The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1906-01-19
PRESIDENT keosEvELT
SUBMITS EMPLOYEES
REPORT.
69l MEN SHOULD QUIT
They Have Passed the Age
Of Usefulness.

Uarhinoto1, Jan. l9.-President
Roosevelt has laid before the house
report as to the number OF government
employees in the various departments un-
der the civil service who have reached
the age OF seventy yars or more. The
Information was rquested in view OF the
proposed pensioning OF s1peranuated
government employees. and the informa-
tion conveyed is that there are s92 such
men IN the employment Of the govern
ment The treasury department shows
the greatest number OF septegenarians,
having l74: the department OF the in
terror comes next with 134; the depart-
ment Of commerce and labor third, with
lOe. Most Of the old men in the depart
rtea. oS commerce and labor are griz-
Sy old salgs NC have been given POSI-
tions as lighthouse keepers. The oldest
man In the service IS a lighthouse in
spector eInploye named william WEIGH,
Nno has reached the ripe old age OF
eghty-eight and has put in forty-seven
years OF his life in the government SER
vice. He Is keeping sne wolf from the
door In his declining days with princeiy
stipend OF $3.50 per month. The next
Oldest man is also IN the lighthouse SER
vice. He has reached the age OF eighty
six years, has seen twenty-six years OF
government service, ana draws a sal
airy OF $500 year. The reports mention
eleven other men over eighty years OF
age still on the active rolls. Something
over one hundred OF the employees who
have bassed the seventy-year mark are
women. Some Of them are as trim.
kindly-faced grandmotherly visions as
were ever pictured in the story books OF
youth but when you walk INTO the post
office department after office hours, or
Through the extensive treasury building
after the heads Of the departments and
clerks have gone, Il would seem that
be ealeys Of old could not have shown
more distressing sights than the long
rows OK bent sixty and seventy year old
women. ln their daily drudgcry o. mop
ping the cold. bleak. deserted corridors
Of these great public buildings.
coxey. who several years ago led a
rag-talled army into washington TO en-
phasize his economic propaganda, ap-
pears 20 have been the only harmless
crank who ever came 20 grief in the
national capital. There IS no guarantee
that these tramga m the realm OF so
ciology, hnance. politics and religion viii
not stnrVe 20 death OF freeze 10 death,
but they are given privileges even unto
abuse. 20 set up their ands anywhere
on the broad steers or sidewalks and
cry ont their theories and heresies TO
/ the passersby. They hang up their
maps, their charts and their torches on
a portable frame. mount their chairs or
little platform. rs the case may be, and
proclaim IN tones and with confidence
that leaves no room for doubt, the varl-
Gus things which they feel called 10
preach. Al one end Of the little toy park
on Pennsylvania avenue, opposite the
| Central market street preacher sings
out 10 the rounder on his way to the
BoaTs Head tavern IN the Raleigh, the
cheerful information that he is fast slid
Ing heilwnrd. but that II he win MALT a
minute and lis,en to the words OF him
who Is out 10 save souls. the downward
course may yet be stayed. There Is
snow on the ground. The bords that
sleep in the shrubhery OF the toy park
are budding close together on the lee
side OF the branches, and the wind cuts
through the oyercoats There arc warm
fresI. and hot potatlons at the Bears
Head tavern, and rounder moves on.
Further down the street stands man
.el!ing q few stragglcrs how 10 down the
trusts, and not far away another Sho
imparts his discovery that the politics
Of the country = rotten but not yet be-
yond recall II the people would only rise
IN their might and follow the path which
he IS willing TO Illuminate.
The lives OF these itlneraais are per-
haps more interestire than the theories
they preach. Some do odd jobs by day
and preach at night; some take up col
iecilons and feed al s-cent cafes, while
now and then ono comes backed by some
Organization that seeks 10 ineulcaso its
Views through this street propaganda.
Sometimes these missionaries resort to
printers Ink and plaster tho residence
door steps With handhlis Here is one
which has recently found its WY into
thousands Of trash cans with other
sweeping. Il Is entitled, cold Is Not
Needed" and aficr telling why con-
cludes With this demand upon the gov
ernmont. "cal Ia an gold coin from the
banks and our people, MELT same into
insots Of suitable weitht and store away
Ia governmert vaults ut Washington ana
sub -treasur,4s. Whenever our exports
iail to settle what the United States
owes to other nations lei those nations
80 20 the goyernmen for heir gold" Ana
hus > the government advised, ossalied
and cajoled day after day and night upon
night until The wonder is that any Kind
~ reform ever gets q foothold nj an
Renewed interest has been aroused in
the street preachers through an Interest,"
Ing case thai eamo 10 nght but a few
days ago, For hve years an old man had
/ been eNhotflng such innniiesimal frac-
ton of the populace as would stand to
hear his words. 20 prepare FOR the end
o. the world Ia 1907 lie acquired the
hailuclnatlon ln Topeka. Kars. closed
ont HIS worldly possessions thess and
came % W.asting On with what re hs-
urcd was enough nlo-rs ~ LAST him until
the grand crash In 1907 He bad made
wceful miscalcnlation somewhere. and
lecd found him az the ond of hisfpile,
WIKI the word atm anolffr year % run.
Although he had rooEied i've years WIZ
The same landlady. she refused 10 carry
hinl 70 the poriending crack Of doom next
year. ana gave him until the next day
70 move his cherished volumes ard
charts Il - not known whether he act
"a solely out OF despair or whether bis
last act on earth was tnEed with feei-
ing of revenge. but On the night pre-
coding his threatened turning out Of the
premises be plasie1t1 90 the cracks In
tis room. blew cpt the fas. md ~
the gas fneter ale pp eptefm 1in