Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1892-11-25
GOVERNMENT CATS.
Three Hundred Pussies Employed by
Uncle Sam.


maintained by the United States gov.
ernment, the cost OF their support
being carried as a regular item on the
accounts OF the postoffice department
They are distributed among so post
offices, and their duty is to keep rats
and mice from eating postal matter
and mail sacks. Their work is OF the
utmost importance wherever large
quantities of mail are collecud-as, for
example, at the New York postoffice,
where from 1000 to 5000 bags OF such
material are commonly slowed away
in the basement. Formerly great
damage was often done by mischievous
rodents, which chewed holes in the
sacks and thought nothing of boring
clear through bags of letters in a
night. Troubles OF this sort no longer
occur, now that the official pussies
stand guard. Each city postmaster is
allowed from So to $40 a year for the
keep of his feline staff, sending his
estimate for "cat meat" to Washing
ton at the beginning of each quarter.
Care is taken not to feed the animals
too high in order that their appetite
for live game may be keen. 1t is laid
down as a rule that no meat shall be
given when there is a mouse or a rat
to be caught.
Cats are kept in all the government
buildings at Washington. In that Of
the State, arW and Navy departments
they are employed not only to protect
the priceless papers stored there, but
to guard against fire. Twice the wal
department has been set afire by rats
gnawing matches-on one of these oc'
casions in the Office of the Secretary
of War, in the middle OF the night. A
year ago the treasury had nine cats
but they made themselves obnoxious
and all were given away but two
These are as wild as possible, getting
q living by foraging for themselves
Mice are notoriously fond of chewing
up money, but they have no chance te
get at Uncle Sans paper cash, which
is kept in rooms with iron walls thai
defy their teeth. Rats occupied the
pension Office in great numbers while
it was in process OF building, taking
up their residence in the walls anG
floors as fast as they were put up
Two years ago four cats were intro
duced there to guard the records o.
the old soldiers, and they have driven
most of the vermin away. The best
rat-killer of the quartet, not long ago
being frightened at something, fell
from the second gallery so feet to the
tiled floor and was killed. The White
House has two..cats, one black ant
white female, kept in the kitchen, and
the other black Tom, which belongs
in the stable. Mrs. Harrison had foul
lovely Maltese pussies, but they al
disappeared-stolen, very likely.
But the capitol is the greatest place
in Washington for cats. The huge
structure is fairly aswarm with them
and at night they scamper about ir
troops. Nobody knows how many o.
them there are, hut the watchmer
reckon them by scores. They are al
vagrants, and wild as hawks. In sum
mer they are scattered about the
neighborhood to some extent, but in
winter they gather within the build
ing. At about 10 o'clock every might
they begin mad racing through the
corridors, which are made to resount
with their cries. The acoustic effects
produced are astonishing. Let 6
single grimalkin lift up his voice ir
Statuary Hall, famous for its echoes
and the silence of the night is broker
by a yell like that OF the damned soul
as loud as a locomotive whistle. A
favorite place for cat concerts is tht
whispering gallery down below, knowr
as the Crypt" where the feebles
sound is magnified into rear
Imagine the demonical assemble ol
half-a-dozen feline songsters in such {
spot.