The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1893-10-06
The Government Cats.
THREE HUNDRED OF THESE ANIMALS
ENGAGED IN PROTECTING RECORDS.

Three hundred and odd cats are
maintained by the United States Gov
eminent, the cost of their support be-
ing carried as regular item on the
accounts of the Post Office Depart
mept. They are distributed among
abou. fifty post. Offices, and their duty
is to keep rats and mice from eating
postal matter and mail sacks. There
work is of the utmost Importance
wherever large quantities of mail are
collected-as, for example, at the
New York Post Office, 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 night. Troubles of this
sort no longer occur, now that the of
hcial pussles keep watch. Each city
postmaster is allowed from So to $40
year for the keep 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 rule that
no meat shall be given when there is
mouse OK rat to be caught.
Cats are kept in all the Government
buildings at Washington. In that of
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 ahre by rats
gnawing matches--on one of these oc-
caslous 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 ioraging for themselves.
Nice are notoriously fond of chewing
up money, but they have no chance to
get at Uncle Sans paper cash, which
Is kept IN rooms with iron walls that
defy their teeth. Rats occupied the
Pension Office in great numbers while
1t was in process of building, taking
up their residence in the walls and
floors as fast as they were put up.
Two years ago four cats were intro
duced there to guard the records of
the old soldiers and they nave driven
most OF the vermin away. The best
rat-killer of the quartette not long ago,
being frightened at something, fell
from the second gallery, fifty feet to
the tiled floor, was killed. The White
House has two cats, one black and
white female, kept in the kitchen, and
the other black Ton, kept in the
stable. Mrs. Harrison had four hand
some Maltese cats but they disappear
ed.
But the Capitol is the greatest place
IN Washington for cats. The huge
buildings swarms 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. At about
10 O'Clock every night they begin a
mad racing through the empty corri-
dors, which are made TO resound with
their cries. The acoustic effects pro-
duced are astonishing. Let single
grima'kin lift up his voice in Statuary
Hall, famous for its echos, and the
silence of the night is broken by yell
as loud as a locomotive whistle. A
iovorlte place for cat-Concerts is the
whispering gallery down below, known
as the crypt where the feeblest
sound is magnlfied into roar.