Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1909-07-10
WASHINGTON LETTER
Especial Correspondence

! thru" and all the rest OF the slmpli-
fed words put into the executive vo-
cabulary by President Roosevelt, and
the clerical force of the highest gov
| crnmental office has gone back to the
good old English OF our fathers. For
several weeks after the Roosevelt
regime was ended the clerks and
stenographcrs OF the executive offices
would occasionally write thru fol-
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 eley reached the govern
ment printing office, or If they got as
far as the G. p. o. they would be
caught and changed by the proofread-
er down there. None of them ever
found their way into public print after
the Taft administration got well into
harness, and no one, except perhaps
some few Roosevelt enthusiasts. is
left to mourn their absence.
Phonetic Spelling Cost Money.
thousands of dollars will be saved
fled spelling" said an official of the
government printing office. at was
the continual miXup and eternal
change that cost so much. For in
stance. the president would send down
n message written in his peculiar abb
breviated phonetic style. We would
have to set 1t up as we got the copy.
In due time the message wosld have
TO be printed in the Congressional Rec
ord. and as congress had passed law
prohibiting the expenditure Of any
money for the simpified 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 it becomes appar-
ent that. as Representative Mccall
maintained. Il great mistake was made
I'm locating the monument there. 1t Is
far too close to the capitol. which
dwarfs 1t. being jammed out on the
building line of First street on low
and swampy piece of ground. In adj
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.
1t 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 Ia a
man who. although laboring under
tremendous handicap, performs the
services OF a man possessed of all bis
faculties.
When the Conqueror Passed.
| "A
passing in front of Pennsylvania
avenue hotel. The steps and pave
ment were alive with jovial badge la
bcled men who looked as If they had
been having all sorts Of good time
and meant to keep it 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 were coming in for jolly
comment when in fash every face
sObered. every voice was silenced,
every head was barred.
Out on the street slow moving horses
J were dra wing a caisson. On 1t was
casket covered with a 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 $125,0OO a
/ year.
Formerly all the employees were
paid at 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 to come to the
central pay station and stand in line
long time.
| At the Boston yard the average time
lost by the employees in obtaining
their weekly pay was estimated at
sixteen minutes. That has been re-
duced to two minutes With 1000
employees. 1t is figured that the work
Of eighty men week is saved by the
new method. At the Washington yard
the average time lost is estimated at
two and two-thirds minutes and at New
York three and seven-tenths.
Barry Statue For France.
Andrew O'Copnor's statue of Commo-
aore John Barry, designed for the
United States government for erection
in this city, will be perpetuated in
bronze for the French government.