Evening star., 1899-11-04
~ Y y VI
- ~
m AxM<.
llSNNI -@a,sS,sk
W+z@@A@

%S@ -
'T am back again in the palace car SER
ice" explained wei-known palace car
porter 10 Star reporter. and / am aWIui
-Iad If it. When the war with SPAN broke
out / went into the navy. where had pre-
v.au<Iy served an enlistment, and had
pretty good time as far as it went though
nv work was Of a temporary character as
far as length Of service was concerned In
the navy there are but five distinct classes
of offfcers-Geck officers. engineer officers
commiSsary and quaTJerm3sters' officers
Including pay officers. medical othcerS ana
marine officers. After couple of years
one learns pretty well the relative powers
ari standing of these various officers. and
II is safe rule % take order from any
officer who may give one, for the officers
rarely clash the divisions between them
being istakaby drawn and observed.
Anyway. 1 had no serious trouble From
the navy / went into the transport service
In the way Of commands the transport ser
vice takes the cake. 1t Is terribly mixed
W com pliCatiOn of fiTStS and seconds. and a
person occupying the position l did has no
end Of trouble keeping things straight or
ven getting them straight. My work was
that Of d waiter. though oInclaily was
designated as a cabin boy though am
pretty gOOd-Sized boy. and have been tor
nearly forty years. In the naval service
was designated as a landsman. when walt
ing on the sailors cabin boy, and when
waiting on officers ward room boy. The
transports are simply merchant SHIPS
working VI der contract with the govern
uent and are controlled by the War in
stead of the Navy Department. The stew
ards or boss walters. as lar as WATERS are
concerned. are the biggest men on the ships
i'll The transport service, or, at least, they
think they are. For every first there Is a
second steward which begins the complca-
ton. Then come the mates. first and sec
3ud, of course. and sometimes three of
them; next the engineers, first, second and
third the purser> and all the rest of them
every one of whom thinks he Is as big as
the captain.
They all give orders and raise the biggest
kind of rows if their orders not carried
Cyt regardless of other orders which may
have preceded theirs. In a couple of weeks
l vas so mixed Up that did not know ex-
actly whom 10 take orders from. All TINS
was bad enough, but that was not the
" hole of it The officers in command OF the
troops who are being transported think
they own the snip ana that their orders
must be obey@d: that they have the right
70 put the CO Ftain Of the ship in their
pocket. with his long line Of subOrdinateS,
and they generally do Then the officers
in command Of the various companies.
which are in command of some one else as
regiments, have their say, and insist on
having their orders observed and respected.
Between them all. as walters are the low
est in the line. waiter has pretty tough
time of it In the palace car service all
travellers are 'irsts and III content my
self with them in the future
The thing that interested me most when
1 arrived in Washington the first time was
red tape observed the wife Of proni-
nsnt senator to a Star reporter, land
though in the many years l have been in
Washington I have seen red tape in many
forms l do not know that 1 have got
over it since. The red tape L refer to is
not the circuitous manner of transaCting
public or governmental business, which has
been so often the subject of criticism and
narratives Of official life, but the real linen
red tape itself 1t has been the custom of
the Senate post office for many years to
send senators mail to their private resi-
deuces or rooms tied up in a bundle with
d piece of red tape. though now and then
IL happens that the mail comes to US tied
uP with q piece OF string. The first piece
Of red tape that ever reached me in this
way 1 sent back 10 my home, as souvenir
of Washington For several months sent
pieces to friends in letters We get two
and three mails each day. and with each a
piece Of red tape so you can see how It
gathers. | have kept up the distribution OF
this red tape ever since, and in the ten or
more years of nv residence in Washington,
as may b. magiued. | have sent off great
deal Besides this. | have plenty to tie
up all the bundles in my house My stock
] keep in q vase on the manteI of our sit
ting room The servants and the members
uf my family, when they want a string,
always know where to ind one. | confess
that the red tape has been of value to me
in many Ways In my travels In my own
state 1 find that the little red tape souven-
Ts 1 have distributed are kept by those
have sent them 10 in the same spirit that
caused me TO send them, and | assure you
1t IS very pleasant To be constantly remem-
bered by and through them, even If l am
not remembered in any other way. l have.
however sen enough of the other kind
the how -nUC-tO-dO-it kind-Of red tape Of
official life. and am not so much enam-
ored with il. The red linen tape will do
what Is required Of il. and in positive and
prompt way, which, am sorry TO say, can
not be said Of that which is officially known
as red tape one Is a thing, the other is
a system. I defend the former while like
thousands If others, I decry the latter
When a girl l came to Washington on a
visit 10 my uncle who was department
official l spent part of "a day in his room in
the Treasury Department. My uncle's desk /
remember, was piled up with the papers
connected with well-known private claim
They We're tied UP with red tape. the linen
kind, then, and have been tied up equally
ts strong by red tape of the official kind,
which is not tape, hut an iron chain. ever
since How many years ago? That does
not matter. but is is as long as the Ordinary
lifetime calculated by the insurance
companies. Recently ] visited the same Of
ice IN the TT -asury Department. BY CO.
incidence the same claim was under con-
sideration and the same papers were piled
Up on a desk The official in charge was
unwrapping and reading them, as was nv
uncle when l first visited the department
as girl He has been dead over thirty
years. but that claim is apparently no
nearer settlement than II was then An
iron chain instead OF red linen tape has
bound that claim up. The original claim
ants are dead. and their successors are
nearing their graves with old age"
x *
"A sudden chill Is a most alarming symp-
tom OF serious Illness" observed leading
physician to Star reporter. "and 1t be-
hooves every one TO recognize 1t as prompt
" as possible. and to do everything that
nay suggest itself to stop 1t. It is unde-
n'a5ls evidence that there is something