The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-08
SENDING OUT
 GARDEN SEED These Are Rsy Days
 For Wlsorl. THE REcey OF WHEELER Disposed More Packages Than
 Any One Else.
Annual Distribution By the Govcrnt- ment Gives Employment to the Secretaries of the Congress-
 mem watterson's Trouble.

This is the time of the year that Far mer Wilson of the department of ag- riculture has to put on a large extra force of men and women at his place of business. The reason Is that the million or more packages of garden,
 flower, grass and other seed are being put up in convenient form to be sent out by congressman to their constituents. The mailing of the packages for the far states commenced several weeks ago. They are going out in immense quantities to California, Arizona, New Mexico and the South Atlantic states. In later years the congressman have been sending their lists over to the idepartmert and the directions are made there. Twenty years ago the represen- tatives obtained the big bags contain | Ing the assorted packages.
 In these days only chairman Of a house committee had q clerk to help him r this work. That was before every member of the house was alio " ed a clerK. Senators mad their pri secretaries messengers attached 70 I committees and the regular committee 1 clerks. For a decade Defor they se- , cured them the house members private- l Iy admitted how they yearned to have ] at least a portion of tic privileges en- l joyed by the gentlemen in the upper branch. but they were long time m getting up the necessary courage to
 make the appropriation.
 A considerable percen.a .age or the | house members voted against helping 1 themselves and predicted awful punish ment to be visited upon the. Lien tav- oring euche an extravagant piece oi iex- I fsIatlon, but not statesman Is DeieV- l ed to have been left at home on ac- | H..& foA A K. | system Works we'll.
 The system works well and relieves | inc conRressmen O. duties that are well performed by this army or bright young 1 men styled secretaries to representa- tives Formerly the big bags of4 seed
 were sent in most instances to. commit | tee rooma at the capitol. Members who
 elected otherwise reeeived the bags | at their apartments, or their residences, land the trouble that was caused by rats l and mice will not be foi gotten py these I familiar with the old way of sending l out the packages
 | During his long service Gen Joe | Wheeler, of Alabama, had the repu- | tation of sending out more seed than any member of Congress. Never more industrious man was in the House | than the General It Is recalled that | his habit was to let 1t be known | throughout his district that If anybody wanted seed they would be fortncom- | ing If they addressed him at Wasnlns- | ton. The General not only managed to l trade documents and other perquisites ! with the city members. but Is known | to have purchased with his own means he seeds from firms In the haplt or
 supplying the Department. At th's 1 writing the city members are being inn portuned unmercifully by the represent atives of rural districts for trades so | .lC
 1 In distributing seed the intention or | the Government Is only to introduce new varieties. The people generally
 understand this, but in almost every 1 county there are some grasplng clt- { gems possessed of the idea that they
 can If they, work the trick property se-
 cure an entire planting. The enormous
 suno of money voted each year for the | distrihution of seed is on the theory that from the small packages sent out
 the receiver may be able to procure lhe
 latest improved things and in the course of two or three years be well suppleq from his own place.
 | ExuerIence of WattcrEOn. l Col. Henry Watterson, editor or Ihe courier-Journal, once served an unex- | pired term in the House and decIlneu l a re-election That was during the ex- | citernent over the Tilden- Hayes contro- l yersy in the winter of lSIb-U' In9 | colonel was so busy stirring up the l Democrats and having "one hundred
 thn,,ssnd unarmed Kentuckians" in-
 wade the capital city to protect sam
 uel !. Tilden in hIs rights that he had
 no time or inclination to inquire as
 to his own rights in the matter or | garden seed. An old lady down Tn Ten | nessee in the neighbCrhood or which
 The editor was reared, wrote to him for garden seed, She informed nm
 that she had received some from the
 government several times. Col. Wat
 terson communicated with the commits
 sioner over at the department-tha'
 was before we had a Secretary of Az
 rlcnlture-and politely requested that II
 there were any seed 10 which he was
 entitled the whole lot should be sent
 to his feminine friend in Tennessee
 His instructions were carried out al
 once. and the lucky woman got nine
 or ten bags of the best varieties. The
 Louisville district had a number oi
 counties attached to it and 1t was not
 many weeks before It's representative
 began to receive hundreds of letter:
 from his constituents asking for tho
 usual favors from the department The
 colonel was helped out of his difficulty by other members.
 Evidences are multiplying that if thu
 Democrats plan their battles carefully
 this year they can make heavy gain! , in the Congressional elections in New , York. Pennsylvania. Ohio, Illinois. In. , diana, Iowa and Wisconsin. The Re P publicans are divided not only by bit
 ter factional warfare. but there is serI ous complaint on the part of the peo n nle in the West that the Republican
 oortv has not carried out It's pledge
 with rega' to a moderate and sensib!, Q revision of the existing tariff schedules . 1 Even MT Dingley said of hls own bill ' before dying that certain duties wer f made high with the intention of grad h ualIv reducing them to fit the exigen n | cies of the times.
 f Troubles of PenrOse.
 d Perhaps the most oubled Senate
 iust now Is MT Penrhse of Pennsylva Q nia. After the death Of Senator Qua q 1t looked as If Penrose was supreme |
 the Keystone State. He was in ful
 control of the machinery and was abl
 to do pretty mucl as he pleased | a shapiug policies. His party has bee e routed in most of the large cities an y in the State and talk as they please i d public, 1t is generally understood her e | that Senator Penrose and the rest c