The National tribune., 1899-08-31
CHAT OF THE CORRIDORS.

CHAT OF THE CORRIDORS.
Mai Sylvester, the Chief of Police, has
decided to hereafter furnish the members
of the force with cartridges for their re-
volvers containing smokeless powder and
much lighter bullets. The caliber, .32,
vii! remain as present, but the bullets will
be reduced to one-third of their present
rate, and the cartridges will hereafter
contain five grams of powder. instead of
Is. These changes will greatly improve
| the efficiency of the force, and will also
| reduce the danger now present in the dis
charge of their revolvers, for the weapons
will not only not rebound, as they do now
with their heavy charges of lead and ordi-
nary black powder, but they will also
insure better craftsmanship. The re-
| ductlon IN the amount of powder in the
cartridges will not carry the bullets as far
as do the present charges, and greater
safety to the community exists, for it has
happened in the past that bullets intended
| for animals sought to be destroyed, or fired
for the protection of the officers using the
revolvers, have sped past their mark, and
wounded innocent bystanders or persons
quite distance away.
The beautiful Blue Parlor of the Execu-
| tive Mansion, which is the scene of all i'm
| portant state functions in which the PreSi-
| dent takes part, is undergoing thorough
oVerhauling, with view to a general inn
provement in its appearance. The old mir
| ror has been removed from the wall, and
the furniture sent away to be regilded, re-
upholstered, and recovered. The window
shades and the curtain fixtures have been
taken down, the mating taken up, and the
beautiful silk damask removed from the
walls. The ceiling cornice has also been
removed and replaced with one OF new de-
sign, and the apartment is to be redec-
Grated: The work of recoloring the ceiling
and frieze and rewriting the room for cleo
trlc lights is now in fai state of progress.
Probably the greatest lightning rod in
the United States is the Washington Monu-
ment. Every storm that comes up takes
its innings at it,. generally without the
slightest perceptible result. On July 13 it
received an unusual shock. The fluid
followed the conducting columns in the in
terror OF the shaft down to the 5O-foot land
ing, where it left the northwest column,
struck the fioor-plate in the rear of the
elevator, and exploded; then into the engine
room ON the pipes and wires. where the
only damage done was the burning out of
the magnetic bell on the telephone, and so
breaking, connection between the engine
room and the boiler house. The lightning
also went into the lodge house on the tele-
phone wire and burnt out the telephone.
4
Beautiful as is Washington, and salts
factory as place of residence, yet it has
more than its share of kickers, who find
life made miserable in one way or another.
Last week one prominent citizen complain
ed to the Commissioners that the number
OF dogs in the streets was the bane of his
existence A resident of Seventeenth
street complained that the clock on the
Sumner School,-colored,- which strikes
quarter-hours, deprives himself and family
anr,ft low ~, .sl
the old story-when people have no real
troubles, they manufacture grievances out
of anything handy. II these men had to
lead the lives that many do they would
hardly know that there was a dog on the
streets or care whether the clock struck once
The trial gardens Of the Department of
Agriculture will be removed from Ken
sington, Nd, to this city, and located on
the Potomac Flats. The new grounds
will not be in shape for use until next
Spring.
The green goods operators have found
a new field for their operations in our new
possessions. They have translated the
old "come-on" circulars into Spanish, and
are scattering them broadcast through
Guba and Porto Rico. The Secret Service
Bureau has received a copy of one of these
circulars from Havana, and the officials
there have been notified to have the news
papers warn the inhabitants not to be
caught by this old confidence game.
The 10 new regiments will be numbered
from 3Sth to 47th, and be organized as
follows:
3sth, at Fort Smelling, MINI.
39th, Fort Crook, Neb.
10th, Fort Riley, Kan.
dist, Camp Meade, Pa.
42d, Fort Ethan Allen, Vt
AID, Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
44th, Jefferson Barracks, Mo.
45th, South birmingham, Mass.
46th, Camp Meade, Pa.
47th, Camp Meade, Pa.
The cigaret habit seems to be diving.
1t went up by leaps and bounds until 1897, |
when there were 4,064, ,169 .093 manufac- |
tured in this country. Last year the pro- |
duction fell off to 3,735,e' 906. There |
was great increase of the nj Ser of these |
exported-1o5,2 100000 in the .-Jurse of II |
months.
II is believed that the habit of chewing |
tobacco is rapidly diminishing toward |
extinction. Last year there was an inn
mense falling off in the three great chew
ing tobacco producing DISTRICTS 600, 900 |
the Fifth Kentucky District, and ] 600, 900 |
pounds in the New York City District.
There were 4,529. .872, 3O4 cigars made |
in this country last year for home con-
To this should be added 12O,-
100000 hurriedly produced the year before |
to avoid the increased tax. Fine PhiIa- |
delphia, New York, Key West, and Tampa |
goods show heavy increase, and also |
Virginia cheroots and stogies, while cheap |
Pennsylvania and Ohio stogies show a |
marked falling off.
Last Saturday Postmaster-Ge eneral |
Smith and Herr yon SchwarZenstein, |
Special Envoy from Germany, signed the |
first postal parcels convention between the
United States and any other country. BY |
it parcels can be sent 10 Germany at the |
rate Of II cents for each pound or fraction
Of a pound. Packages can be sent from
Germany at the rate of 2 marks and 40 |
pfennigs per parcel. 1t is expected that |