Omaha daily bee., 1905-09-01
BITS OF WASHINGTON LIFE.
Minor Scenes and Incidents sketched
on the spot.

BITS OF WASHINGTON LIFE.
Minor scenes and Incidents sketched
on the spot.
James Rankin Young chief Of the dead
| letter office, is the busiest man in washing
ton lie likes work Some months ago he
went in search of more business and got
more than he bargained for. The bulk Of
It is foreign postcards calculated to rupture
the moral tone Of the mail service. Every
day witnesses the destruction Of 5000 post
cards bearing pictures and photographs
! that are suggestive and Indecent
The traffic in these cards is something
| enormous, and the present season has
| witnessed the production of more objec-
tionable pictures than ever before The
craze for sending postcards as souvenirs
| OF places and events has been taken ad-
vantage Of by manufacturers and dealers
to turn out specimens that are rsque and
some of them positively indecent.
To the credit Of American printers and
| dealers in postcards II can be said that
a very small percentage of those declared
unmailable are of domestic production.
The country has been flooded, however.
with cards made in Germany and France,
scarcely one of which is allowed to reach
its destination through the United States
malls.
The figures Of the Internal Revenue
Bureau, just made up, indicate that Amer
| leans are drinking more beer than whisky
| each year The preliminary report Of
| Commissioner Yerkes for the fiscal year
| shows that the consumption of whisky
was materially less and that of beer much
greater than in the previous year There
were withdrawn for consumption during
the year. of distilled spirits other than
| made from fruits, 116,143,7S2 gallons,
against 116,s4S372 gallons in the fiscal year
| 1904. This is a decrease in whisky con-
sumed of 704.O40 gallons There was like
wise a decrease. in the quantity Of fruit
spirits consumed, the total for the last
! fiscal year having been 1,5950H gallons,
against 1,697,303 gallons in the year before.
The consumption of beer was 49, 459.54O
barrels for the last fiscal year. against
As, ,2Os 1888 barrels in 1904 The increase is
1,251,4O7 barrels, each barrel containing
81 gallons.
The first lady Of the land, Mrs. Theodore
Roosevelt, evidently has a very exalted
idea of the responsibilities resting upon her
| in the way of setting an example to the
! rest of the women OF the nation. Mrs.
Roosevelt not only has a large family, Of
which she takes the best Of care, but she
| emphasizes the domestic phase Of life even
| in connection with the White House. In
| order that there may be less expenditure
of energy in the kitchen of this establish
| ment, the wife of the president has superin-
| tended an entirely new arrangement Of
| things, and when she leaves the mansion
she will have the satisfaction Of knowing
that she has left an enduring mark of her
TN I,- 49,, 90
that the ladies who have occupied the
! White House have been able to do so little
| to make the kitchen arrangements more in
keeping with the progress of the world in
that respect. The guests and the vege-
| tables have been obliged to enter the
dining room together for many years and
no one seemed TO think II possible to
| change the order Of things Not so Mrs
Roosevelt. She decided that there should
be new kitchens. one for her own family
cooking and one for the state dinners that
are required of the chief executive. More
over Mrs Roosevelt didn't see any sense
in keeping a big retinue of servants for
these special events, so she has her own
cook and servants. and when the other
kitchen is used for state functions, 1t is
in charge of a caterer.
a well KNOWN SeIldlOI "HO Is great
smoker and naturally fond Of good cigars.
was in Washington the other day on his
way to one of the northern summer re-
sorts. While walking down Pennsylvania
avenue with his secretary he met con-
stituent whom he recently had appointed
to a government position The constituent
naturally was much pleased to see the
senator, and after conversing for some
time was about to take his leave when
he took a large suspicious-lookng cigar
out of his pocket and handed 1t to the
senator asking him If he would accept 1t.
The senator thanked him, and being some
what suspicious himself Of the cigar, re-
marked: "If you will allow me, will put
this in my pocket and smoke 1t after
have had lunch" The constituent ac-
ouiesced and bade the senator goodby.
After walking about block the senator
took the cigar out of his pocket and Of
fered il to his secretary. The secretary
laughed and said: Senator, you never
ought to look gift horse in the mouth
whereupon the senator said: Nor should
YOU ever put a gift cigar in your mouth"
But the secretary smoked the cigar.
The wife of a we'll known officer in
washington recently advertised for COOK
Though the establishment presided over by
the officers wife is In accord with their
undisputed social position, yet 1t is by
no means pretentious, for the naval man
has no means aside from his salary. Con-
sequently, when one applicant for the po-
sition Of cook announced to the wife that
her price would be $50 month she was
told that such wages were out OF the ques-
tion. The cook not deigning to notice
the remark, went on at length to give her
superior qualifications, touching especially
on her ability to get up smart luncheons
and dinners Again the lady Of the house
said that she would not pay $50 for
cook. Seeing that her determination was
unalterable, the applicant for the place pre-
pared to take her departure. AS she was
nearing the door she remarked, patron
| izingly: IT see! You are trying to live
within your income!
Postmaster General CoTtelyou has COM
pleted a new form Of money order which
! II It does not defy forgery, will make
forgeries and alterations extremely dim
cult. Twice before. since the postal money
\ order system was established, in 1864, has
4 the style OF the order been changed-once