Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1892-12-16
UNCLE SANS FELINE AIDS.
THREE EHUNDREDCATs EMPLOYED
BY THE GOVERNMENT.

. '-tFt NiesHr
Kept at the ostofif.e to Protect tne
- NIaiis-f'ussieso of ne White House
t. and the Capitol. !, ..f..s-
N T.ORE than. three hundred cats
IN II are maintained by the United
V1 States Gnun-nment, the cost
Of their support being car,
ried as q regular,item on the accounts Of
the Postoffice Department. Thsy are
distributed among about fifty postoffices,
and their duty is to keep rats and mice
from eating postal matter and mail
sacks. Their, works is of the utmost
Importance wherever large. quantities Of
mail are colIected-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 nlischievous rodents, which cheWed
holes in the sacks. and thought nothing
of boring, clear through bags of letters
in night. Troubles of this sort no
longer occur now that the official pussi,s
stand guard. Each city postmaster is
allowed from. .$S. to $40 a year for the
keeping of his feline staff, sending his,
estimate for scat meat" to Washington
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 rule
that no meat shall be given when there
is mouse or rat to be caught. ...,t
Cofe l. oil tho Gnunrnnoant
buildings at Washington. In that of
the State, War and Navy Departments
they are employed not only to protect
the spriceless papers stored there, but
to guard against fire. Twice the, War
Department has been set on fire 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 bat two. These are as
wild as possible, getting living by
foraging for themselves. Mice arc no.
toriously fond of chewing up money,
, but they have no chance of getting at
Uncle Sam,s paper cash, which is kept
in rooms with iron walls that defy their
teeth. Rats occupied the Pension Of.
fee in great numbers while it was in
process Of building, taking. up their re-
sidence in the walls and floors as fast as
, they were put up Two years ago tosr
cats were introduced there to guard the
records of the old soldiers and they have
driven most of .}the vermin away. THE
best rat killer Of the quartette not iorg
J, ago, being frightened ;at something, fell.
from the second gallery fifty feetnto the
tiled floor rad was killed.. The White
House has two, cats, one u black and
white female, kept in. the kitchen, and
the other black Tom, which belongs
in the stable. Mrs. Harrison had four
lovely Maltese pussies, but they all dis
/ appeared-stolen most 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 in
troops. Nobody knows how many OF
them there are, but the watchmen reckon
them by scores. They are. all -vagrants
and wild as hawks. In summer they are
scattered about the neighborhood to
some extent, but in winter. they gather
within the building. About 10 o'clock
every night they begin a mad racing
through the empty corridors, which are
made to resound with their cries. Tie
acoustic effects produced are astonish-
ing. Let u single grimalkin lift up his
voice in statuary hall, famous for its
echoes, and the silence of the night is
broken by yell like that of a damned
soul, as loud as a locomotive whistle. A
favorite place for cat. concerts is the
whispering gallery down below, known
as the Hcrypt," where the feeble sound
is magnifed into roar. Imagine the
demoniacal ensemble of half a dozen
feline songsters in such spot. =
The British Government pays certain
sums, regularly passed through the, nc
counts quarterly, for providing and
keeping cats in public offices, dock
yards and store houses. Rats and mice
used to do great damage to paper. in the
imperial printing; office of France, but
now sum is appropriated yearly for
maintaining staff of cats there, which
are fed twice a day and carefully look ed
after by man who is paid for that
service. In Vienna four cats are en-
ployed by the, authorities to catch mice
on the premises of the. municipality. A
regular allowance is voted for their keep.
and after reasonable period of active
service they are placed on the retired
list with comfortable pensions. The
Midland Railway of England supports
eight cats at Trent, which are borne. on
the company's pay rolls for milk and
meat. Their duty'is to guard, hundreds
of thousands of empty corn sacks, and
the importance of their work may be es-
timated from the fact that twelve women
are engaged all the year around in. darn
ing holes eaten by rats in the sacks. -
Washington Star.