The National tribune., 1909-10-07

| paid upon them. When in time 1t be-
| came necessary to open these letters at
the Dead-Letter Office each was found
to contain a 81 bill, wrapped in scrap
of brown paper or old newspaper, with
| out the least sign or mark by which the
sender might be identified. The num-
| ber of these letters sent to the Dead
| Letter Office having reached 146, Fourth
! Assistant PoStmaster-General De Graw
| concluded to send out his Inspectors to
! run down the mystery. for mystery he
| felt there must be. After long search
the Post Office Inspectors found that
the name upon the envelope and the
address We're correct for the years 1901
| to 1907. The man named upon the
| envelope had finally been discharged.
and is now an object of charity. The
proprietor of the hat establishment
where the man used to work stated to
the Post Office Inspectors that the man
had formerly worked for him. and that
| he had in the past received a number
| of anonymous letters Then the In
spectors started out to chase the old
man down, finally finding him, and
when they told him that s146 were in
| the custody of the Dead-Letter Office
| for him he was overjoyed- The old
gentleman was somewhat dubious about
| taking the money, as he said that there
was not anybody on earth who owed
| him anything. Then he made an eX-
| ceptiOn to this statement by saying that
| a great many years ago he had made
silk hat for man who had promised
| to pay for it. but never had, and he
| thought very likely that this man was
| trying to get even with his conscience
by sending this small sum every month.
The $146 helped to put the old man on
his feet and get him out of the poor
house.
The United States, thru United States
Attorney Baker, has brought suit with
libel in the District Supreme Court, and
condemned some 40 or so cases of
spoiled fruit. There were seven cases
of California raiSinS. several cases of
eyaporated apples, lot of wormy pea
nuts and a number of other articles of
food, which were to go into the making
up of pies and cakes for those who
have money enough to pay for them.
1t is stated in the bill of complaint that
these fruits and things were absolutely
rotten, and yet reputable business men
of Washington who run pie foundries
were about to foist them off upon the
eating public.
Big men are not credited with the
mental and physical activity of smaller
men, and the annals of history show
that the great things accomplished in
the world have been done by small men.
but President Taft, being a big man
himself, tipping the beam at something
over 800 pounds, is to have a bodyguard
of something approaching his own size.
When he arrives at Ell Paso, Tex, in his
swing around the circle" he will be
protected by giants on both sides of
him. There are four men who have
been assigned to the honorable posi-
tions of seeing that nobody tries to
shoot daylight thru the President or to
hand him any cold steel They are
called the Big Four" and all of them
live at Ell Paso. They are: c. r. Till
man, six feet and four inches in hight;
R. P. Parson. six feet and five inches;
c. III. Hams, six feet three and one
half inches, and G. L. Fletcher, six feet
three inches. If they are as brawny as
they are big. nothing can happen to the
President while he is at Ell Paso.
The War Department received an
urgent request from Senator Foster and
Representative Broussard, of Louisiana,
for Government aid for the hur-
ricane sufferers in that State. A tele-
gram was Immediately sent to Brig
Gen. Albert Mills. commanding the De-
partment of the Gulf, to at once pro-
ceed to the scene of the hurricane and
ascertain the needs of the people, and
see how many rations and other sup
plies were available for distribution
among them. After ascertaining this
he was ordered to at once issue rations
to the hungry sufferers. There is no
appropriation available for this pur-
pose, and the expenses have to be
charged to the War Departments ap-
propriations. 1t is thought that Con-
gress will reimburse the War Depart
ment for the outlay in this work for
humanity.
The Post Office Department has
struck out upon reform which will be
commended by all right-thinking peo-
pie The first move was taken in Chi
cago, when 1000 women, part of the
army of persons in Chicago who OBJ
tain their mail at the general delivery
window in the Chicago Post Office, have
been obliged to give to the Postmaster
their true names and addresses. They
did this under protest. and indeed
great howl went up about IT, but they
had to do 1t or give up the boxes They
were required to sign cards of identi-
fication," and these were placed in card
indexes. and can be referred to at each
recurring application for mail. This
will draw away the vail of secrecy un-
der which so much clandestine corre-
spondence has been carried on. 1t is
considered that this practice of not Civ
ing their true name is decidedly i'm
moral IN It's example. AS q matter of
fact, any Postmaster who has reason
to believe that those asking for mail
under a name not really their own may
hold the mall and decline to deliver il
either to people who are using fictitious
names or fictitious addresses. 1t is one
of the very best regulations that the
Post Office Department has ever intro
duced, and II would not be a bad idea
for IL to spread.
Mrs. Chauncey NJ. Depew, wife of the
noted fter-dinner-speaking Senator OF
New YORK, met with a painful accident
last week while in Paris. She was auto
mObiling on the Champs E,lysees when
chine and smashed the glass in her own
automobile. She was very badly cut
about the forehead by the broken glass,
and at first II was believed that she had
lost the sight of one eye. This was
found, however, to be a mistake. Mrs.
Depew will entirely recover from the
effects of the slashes of broken glass.
Mrs. Depew is not a beauty so far as
regular lines and coloring go, yet she
Is very fine-looking woman. tall, slen-
der and graceful. with the complexion
OF girl, altho she is 10 longer young.
The brilliancy of her complexion Is
probably brought out more forcibIy by
her prematurely gray hair, which she
| usually wears very simply arranged
Mrs. Depew always dresses with most
exquisite taste, and is one of the most
delightful dinner givers in the Sena-
torial set.