The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1893-01-04
UNCLE SANS FELINE AIDS.
THREE HUNDRED CATS EMPLOYED
BY THE GOVERNMENT.
Kept at the Postofiice TO Protect the
Mails-Pussies of the White House
and the Capitol.

Kept at the Postoffice TO Protect the
Mails-Pussies of the White House
and the Capitol.
N II ORE than three hundred cats
MI are maintained by the United
" States Government, the cost
Of their support being car.
ried as a regular item on the accounts Of
the Postoffice Department. They 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 collected.-as, for example, at
the New York postoffice, where from
1000 to 1000 bags CT 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 $8 to $40 year for the
keeping of his feline staff, sending his
estimate for "cat 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 a rule
that no meat shall be given when there
is mouse or rat to be caught.
Cats are kept In all the Government
h,,ilIi NJ WochfpnfNv Tn f,f
the State, War and Navy Departments
they are employed not only to protect
the priceless 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 but two. These are as
wild as possible, getting living by
foraging for themselves. Mice are no.
toriously fond of chewing up money,
but they have no chance of getting at
Uncle Sans 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 four
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 lorg
ago, being frightened at something fell
from the second gallery fifty feet to the
tiled floor and was killed. The White
House has two cats, one 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 mad racing
through the empty corridors, which are
made to resound with their cries. Tic
acoustic effects produced are astonish.
ing. Let single grimalkin lift up his
voice in ststuary hall, famous for its
echoes, and the silence of the night is
broken by yell like that of a damned
soul, as loud as locomotive whistle. A
favorite place for cat concerts Is the
whispering gallery down below, known
as the "crypt," where the feeble sound
is magni6ed into a roar. Imagine the
demoniacal ensemble of half dozen
feline songsters in such a spot.
The British Government pays certain
sums, regularly passed through the ac-
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 a sum is appropriated yearly for
maintaining a staff of cats there, which
are fed twice day and carefully looked
after by a 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 a 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.