The evening times., 1897-01-13
MORE TROUBLE OYER SEEDS
Contractors Can Cheat i'm Mailing
and Nobody the Wiser,
The New Way of Sending Direct
From the Scotsman Opens the
Way TO Frauds.

A new source of worry has arisen fol
| Congressman In the distribution OF seed
| This is the misgiving that their consdtu
| euts may never get the precious packages
| intended for them. Under the old meth
| Cd of sending out the seeds there was no
| doubt on this point: the seeds were seni
| Immediately under the members own SUI
| pervision. But now all that is changed.
| They go direct from the seedsmans store
| house.
Under the new plan the clerk simply
addresses the number of franked wrap
pers necessary to forward his quota of
seeds to their destination. With that his
responsibility ceases; the seeds may &c
or they may not.
In the past two or three weeks clerks
of committees, messengers and members
secretaries have been busy addressing
the wrappers, or rather the slips for past
ing addresses on wrappers, which are
more generally used. They remember their
experience year ago, when the seeds
were not forwarded till spring planting
was all done and it was too late for the
annual present to be of any use. They
had numerous complaints from constitu-
ents in consequence, and it was worse
than if they had not sent out any seeds
at all. Hundreds of letters had to be
written, explaining that it was the fault
of Secretary Morton and his effort to
break up the system. The clerks do not
intend to be behind time this year if they
can help it.
A member of the Capitol force was found
hard at work in the Maltby building yes
terday. He had dozen packages, with a
hundred slips in each, before him. As he
put them in a sack for mailing he shook
his mead dubiously and said:
II don't know whether this is any use or
not We send these on 90 the seedsmen
for their clerks to fill the packages and
forward the seeds / don't see what is to
hinder them from chucking these wrap
pers in the stove and saving the seed to sell
somebody else. There doesn't seem to be
any check whatever on them.
"Our friends may write to us and ask
why we don't send them seed as usual,
and that might catch any such trick; but
we cannot remember whether we haYe in
cluded any particular man in the slips. We
have our lists. but we can't help overlooking
a man here and there, and even sometimes
a whole sheet gets misplaced, so that we
man was among the addresses. We have
such letters every year, and all we can do
is to send along the packages where a farm
er writes he hasn't got them.
''It will be easier for such fraud to be
practiced this year than usual because we
were so late last year that cur friends will
think we are just slow again and will wait
a long time before they write.
t'Of course .ifany OF the contra ctors failed
to send outall the seed we ordered he would
be caughtatit. But they can take package
of 90 and throw out 20 and so on and we
shall never know the difference
But can't you depend on the honesty Of
the dealers?"
We'll, / suppose they will average as
honest as any men; but it is a mighty big
temptation, especially if they run chance
of losing money on the contract They are
obliged to send oft good seeds this year
by the tests at the department and this
loophole is open. There ought to be some
ch eek.
lit would make more work for me, but
! should feel safer to have the seeds sent
here and put them in the bags m yself, as
usual. But we can't have them here in the
Maltby; they say the building would not
be safe with such load"