reach this obscure retreat the reporter
had CROPPED his way through devious
halls and passages where darkness was
as palpable as the rats which scampered
over his feet. Knocking at a door
through which shone q dim CLEAN Of
light, the intruder was invited to enter
a scantily furnished room, where the
marks of hard times and industry vainly
tried to obhterate each other. The oc-
cupant OF the room was tall, slim, seri-
GUS man, somewhat in need of shave,
and attired in garments little less rusty
than the room itself
There was no carpet on the floor of
this apartment; on the whitewashed
walls hung saw; in one corner stood a
table strewn with books and scraps of
paper; the bed was covered with red
calico spread, and the appearance here
and there of pieces of crockery among
the odds and ends of old clothing gave
evidence of the carelessly concealed Gu
Gnary of bachelors hall. 1t matters
not how the talk between the reporter
and the serious man drifted into the dis
cussion of the latter's affairs, but so it
did, and soon the outline of a gigantic
enterprise was being poured into an at
tentive ear
D. B. Bradley is the name Of the man
who unfolded scheme for a national
directory.
THE SCHEME EXPLAINED.
No confidence is violated in publishing
the details of the enterprise. as the plans
have been copyrighted. and all that is
required to place them in practical
operation are the energy of capital and
the establishment of newspaper to ac-
quaint the public with their advantages.
"You see," said Mr.. Bradley, cit is
like this: l will have an agent in every
town and county of the United States to
get names and furnish them to the CEN
trail office. 1t will cost them that has
their names in the directory fifty cents
apiece for enrolment, and stamp to
identify themselves by. Every man will
be registered in this way: say, for in
stance, C. A. Moore, No. 8, book M,
vol. 2, Nineteenth century, Now sup
pose Moore lives in st. Louis and goes
to California. His friends doesn't know
where he's gone, and want to write to
him; what do they do? Why, they just
write to this directory, and the directory
forwards the letter."
''Free?'
eOh, no; it will cost about ten cents"
"How will the directory know he's
gone to California;
"Why, he'll tell 'em of course. You
see it's only honest citizens that will be
expected to send in their names, and if
any of 'em commit crime we will have
their record, thus making the directory
kind of detective business too"
Suppose he don't tell the directory
where he's gomez"
"Then that's his fault, and he don't
get his letters. But we're liable to find
ObO NiAplC no 49, JttoU tAtO LACIO .
an Identification goes along with the di-
rectory that practically prevents man
from losing himself"
Here the professor produced nickel
plated instrument of his own invention
for taking head measurements. The
production of this device caused Pro-
fessor Bradley to branch off somewhat
into phrenology. He explained that the
human head was globe like the earth,
but not SO large, of which the meridian
line ran around the head through the
ears and eyes.
PRIVATE NUMBERS
I'm addition to the public number
above given continued Professor Brad
ley, 'every man will have a private
number, which he can change at will.
His public number and name is never
changed, except by law. You know men
sometimes have their names changed by
statute. The advantage Of being able to
change the private number is easily
shown. Say Moore's private number is
10, and he gives it away. Some other
fellow attempts to personate him by
using his name and number from some
other town. AS soon as the matter passes
through the directory Office two postal
cards are sent-one to Moore at his
regular address, and the other to his
changed address. If there has been any
monkeying it is detected right there, the
number is changed and further fraud
! prevented
''How long have you been working on
this scheme| asked the reporter.
"About eighteen years, but I've only
been pushing it strong for the last four
years. went to Washington in 1887
and got eight congressman, four sena.
tors and President Cleveland interested
in it for a time, but they amt done
nothin' to amount to anything. | reckon
I'll have to start the thing with private
capital. think can get some help to
start weekly or monthly paper to ad.
vertise it. 1t won't take much money
the thing will pay its way from the
start"
Besides the headometer and the di-
rectory Professor Bradley has invented
buggy wheel, an attachment for a
piano to play any piece of written mu-
sic mechanically; has written book ell.
titled The Science Of Mathematics,
copyrighted two calendars and written
the "Age of Reason" in several thou.
sand stanzas Of verse
!