Middletown transcript., 1904-09-24
WASHINGTON LETTER

when writing OF clerical and officii
life in Washington differ. Mr.. White
the Kansa editor, who has written
magazine aiticle about President .Roost
welt, says: Washington is the hot-hous
of petty grating. OF the 81, 200 Office
holders in the town not 500 look upo
these offices as sacred trusts OF tn
people," He adds that all OF this vas
army will take anything it can get iron
the Government, from half hour
stolen time to cake of soap. Presiden
Roosevelt, in his just issued letter OF &C
ceptance, takes another view OF the sit
uation. From his point of observation
at the White House, his experience a
Assistant Secretary of War, and Civi
Service Commissioner, he says: 9TH
public work of the United States ha
never been conducted with higher de
gree of honesty and efficiency than at th'
present time. Wrong has been relent
lessly stamped out &c"
*x*
A man named Lewis has published s
book called "The President" In it ht
had his fling at Congress. He say ga ayFs
"There are two classes OF Congressman
rascals and fools, and the rascals are
much the better element. Well-estab
ished members of the Senate are wal
ruses, each on his little cake of ice. The
House is nothing but the Speaker, and
the Speaker the tool of others more
powerful. The Government is merely
the President and very small coterie oi
men, including some members of the
Cabinet, one or two Senators, and the
Speaker" This kind of writing has been
described as ''inimitable, nervous, pic
turesque. and idiomatic. But there are
threads of truth and fiction running
through all such generalizations. The
President is doubtless correct when he
says public work has never been con.
Quoted with higher degree of honesty.
Nevertheless he is working day and
night to improve it.
~
There is much joy in the Republican
organ loft. The whole choir is singing a
strenuous song of praise which will soon
be transmitted into one of Thanksgiving.
There is no expressed fear on the part of
the employees of the Government, here in
Washington, that there will be any
wholesale discharges on account of a
change in the administration. All the
Republican politicians and holders of re-
sponsible positions, who fit to and fro
through the capital, bring the same good
word of hope and cheer. They assert
that the Republican sun still shines clear
and full through the mists of Democratic
fog and doubt. Mr.. Roberts, the Direc-
tor of the Philadelphia Mint, who was
in town two days ago, returning from
trip through the Northeast and the
Pacific coast, asserts that everybody, po-
litically speaking, west Of the Missouri,
is for Roosevelt and Fairbanks. Califor-
MIA, Oregon, and Washington, will give
a larger Republican majority than ever
before. While conditions are mixed in
it is believed that the Repub-
licans will carry the state. With twinkle
in the eye he says that the thrashing OF
spring wheat is now general in North
Dakota and Northern Minnesota, but
that the farmers will do their political
early in November. He thinks
the recent frosts in Vermont and Maine
have settled the question as to the size Of
The crop. Congressman Charles B. Lam
dis, has taken run over to town from
Indiana. With every appearance of SER
ousness he says it would be no joke if |
Indiana have Republican majority of
from 10000 to 10000.
~
There are regular physicians in good
standing, who predict that it is only a |
question of time when a new disease will
appear as the result of drinking water |
with copper sulphate. 1t
will either affect the nerves, or the joints, |
Or the digestive apparatus. MIR. Woods,
who writes himself as the "Chief Patho- |
ogist and Physiologist' of the Depart !
nent of Agriculture, speaking of the use
Of this chemical for the treatment OF
drinking water to kill typhoid germs, says
hat since his bnlletin was issued four
months ago, favoring its use, some fifty |
different places throughout the country |
nave adopted it, including Elmira and
New York, Butte, Montana,
and Winchester, Kentucky.
Here in Washington both the health
authorities and the Department of War
have refused to drag bags filled with sui
ohate Of copper through the water in the
drinking reservoirs. To protect the chill
len of the public schools from typhoid
germs, ifany lurk in the Potomac water,
he Commissioners of the District have
appropriated the sum of $4,000 to have
Ill drinking water boiled, and then
.ooled. A superintendent of boiling
water has been appointed. Kettles with
,as stoves under them will be set up In
Ill the public school houses, and the
water throughly cooked. The kettles
night be made of copper, but it has been
discovered that if they were the quality
# the water would not be altered.
Whether the children will get boiled
vatt r at home is another question.
~
A curious state of affairs exists in Miss
ssippi. as remarked by Mr.. Ward, OF i
anton, that state, who has just paid a
i il to this city. He says the state Is
making tremendous strides, everyway,
n wealth, population and happiness.
and now rents for from SIS to $50 per
ere :the state is gridironed with railroads;
nd many colored man, with his wife
nd children, can grow from $500 to
2 600 worth OF cotton in year, besides
,igs. cows and chickens. And he adds