The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1909-07-01
WASHINGTON LETTER
ESPECIAL Correspondence.l

the clerical force of the highest gov
ernmental office has gone back to the
good old English of our fathers. For
several weeks after the Roosevelt
regime was ended the clerks and
stenographers of the executive Offices
would occasionally write thru" for
through, past" for passed and ''thoro"
for thorough. as they were required
to do under the administration that
ended March 4. These words would
perhaps be detected by some other
clerk before they reached the govern
ment printing Office, or IL they got as
far as the g. p. o. they would be
caught and changed by the proofread-
tr down there None of them ever
found their way into public print after
the Taft administration got we'll into
harness, and no one, except perhaps
some few Roosevelt enthusiasts, liz
left to mourn their absence.
Phonetic Spelling Cost Money.
Thousands of dollars will be saved
annually by the disuse of the simpli-
fed spelling" said an official Of the
government printing Office. 1T was
the continual mixup and eternal
change that cost so much. For in
stance, the president would send down
a message written in his peculiar alb
breviated phonetic style. We would
have to set it up as we got the copy
In due time the message would have
to be printed in the Congressional Rec
ord, and as congress had passed law
prohibiting the expenditure Of any
money for the simplified spelling
when we put it in the Record we had
to spell the words according to COM
mon usage. So the messages had to
be set up all over again, and as Presi-
dent Roosevelt was not at all stingy
with his communications there was
plenty of work of that sort to be done
Now, thank goodness, all the spelling
that comes to the Office is alike"
The Grant Memorial.
Now that the mammoth marble and
bronze memorial to Grant In the east
ern end of the botanical garden is
nearing completion 1t becomes appar-
ent that, as Representative Mccall
maintained. a great mistake was made
In locating the monument there 1t is
far too close to the capitol, which
dwarfs it. being damned out on the
building line of First street on low
and swampy piece of ground. In ad-
dition to the error of location, the me-
mortal itself is coming to be regarded
by persons of artistic sense as in ex-
ceedingly bad taste.
The Blind oklahoman.
It is at once pathetic and ennobling
sight to see Thomas P Gore, Oklaho-
mas blind senator, performing his du-
ties at the capitol. Dependent though
he is upon the assistance of his secre-
tary in making his way about the cap
itol he nevertheless Is as regular In |
his attendance upon the sessions of
the senate as any other, senator, and
his work and faithful attention to |
business have been manifested upon
more than one occasion. Here is a |
man who, although laboring under a |
tremendous handicap, performs the |
services of a man possessed OF all his
faculties.
When the Conqueror Passed.
A detachment of field artillery was |
passing In front of Pennsylvania |
avenue hotel The steps and pave
mani wara oliva with 4ov,ioI hod~o Il
beled men who looked rs If they had |
been having all sorts of good time
and meant to keep 1t up when they
got into the string of automobiles lined
up at the curb. The parade caught |
their interest. and the soldiers, horses
and cannon We're coming In for Jolly
comment when in flash every face
sobered. every voice was silenced,
every head was barred.
Out on the street slow moving horses
were drawing a caisson On It was
casket covered with flag and heaped
with flowers.
The conqueror Of all men was pass
Ing by.
Saving Time In Navy Yards.
Beekman Winthrop. assistant secre.
tary of the navy. estimates that the
new system Of paying employees at
navy yards and stations put In force
In line with the general policy of econ.
omy inaugurated by President Taft
will save the government $4,000
year.
Formerly all the employees were
paid ut one pay station In the yard
Now automobiles, bicycles, railroad
cars and other vehicles are utilized to
take the money to the employee In
stead of requiring him 10 come to the
central pay station and stand i'm line
q long time.
At the Boston yard the average time
lost by tue employees In obtaining
their weekly pay was estimated att
sixteen minutes. That has been re-
duced TO two minutes. With 4.O0ai
employees. Il Is figured that the work
Df eighty men il week Is saved by the
new method. Al the Washington yard
The average tine lost is estimated at
Two and two-ttirds minutes and 1T New
York three and sesen-tenths.