The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-04-02
LIFE At THE CAPITOL.
zr11NvE TELLS OF THE THINGS
THAT HAPPEN THERE

n a
The President and His Reception ano
Some of the People Who Drop IN on
Him-William Ascends the Washing
Ton Monument--To Correspondents.
rCopvright, 1896, by Edgar w. Nye.l
WASHINGTON.
T. ia said that there are 5000 tons OF
money in the vaults of the treasury
building here at the present tlme' n
vet n hardly dares to say he has any
ready money on hand for fear that the
will want to borrow IL. Ii
has only been a little while since 1t Dor
rowed $50, 600, 900, and yet the gold re
serve is shrinking day by day. 10
remedy u shortage a law Ii passed
calling for an income tax, n then we
have to borrow money to pay the col
lectors.
Ihave never been so thoroughly de-
monetized myself since the time L lee
tured under the auspices of the Young
Mems Christian Association at Homo
lulu. I had expected that the door re
~ceipts, of which 1 was to receive Is per
cent, would pay my expenses while
there, and 1 had a round trip ticket
which would take me back to San Fran
cisco, but I was unfortunate, for the
Young Mems Christian Association OF
Honolulu was not strong society, and
a report got out also that I had made
light of the Sandwich Island aristoc-
racy. This was not true.
What I said was that my great
grand uncle from Maine, a wealthy
whaler in 1929, stopped off at Honolulu
and was made a good deal of by the
mayor, who had him up at his house
for dinner.
The native people of Honolulu r
sensitive about this incident, it seems,
and hate to have it thrown up to them.
I did not say that, and so I said to the
secretary: 81 understand that one of
your ancestors had my great grand
uncle up home for dinner. Is that sol"
He idgeted around a good deal, but
did not reply. Wishing to open up the
best of feeling, of course 1 said I did
not bring up the subject to create
trouble. I was only too glad if the peo-
pie of Honolulu were pleased with aim,
for we at home always sort of feared
ne was rich he might not agree with
them.
This got out among the people, and
my lecture was a frost. In the NEAR
time l had lost my return ticket toSan
Francisco, and my physical culture
class did not succeed.
1t was at this time that I became de-
monetized, and no one to-day knows
how to better sympathize with the
government than do.
Recently it has been charged against
me that while in Honolulu l wore a
copy of The Sunday ETaminer two
weeks at a time, This charge is made
to injure me by people who are envious
of my social position. I do not pretend
to deny the above charge, but only to
extenuate so far as possible and excuse
my conduct on the ground thai the
steamers were not running very regu-
larly at the time, and some one else
got my new Examiner while I was
taking my studs out of the soiled one,
AS oon as times pick up a little in
this bombastic country it would be a
good idea to erect a new executive
mansion. Why, there isn't a police
man in New York who hasn't a better
shanty than the President of the United
States.
The building was modelled after that
of the Duke of Leicester of Dublin, but
the cockroaches came from Virginia.
The White House is 40 feet long and
80 feet wide, including a portico.
James Hoban, an Irishman, was the
architect. Agreat many people think
that the President lives at. the White
House and has his office at the capitol,
but this is not so. The President lives
over a mile and a half from the capitol,
and when Congress is restless that is
none too far. he says.
The President has his Office right in
3he house, and when I say that he has
a good inside job for the winter I am
betrsying no confidence reposed in me.
ANY one can see that it is more con
Eenient for the President to have his
Office at home and a hearty hot dinner
when the whistle blows for IL o'clock
instead of having to carry a al of cold
lunch, consisting of a big picked
cucumber mashed into a custard pie.
The President holds q GENERAL nuhIic