The morning news., 1898-08-07

Now supposing each recipient of a let
ter continued the chain and sent her the
10 cents as requested, the ice fund would
be SlO9 ,951, l62, 7760 richer for her pains
And this vast sum, multiplied by four its
product increased by four more at every
jump between series 20 and series 100
would result in a final sum ample to buy
an the available land on the surface uf
the earth. 1t is useless to consider the
imputation. Almost before this renarka-
hie chain began, the figures lost them
selves in their own greatness and grew to
mean nothing. We might as we'll attempt
to estimate the number of grains of sand
beneath the sea
Within three days Miss Schenck received
the expected four answers to her letters,
each containing a dime which she had
requested. The following day about six
teen more came, and she was pleased with
the result of her experiment. AS the fol-
lowing day her mail comprised almost six
ty-four letters, she felt relieved, for now
she knew her project was an assured sue
cess. The next day, when the letters num-
bered nearly 200 she gave up walking 10
the postoffice, and began to make the trips
on her wheel with a market basket By
this time Postmas ter Dowden began to
grow uneasy and Miss Schenck decided
that il would be best TO tell her family of
her patriotic scheme. Within a few days
letters addressed to Miss Schenck jumped
from 2,0S0 to $3.50 a day. Then they rose
to 1900 a day, and at last reports the end
seemed further away than ever.
How about the postoffice and its over
worked postmaster? The office is one of
the third class, and the government official
in charge is allowed only one assistant
Additional help he is forced to hire from
his own poke book. From tiny begin
ming he found himself working on Miss
Schenck's mail ali day long. 1t soon out
90 ar,II I, tie
urgent call was sent to the patriotic Gill
zens of Babylon TO rally TO his assistance
Many turned in to help him, but he can
not begin to keep up with the increase.
"It is awful" he is reported as saying
Il don't know where 1t viii end. In a few
days if the growth of Miss Schencks mail
increases regularly, we will have to rUn
extra mail cars from New York. Six
thousand letters yesterday, 1900 to-day.
40 600 next day almost 100000 the next
day! Why, it is horrible and the govern
ment hasn't made any effort to help me
out!'
The mere handling of Miss Schenck's 5
patriotic mail is not all of Postmaster
Dowden's troubles. He is being stormcd
by letter writers from all over the coun-
try and Canada wanting to know all about
Miss Schenck's endless chain scheme.
and demanding full particulars about the
young womans social standing and iinan-
tain stamps for reply, and unless the post
master answers them individually he is
placed in the embarrassing position of be-
ing accused of contiscatiug the stamps.
Postage sent for this purpose has already
yielded the government $500. To treat cv-
erybody fairly the postmaster has had a
stamp made bearing the words. "Schenck
tterle 0. x" and sends each letter of in
quiry back 10 its owner bearing that tab
let.
Notable people are caught in the toll of
the endless chain, and letters from promi-
nent men and women are being received
in large numbers. Miss Schenck has re-
celved one from Mrs Mckinley containing
a dime. Another is from Mrs. James 4
| Garfield. Pres ldent Mckinley found time
TO get in the list with his dime, and former
Vice President Levi Z. Morton promptly
forwarded his dime, as did every member
OF his family.
Meanwhile the ice plant auxiliary, the
beneficiary of this remarkable project, is