Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-20
RACES TAKE WADS OF CASH
Department olerki Drop Large Part Of
Years Earnings at Bennings,
ONLY GAMBLING THAT IS ALLOWED
For Two weeks Twice n Year Dis
trict of Columbia is Given over to
BOOkmakers and Touts who
Reap Rich Harvest.
CFrom a STAFF Correspondent }


City hotel Hobbies last night Every hour |
brought trainloads OF owners, plungers,
bookmakers and innocents. The Cavanaugh !
special brought 100 men,"
The above appeared in the Bulletin on /
Thursday. The Bulletin is a publication
giving the synopsis of the news of the
day. 1t is posted in cigar stores, saloons.
barber shops and similar places of busi- /
ness. The paragraph referred to above /,
is about all the actual news concerning
the races which are now on at Bennings
which the public will have an opportunity
to read. OF course, the doings OF the
horses, the odds and the big winnings of
some given plunger will be duly recorded
from day to day. But neither the Bulletin
nor any local people in Washington will
record the interviews between government
! clerks on the one hand, landlords butch
ers bakers and grocers on the other. in
which the aforesaid government clerks
will plead for extension of time for
the settlement of their bills.
| About once a year a circus comes to
/ Washington and four performances are
given. The circus people are never per-
/ mitted to stay longer than two days. for
! fear that they will take too much money
out of the District of Columbia. But the
race horse people come here twice a year,
! anu GdGl llllG lllcN are permitted TO re-
main something more than two weeks.
And when these 200 bookmakers, touts and
other race horse followers leave on the
Cavanaugh spcial they carry with them.
as general rule, a very large portion of
the annual earnings of the clerks and
! employees of the government departments.
There is no city in the United States
| in which the authorities enforce the anti
gambling laws more rigidly than they do
| in the District OF Columbia. II a man is
| caught down town accepting a bet on the
! races at Bennings or the elections in New
| York he is liable TO arrest as the maker
of a handbook. Ostensbly it is against
the law to bet on the races in the District
OF Columbia, and yet during the next two
weeks every street car running from the
Treasury department to Bennings after
and before each afternoon will be
crowded TO the gates with department
clerks who have saved up their leave"
in order to have time to attend the fall
meeting of the National Jockey club. Lit
orally hundreds OF thousands of dollars
| which ought to go to the creditors Of
these clerks find their way into the pockets
OF the bookmakers. And for some unex-
planned reason the authorities wink at this
open violation of the law Perhaps the
reason is to be found In the fact that the
owners of the race track see to it that
every meuloer Of congress and every OIL
cial of prominence in the local and fed
eral government is supplied with a badge
"hich entities him TO free admission and
all privileges every day of these meetings
Army Changes Coming.
General A. r. Chaffee, chief of star
United States army, and the only lieuten-
ant general on the active list, will retire
tor age on April l6 next provided he does
not voluntarily retire before that date.
Major General Bates, assistant chief ~
staff, and Major General Corbin. command
ing the Philippines, are to be successiveI,,
appointed chief of stan with the rank ~
lieutenant general after the retirement ~
General Chaffee, and they are To divide
between them the period Intervening he
tween the date of General Chaffee's re-
tirement and the date of General Corbins (
statutory retirement, on September is. 1905
II General Chaffee retains his Office until
, April 16 next the two other officers named
will have about two and a half months
each to serve as chief Of staff
The gossip is that an arrangement ba.
been made by which Generals Bates ana
Corbin will each have a longer term of
service at the head Of the army. That
contemplates the retirement of General
Chaffee at an earlier date than April 1s
, 1t is understood General Chaffee is agree
able TO the arrangement. and, to carry n,
! into effect, will apply for retirement undar
, the long service clause, early in January
, In that event Generals Bates and Corbin
will each have about four months service
as chief Of staff.
II present plans do not miscarry ip,nor,-
r ant military changes will occur within the
next few months. Major General Taona "a
q Wood will assume command of the army,
! I'm the Philippines: General Bates will he
come chief OF stan and General Corbir
assistant chief of stan early I'm Janusr,,
\ and General Corbin will become CHIEF ~
!, staff in May next. II is expected that the
, change at Manila will occur in the newt
few weeks, and that General Corbin will
come TO Washington for service as assist.
ant chief OF stan and chief OF stsff suc.
! cessively.
, More remote changes involve the apnoi,t.
ment of Major General Arthur Macarthur
. as chief of staff to succeed General Corbir
? in September next. and the appointment y,
General Leonard Wood as chief OF star or
, the retirement OF General Macarthur in
q June, 1909. II is possible, however. thai
q General MacArthur's retirement NAV n.
: advanced many months for the beneft ot
: General Wood
2 Richest People on Earth
Il Congress will once more attempt TO set
!. tie the question Of the distribution of tbs
d Usage Indian fund, and the allotment ot
n the Usage Indian lands at the coming ses
. sion. It has been frequently mentioned
y that these Indians of the Osage band ar,
the weslthiest people on earth. Accordins
to the latest census they number SOS. in
: Guiding mixed bloods. The Treasury De
partment holds-in trust for them the enor
=, nous sum Of $s62,ooO. upon which the,
receive an annual interest Of per cent
In addition To this these pampered re,
men have a very large income from tn,
leasing Of the oil and gas lands Tn,
average Usage family consists OF ive per
sons. and the average income from IN,
trust funds and leases is s1,5s5 per family
y In addition TO this, the reservation ownet
a by these Indians comprises l,l7OOOO acre
l. OF the most desirable land in the territor,
Of Oklahoma. 1t is proposed 10 divide thl
y reservation and assign 20 each member o
y the tribe 100 acres or in other words, 50
D acres 20 the family, and 20 sell the re
81 1