Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-11-26
BITS or WASHINGTON LIFE.
Minor Scenes and Incidents Sketched
on the Spot.

ever happened. citizens committee
Of the District of Columbia has charge
Of the affair and expects to spend $780,
900 to make the quadrennial function
surpass the record. AS Washington
ioots the bill and gets the glory, the
rest of the country can look on without
envious knocking.
A necessary preliminary is to secure
consent of congress for the use Of the
pension building and the privilege OF
decorating il. In 1901, when the Nc
kinley ball was given the clerks in the
pension office We're given four days va
cation before the inauguration to per-
NIT the decorations to be completed
and four days after the ball. in order
that these decorations might be re-
moved and the furniture restored. Inc
Democrats raised mighty row ovei
this alleged waste OF the peoples
money and as direct result when the
appropriations We're made by congress
Il rider was attached prohibiting deco
lations on public buildings. These
decorations are on most elaborate
scale. The ball helps to defray the
expenses of the inaugural ceremonies.
Tickets sell for IS each and it is not
unusual for the committee to realize
sac. 900 from the sale of tickets alone.
There are numerous concessions which
also yield considerable money, such as
the checking privilege, carriage and
hack concessions, caterers concessions
and similar privileges which are al
ways esteemed of great value wherever
large ana fashionable crowds assemble.
Nobody suppOSes that there will be any
difficulty in securing permission from
congress to use the only building in the
city in which an inaugural ball can be
given. 1t has been suggested. how
ever. that the committee will have to
extend some courtesies to congress in
the way Of tickets. This will great!
distress Washington. which is never
disposed to be eXtravagant in its gra-
tuities. The only passes which have
ever been issued to the inaugural ball
have gone to the President and the SUI
preme court.
When it was announced recently that
Lieutenant Commander Charles w
JunSen of the battleship Kentucky
would resign after thirty years of SER
vice in order that he might devote the
rest of his days to earning a fair living
the fact centered some attention on the
pay Of public officials in general
Lieutenant Commander Jungen is now
AZ years old. AS sea fighter he was
accounted a brave man; as an officer in
times of peace he was known in the
naVieS as an efficient and capable man.
His record is without blot from the
time ne entered Annapolis in 1874. Yet
at this late day he finds that Uncle
sam offers him too little for the per-
sonal sacrifices which he is forced to
make. The salary of a lieutenant COM
mander Jungen. in the just graduation
OF ONCE, would probably be COM
mander His salary would then be
S4.ooO year. Five years after that he
might be made captain. with a salary
or $4,000 a year. Then would come an
other lapse before he could reach the
rear admlraTS rank At the age of
% ne would be retired from the service
with possible salary of $500 a year.
There are hundreds of department
heads in the various big corporations
10 receive three or four times the SAL
"'y OF the captain of battleship.
Henry II. Rogers pays his private sec
rotary twho is d woman. by tie way)
s..
Helen Gould's secretary is paid s.. O0y
a YEAR which is $500 more than Adj
nlral Schiey received when he sank
the Spanish squadron off Santiago.
by direction of the secretary Of agri-
culture the bureau of plant industry
is 10 take up at once experiments to
determine the best manner in which to
brew a cup Of coffee. To this end +.
l.. Lawton. a specially trained expert,
has been engaged. The view of the
department is that cup of coffee is
good because of the manner in which it
is brewed. rather than from the quail
lty Of the bean from which the bever-
age is made. 1t will be appreciated
by all persons acquainted with the art
and mystery of coffee making that va
rious conditions. apparently trivial in
themselves, have to be taken into con-
sderation i'll producing the beverage.
For instance, in the process Of roast
ing the beans may be more or less
damaged by being under or over done.
and the flavor of the coffee thus inn
paired to corresponding degree.
Hence the necessity for ideal condi-
tIOnS III TUtSlltlS. Again the eHeCtS
of water of various temperatures upon
the ground coffee and the proper period
for infusion WILL for the first time in
the history of coffee making. be thor
oughly and accurately ascertained.
The retention Of caffeine, the active
principal OF coffee, to which it owes it's
stimulating effects, and the elimination
of the caffeotannic and caneic acids, |
which are not only injurious to health
hut communicate an unpleasant, bitter |
taste to the beverage, will be. of
course. the principal objects.
Another batch of standards of purity |
for food products will soon be pro-
claimed by the secretary Of agriculture.
The work of investigs ton and determi-
nation of what constitutes purity and
adulteration in such products is being
conducted by committee representing
the association OF official agricultural
chemists of the United States. The
secretary Of the committee is Chief
Chemist Wiley Of. the Department OF
Agriculture. The committee mas
found the work so extensive that with