The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1902-01-07
Washington
Dayby Day

/ There has been mighty sucking OF
babes and chronicling of small beer in
| this town on account of the arrival OF
Mr.. Leslie M. Shaw, "heralded by the
/ newspapers Of the country as he pro-
gressed by easy stages from Iowa
Shades Of Mrs. Leo Hunter and files
of the Eatanswill Gazettel
"No man ever came to Washington on
important public business with less pre-
tensions
"Omitting the formaiity of writing his
name on the hotel extraordinarily
violating the statues of Congress govern
ing the District of Columbia-''he disap-
peared on foot across Lafayette Square
and was in the company of his official
chief for nearly an hour. until little
after o'clock, when. as the time for
the debut of Miss Alice Roosevelt APP
preached, he made his democratic way
back to his apartments"-one room in
the Arlington Hotel.
Fair little Alice, daughter of the nation
in veritable Wonderland, she would not
have known what to do with the Iowa
hillbilly If she had encountered him in
the 'roomy old mansion" which Is 50
confoundedly overcrowded that there is
no comfort or real privacy in it for any,
body.
Again the newspaper babe who Is being
quoted chronicles small beer SO:
His attire was that of a substantial
man of affairs, but he would not have
been selected as a New Yorker''-certainly
not; hayseed a dead give away-"There
were no creases in his trousers"-Non-
sense! Shaw wears pants; all Iowans do
land his silk hat was not the latest
block from London"-It was a handme-
down from Shawville-"He stuck his
hands down into the pockets of his com
Portable overcoat of light cloth and
tramped across the streets as unassum-
ingly as he would have walked down the
broad grounds in front of the big frame
house where he lives in Denison."
Mrabele dictu! the which upon a free
very free-translation you may Iowaize
as Great Scot.
He "grasped them by the coat-the
company of newspaper men awaiting
him in the lobby''as If all those men
wore one coat-and 81 know most all
you boys he remarked in very cheerful
tones"-the secretaryship of the treasury
| is enough to make any hillbilly speak in
| cheerful tones
lone of these fellows here is a kinsman
of mine and he has got good blood in
his veins" he said to the chronicler. No
doubt! Not blue blood, to be sure, but
just good red Iowa blood.
And he good man, full soon told his
interviewers who asked him for his treas
ury views, II amt goin' t tell you about
my policy"
My policy, forsooth; That Iowa man
surely doesn't know his master in the
| White House. He will discover. as Gage
| and all the others have, that Theodore
Roosevelt is the whole thing here.
But the agony has agonized to the ulti
mate depths of balderdash.
"Heralded by the newspapers of the
country as he progressed by easy stages
from Iowa." the man of the eight hun
| dred millions Of money in the nations
safety deposit vaults has finally come
down on the up-train and is here. Now
wait until the Mrs. Secretary of the
Treasury Of Denison, Iowa, gives Wash
ington society some new quilting-bee
dots on pink teas. BY dollars, there will
be envy
Speaking Of pink teas, there is a real
tempest in the teapot of the tea trade.
An effort is to be made to tariff duty on
tea and thereby knock a nice million
| -
in the treasury. In relation thereto
powerful firm Of tea brokers In New York
recently sent a typewriter and sealed
letter to members of Congress urging
that the tariff be retained. Today comes
the typewriter and sealed answer of
The National Tea Duty Repeal Associa-
| ton to the proposition. While this coun-
try uses but about a pound and quarter
of tea to each inhabitant yearly, as COM
pared to nearly ten times that much cof-
fee, the charges and counter-charges of
the contending sides in the controversy,
about which we are to hear much in
| Congress, are Of general public interest,
especially in the South, where iced tea
| largely takes the place of coffee in warm
| weather.
The tea brokers asseDt that the removal
of the duty on tea would mean the loss
to the government of $4,000, 600, easily
collected"
mine million dollars" answers the re-
peal association, rs the tax upon S11, 000-
| 600 of tea, this amount being the total
Importation
Repeal would mean IAN advance in the
price OF tea in hand to the equivalent of
50, COO, 000," say the brokers'
"Absurdly untrue" responds the ASSOC
citation. when the duty was taken off
in 1872 the price did not advance"
''No lower price to the CONSUMER the
brokers say
Again "absurdly untrue. The con-
sumner will get the benefit of the market"
THE importation OF a poorer class of
tea which is now checked by the duty"
"Ttis is a positive misstatement The
importation of adulterated and impure
teas is prohibited by the law OF 1897.
Government statistics show that con-
sumption Of tea has increased since the
| duty was imposed"
mo such statistics can be produced.
| There Is no basis for this statement,
| either In reason or in fact. The average
consumption for each inhabitant for ten
| years to 1890 was one pound and thirty
four one-hundredths, while for $780, 1900
| and to October l, 1901, ii was one pound
| and four one hundredths showing A. de-