The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1908-07-02
WASHINGTON c. THURSDAY JULY 2

II
of nearly 1000 caseB,Dn account of the
insufficiency of the appropriation. Thi:
action is regarded as recognition O.
the needs and growing Importance o.
the Land Office, and is looked upon a:
good omen by the officials of the ser
vice. ,;t.>s-s
Now, what do You Think of this?
messenger boy. who really fought to hav,
been in school, was scouting aroi nd tn,
Capitol just before closing, seeking
gentleman who is the minority leadeI
in the highest legislatives body in TIL,
world-Senator Charles "A. Culberson
of Texas. The boy couldn't find tn,
gentleman in the United States Senate
so he tackled another Senator, whom
he ran up against III the corridor
Say. Gully. kin yer tell me where
can chase meself to find dis guy?"
The Senator didn't faint He jus
took in the full humor of the situation
and, chucklIng, led the messenger t.
where de guy was sitting, and ther
told the Senator about it.
Now, then, ladies of the various re.
formatory societies. sit up and take no,
tice. Secretary Taft does not smoke
Furthermore, he says that he never
learned to smoke, and does not know
the taste of the weed. Neither does
President Roosevelt.
Mr. Thorvald Solberg, Register OF
Copyrights, has just signed his name tho
30,000th time because the people who
have business with the Office will not
follow instructions. The law states very
implicitly that the charge for a copy
right is so cents. Officials can accept
no more. The Library of Congress sends
out circulars to applicants explaining
this very carefully.
Nevertheless. many generous souls
who think they can make their claims
for copyright protection a little more
certain, inciose larger fees than the law
recognizes. Much of this comes in the
shape of money-order remittances. But
one thing can be done, and that is to
return the balance to the sender, which
necessitates the signing of a money or
der or other form Of negotiable paper.
a complete tally of all those Irregular
tiles must be kept. AS the money-order
business of the Copyright Division is
enormous, having comprised 2f6,3S5
money orders in the last 10 years the
rendering of excessive fees has become
one of the great nuisances of the adj
of that branch of the Ii
brary of Congress.
The largest concrete bridge in the
world. huge structure which has at
tracted worldwide attention among en-
gineers, is just completed here in Wash
ington. Connecting Connecticut boule-
ward. one of Washington's most fash
ionable drives, over Rock Creek, Valley,
this wonderful bridge is already regard
ed as a celebrated example of the utility
of concrete.
Constructed of nodded concrete blocks
and monolithic concrete masonry. it is
dependent upon itself for support. hav-
ing no steel framing for reinforcement
At its highest point the bridge isn50
feet above the bed of the ravine, and it's
total length. with approaches, is 1,400
feet. Congress appropriated $s50.000
for construction CT the bridge proper.
The West Virginia, ., the new cruiser.
has proved herself to be, the fastest
ship in the United States Navy. The
best previous record was made by the
.... r.J 1.r.ttnf e"i''i q
Senator Gore. of Oklahoma. found
when he got back home that all oppo-
sition to his return to the United States
Senate had disappeared, and so there
IS no one to hinder his triumphant cleo
ion-just now 1T least.
A little incident of; the last Cabinet
meeting has just leaked out, and Secre-
airy Taft was the center of the incident
Secretary Taft submitted a interesting
'equest from leading citizens of Hattfe5-
burg, Miss, who desired TO express their
gratitude and esteem TO Mai. Wendell
L. Simpson, Mai. Carroll A. Devoi. Maj.
Bailey K Ashford and First Lieut..
Howard X. Bailey, the Army officers
who discharged the duty of distributing
supplies and tentage and otherwise
AIRED for the sufferers from the recent
errible storm that passed over south
EASTERN Mississippi. The citizens of
when the time came for
he officers to take their departure for
presented to them several
presents, among which Were two gold
handsome ''h0usewife" and
silver tankard. as expressions of their
'egard and thanks. ! ""t. ~ 20, /
The officers politely and kindly re-
Piled that they could not accept the
gifts for performing an official duty.
Fhc citizens. who had gathered in a
BODY, were evidently disappointed, and
hey renewed their effort 30 st,ow thei,
gratitude by addressing ! lo:r"r 20 Sec
'etary Taft. asking his -t, by offices
o arrange in some way a. allow the
gifts to be received by the officers. I'll
gifts were at the same time sent to tn
Secretary by express all charges pre-
paid.
The Cabinet discussed the matter
ully, and finally decided unanimously
o let the officers accept the presents,
md the kindly people who offered the
gifts were so informed by Secretary
Taft. who stated that he would deliver
he gifts himself.
Postmaster-G General Meyer has made
In amendment to the postal regulations
hat is expected to result in relieving
he Dead Letter Office from handling
ons of worthless mail matter.
The order stipulates that undeliver-
,ble samples of merchandise sent for
purposes, or articles of like
character. having no saiable value, must
lot be sent to the Division of Dead Let
ers from post offices having city deliv
Try, but should be destroyed and suit
lble record kept of their disposal
The Post Office Department has been
advised that Brazil cannot participate
n the exchange of the international re-
ply coupons until after the reduction of
he postage rates by the National Con-
sress of that country, which has not
yet been done.
The growth of the illustrated post
ard craze has caused several countries
% make special rulings in regard tol
heir AVAILABILITY. The Department has
leen advised that the Danish West In
lies has ruled that the illustrated cards
nailed In packages may be. admitted as
printed matter, altho, strictly speaking,
hey are dutiable.
British North Borneo has prohibited
he importation thru the mails az prints
IF packages of illustrated post cards
charges 10 per cent ad va