Omaha daily bee., 1905-06-23
BITS OF WASHINGTON LIFE.
Minor scenes and Incidents sketched
on the SPOT.


ington correspondent. one afternoon re-
| Gently the president rode into the coun-
| try eighteen miles in an automobile, dis
| missed the conveyance, walked back thir-
| teen miles, and then rode to the White
| House in a carriage His companions
were Theodore Roosevelt, jr., and two of
| the latter's school friends. secret sery-
| ice officer who accompanied them a part
of the time on a bicycle and the rest OF
| the time on foot also had some exercise.
The president usually takes his longest
| walks in the rain. The skies were clear
on this particular afternoon, but II was
one of the hottest days of the year in
Washington. the thermometer registering
from 50 to 9s degrees in the shade The
president and his fellow pedestrians wasted
no time in the shade. They left the
White House between and o'clock IN
the afternoon in an automobile, an hour
when the thermometer is usually rising
| instead of falling in Washington, and
! made quick run out through Georgetown
to the Conduit road, and thence TO the
| Great Falls of the Potomac.
The motor car was then sent back TO
the city, and the president and his COM
| pauions started to walk from the Great
| Falls. The road leads along the Potomac
| river and the Chesapeake and Potomac
canal, over the aqueduct that supplies the
city of Washington with water, passing
| over the famous Cabin John bridge,
through Glen Echo, and thence to the
| north end of the Chain bridge and George
town. 1t is about thirteen miles from the
! Great Falls to the Chain bridge, and it
! was this stretch of road which the presi-
| dent selected for his afternoon exercise.
Electric cars run from Washington up
| the river as far as Cabin John bridge
| and these cars, well as the cars In
| the city, we're crowded with people who
were trying to keep cool. 1t was a warm
| day, the afternoon breeze having died out
! by 6 O'Clock. Mr.. Roosevelt and his
| young companions had begun their walk
| at about o'clock but 1t was dark some
| time before they had covered the thirteen
| miles between the Falls and Chain bridge.
| The president wore khaki riding trousers,
| a negligee shirt, heavy walking shoes and
a felt hat, and the boys were dressed for
hot weather and rapid walking.
| President Roosevelt, after considering a
| protest that the name of the frigate which
| twice was captured by British craft OF
| equal size has no place in honor on the
American naval list, has directed that the
| midshipmen's practice bark Chesapeake
hereafter be known as the Severn. Never
| again will the ill-fated name be fastened
| to an American war ship.
! Captain Setan Schroeder chief intelli-
gence office of the navy, recently ad-
dressed to Secretary Morton a letter re-
citing the fact that the Chesapeake in 1907
was defeated by a British ship. In 1873
the British vessel Shannon challenged II
| to come outside Boston harbor In the
fight which ensued the gallant Lawrence
! FOL ip,ip oil nm, In
But the Chesapeake did surrender and was
| towed a prize to Halifax
The Treasury department is issuing a
new $50 gold certificate of an entirely
| original design to take the place of the
! old certificates. The face of the new
note contains a bust portrait of Washing
ton with the figures 80" above the por-
trait and the words 'In gold COIN below
it, printed in yellow tint.
The face of the note inside the margin
is also OF yellow tint. The deep margins
are In shaded black, the design OF which
is heavy scroll work, altogether new in
United States notes. The numerals "20'' in
each corner are very prominent.
The rural delivery service should be as
near complete as, with a constantly in
/
Three years ago the department estimated
that the territory in the United States
available for rural free delivery embraced
about 100000 square miles. Today there
are in operation 81, 796 rural routes, which
cover nearly 10000 square miles
1t is estimated that 1t will take about
1900 additional carriers to cover the de-
clared available territory. But this area
is constantly widening, not only from the
growth of population but from the willing
ness of the department to go out after
smaller bits of business. Accordingly, go, ,0OC
carriers will be necessary before the service
can be regarded as approximately com
plete."
| 1t is possible to estimate with some de-
gree OF accuracy the cost OF full-growr
service. Assuming that IT will take CO. O0C
carriers to cover the country, the fixed
annual charge for salaries of carriers
alone at the present rate of $720 a year
would be s4S, 100000 The carriers are in.
sisting on better pay and they will, nc
doubt, get 1t sooner or later. Eight hun,
dred dollars a year is the sum congress has
in mind as the salary that will next bt
agreed on, and when the pay is fixed al
that amount the annual fixed charges fol-
carriers would be $48, 10000.
Beside the salaries of carriers, the cost
: OF maintaining the service will be large
1t will be necessary to employ division su
! perintendents, rural agents and clerks al
division headquarters. The prevailing view
!. .. in the postal establishment is that the cos
of rural free delivery will continue to grow
until It approaches $50 100000 year.
Just how much money the Postal depart
ment loses on account OF the rural servic,
, II is impossible to estimate, because no on,
can tell what proportion OF the increase o
revenues in large cities is directly chargea
BILE to the establishment OF rural free de
livery routes from these city Offices. Fully
, 70 per cent of the mail delivered in tn,
country originates in the cities. The rura
routes create new business, and to an ex
tent the city postofice gets credit for tn,
Increase in revenue.
, The usual crop of freak" letters is be
ginning to pour in upon the executive head
OF government departments. Today Post
master General Cortelyou made public tn
, following letter. received from one of tn
: rural mail carriers in Pennsylvania: Il
dollars a month is a lsO dollars year yol
say a month is a month. this last montl
you did not send me only IA dollars and at!
cents. 1 think I carry the mail cheal
a anuff want every cent that is coming t
me and no more"