The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-17
THE NATIONS LAUNDRY BILL.
ONE WAY IN WHICH UNCLE SANS
MONEY Is SPENT,


ward the other day in the democratic
street car. ! happened to sit behind
pair of rural politicians, and could not
avoid hearing their conversation. They
were evidently from Away Back. and
grieyously disgruntled with matters and
things in general. Vehemently discussing
(minus The first syllable of the word, all
the doings of the present administration,
the burden OF their complaint was, What
becomes OF the peoples money! Millions
of dollars appropriated every year to carry
on the Recommendations too much;
and where does il 80 TOP
True enough; the taxpayers who fur
nish Uncle Samuel pretty Hberally with
pocket money, have right to know some
thing about what he does with it. Not
that any secret is made Of it, however;
the record Of the smallest expenditure Is
open to the public. if the public only
knows where TO look for IT, I have been
making some investigations in out-of-the-
way lines and can tell you few items
Of heavy expenditure which have seldom
been brought TO public notice. Uncle Sam
uers laundry bill for example, costs many
thousands of dollars a year, though the
contract is screwed down to the lowest
possible figure of S5 cents for hundred
towels. The amount Of napery used by
Congress, by the clerks in the various
departments and employees in ottSr
branches of the government at Washing
ton, Is something enormous. Most Of the
towels are manufactured on purpose ION
another screwed down contract with
New England firm); and the supply al
ways kept on hand would fill a fair-sized
warehouse The treasury department
alone owns seven thousand good linen tow
els. each red bordered and with the ca
balistic "U. s." in the center; and uses
upwards Of 1900 every day. The inteSior
department proper uses an average of $50
every day; the pension office 500 a day.
Then there is the postOffice department,
the great state, war and navy department.
the library, the agricultural department;
the printing bureau. the patent office the
bureaus Of education of labor, of Indian
affairs. the census, the geological survey,
and many others sOiing thousands upon
thousands of towels every day. One would
think that the greatest number would
come from the dirtiest place-the bureau
of engraving and printing; but IL is a sin
guiar fact that the much smaller number
of exceedingly tony and always immac-
ulate clerks OF the state, war and navy
department squander the most napery.
The lavatories of the capitol furnish no
Sinai utNffitdEe OF the weekly WASH.
Tor, besides its several hundred employees
many Of the well-groomed congressmen
prefer their ablutions Gin the altogether"
as Trilby would say-in the spleniidly ap-
pointed marble bath rooms provided by
Uncle Samuel All these mountains of
soiled linen, though given out by contract
20 certain well-knOwn laundrymen, who
have grown rich on what seems a very
small price (S5 cents per hundred towels)
are mostly renovated by the good, old
fashioned method of washtub and
elbow-grease, by colored women of
the district, in their shanty homes. at a
much less price than the contractor re-
eeives for the finished work.
IL is not generally known, but Is never
theless fact, that the government keeps
house in the Executive Mansion, instead
Of the President and his VIE. The do
nestle economy Of the White House. down
TO the smallest detail, is regulated by law
ana twenty or more of its servants re-
tained by political pull" The head-ser-
Vant-the Stewards a heavily bonded
oft1cer, whose salary Isl SO a year., is paid
by the government; and he enjoys a pat
ronage considerably greater than that of
the President himself The steward not
only purchases all table-supplies and re-
plenishes the household stores-such as
table and bedroom-Hnen, dishes, kitchen
utensils, etc.-but actually hires the SER
wants, whose salaries, ranging from thirty
~ SAANe 0oitdiD a ulOuktls are fdl0 IOF DIV
the government. The only White House
employees not directly under control of the
omnipitent steward, are chef, coachman
and footman. The Presidents wife is
merely igure-head In her exalted home
so far as its domestic administration is
concerned, who may be kindly allowed "a
suggest what she desires, but need not be
obeyed The absurdity OF having ones
servants controlled by ANYBODY but the
nominal master and mistress of the house
hired by political influence, and paid for
by the public, sometimes works strange
oolngs In the lower regions of our Exec
utive Mansion.
Few persons who visit Washington, anC
In fact not many residents of the city
are aware of the rigorous police-system IL
operation at the White House, as nearly
aH-powerful as that which protects the
Car Of all the Russias. To the casua
observer there Is apparently no guard sys
tenn, and people moving at will about tn,
extensive grounds wonder at the apparen
laNity. They have even inquired why s,
much freedom OF access to any portion o
the Presidents private domain was allow
ed to all comers and have remarked tina
II would be impossible for the policemen
on duty there to tell by observation
whether visitor was merely a Harmless
sight-seer, or bloody anarchist, who in
tended violence a la Giteau. Compare
lively speaking-that is to say when tn
taken into OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Is no guar
at the White House; but all the same
cranks and other dangerous persons ar
invariably excluded. In this Land of tn
Free the necessity for an armed guard t
protect the President and his family ha
never been felt. Since the birth of IN
republic, but two Presidents have bee
assassinated, and neither of those muir
ders was committed in the White House
Only on one occasion has any person eve
got inside the vestibule who might hay
meant harm to the President-and it dc
veloped afterwards that the miscrean
merely wished to create a scene in orde
to gain notoriety But, bless me, the
try 1t every day-cranks and lunatics an
irresponsible people Of sorts, male an
female. Though the guard is small an
50 unnotieeable that people who visit IN
mansion and stroll through its magnif
cent grounds, do not dream of its exls
ance, there Is really IN effect one of tn
most perfect notice systems i'm the vVorl,