Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1903-05-30
NOTES FROM WASHINGTON
Especial Correspondent


tion Of wireless telegraph system be.
tween Cape Nome and st. Michael In
Alaska. Before leaving Washington
Gen. Greely, chief of the army signal
corps, gave instructions for the pur-
chase of the necessary instruments to
complete wireless outfit, which 1t Is
thought will prove successful over a
distance Of about 120 miles. 1t is pro-
posed to erect at Cape Nome and st.
Michael a mast over 200 feet high,
which will be made in three sections
and which will form part of the wire
less stations.
To Count Treasury Bonds-The
United States treasure has appointed
a committee Of seven persons to make
a thorough count of all the bonds now
In the treasury. No count Of the bonds
has been made since the present treas
urer entered upon the discharge of his
duties six years ago. The bond vault
Is supposed to contain 1852, ,960, 900 Of
bonds as security for national bank
circulation, about $156,500,000 of bonds
to secure government deposits in
banks and about $36,OOO,OO0 of bonds
| Of the Central Pacific Railway to Sc
cure the payment of notes given by
the railway company in settlement Of
the claims of the United States.
Postmaster In Name onIy-At the
end of the present fiscal year, on June
30, Mrs. Minnie M. Cox, the colored
postmaster at Indianola, Miss, who
some months ago was induced to re-
sign by persecution and threats of
violence because Of race prejudice,
but who was continued in Office and
her salary paid by the postoffce de-
partment, although the Indianola Of
fee was suspended, will be postmaster
in name only and will not receive
further compensation from the gov.
ernment The salary of a postmasterof
a presidential Office, in which class
the Indianola Office belonged, depends
upon the annual receipts of the Office.
When the receipts of an Office are less
than $1,000 a year it is dropped to the
| fourth class, and the postmaster's
compensation is derived solely from
cancellations. When there are no can.
cellations the Office is discontinued.
In the case Of the Indianola Office,
there are no cancellations and no re-
ceipts from other sources, and hereto
fore, since the Office was suspended,
Mrs. Cox's steadily diminishing SAL
ary has been paid out of her portion
of the receipts and cancellations prior
to the suspension of the office. After
the first Of the next fiscal year there
will be no fund to fall back on, and
Mrs. Cox will not receive any COM
pensation for her fictitious service. 1t
Is admitted at the department that
there Is no way around the law, and
that the punishment which it was in
tended to inflict upon the citizens Of
Indianola had fallen far short Of what
was desired.
Country Stores Threatened-The
question which is at present engaging
the attention of officers of the post.
Office department and which dwarfs
in interest even the investigations of
alleged scandals in the department, is
the threatened extinction of country
general" stores and local industries
generally by the rapidly growing ru.
raj free delivery service, which
threaten the popularity of this service
The first step taken by the department
to remedy the acknowledged evil was
the issuance Of an order by Fourth
Assistant Postmaster-G General Bristow
Of continuing the practice of sending
to a large number of manufacturing
concerns and mail order firms
throughout the country daily bulletins
containing information regarding the
establishment of rural routes, their
location and the names of the car.
riers. This practice of distributing in
formation wholesale under govern
ment frank is held to be unjust dis
elimination in favor of the big con-
Germs. of the country and against the
industries Of the rural communities.
Monument to Surgeon-Congress
will be asked to erect a monument to
the memory Of Major Walter Reed, the
army surgeon who made the discovery
that yellow fever is caused, not by any
infectious germ, but by the bite of
certain mosquitoes. Men who attend
ed the meetings Of the congress of
American physicians and surgeons in
Washington recently had good deal
to say about Major Reed and his work,
and consider that he richly deserves
monument as they regard his dis
covery as one Of the most important
for many years. The knowledge that
yellow and other fevers are spread,
not by infection, but by the poison
communicated by the bite of the mos,
quito, has brought about a complete
change. in the method of treating
these fevers and by exterminating the
mosquito, and the mortality has been
greatly reduced. Formerly the mos
quito was regarded as an annoying
pest, but not dangerous now, thanks
to Major Reed, it has been learned
that in tropical and semi-tropical
countries, under certain conditions,
the mosquito is the greatest danger to
health and should be as ruthlessly
hunted down and exterminated as the
most venemous snake or noxious ami
NAL, in fact the mosquito is the most
to be dreaded, as more people die
from yellow fever than from snake