Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-12-30
Washington Life
Some Interesting Phases
and Conditions Observed
At the Nations Capital.

Some Interesting Phases
i and Conditions Observed
II A. the Nations Capital.
/ seat No. IS in the United states senate
/ has thus far escaped the tainted reputs-
/ ton superstitious persons attach to the ifs
/ ures Innocently and with evident good
/ will II bears uncomplaininsy the weight
OF senatorial dignity that comes its way
Whatever hoodoo attaches to senatorial
numbers is concentrated on seat %, which
/ will be abandoned by a lame duck next
March A little investigation made by
| New York World correspondent showed
this evil record: The Indian sign" was
| first put on No @ when Senator Wolcott
Of Colorado occupied it. lie was defeated
! for reelection and died abroad shortly aft,
erward Senator Mcmillan moved into No.
% after wolcott vacated It. lie died in Of
| flee Then Senator wetmore took it for
a few months only to have the Rhode
Island legislature become deadlocked. II
was six months before Senator Wetmore
was returned. and in the meantime his
/ seat was naturally forfeited. Kittredge
was sitting there when wetmore reached
the senate after the deadlock ended. Kit
: tredRe was defeated when next he came
up for election. Senator Burkett Of Ne
braska has been occupying No. % of late
years lie has just met defeat in that
state and will be succeeded, by Representa-
tive Hitchcock.
Old attaches Of the senate are wonder
| ing who will draw No. %.
A tolerabiy ambitious proposition for
! the creation Of between 200 and 300 fat fed
eral places. each with a salary OF about
! 1900 is under discussion at the national
capital, reports the Boston Herald CORE
| spondent II has come up i'm connection
with the new apportlonment law. which
! the house census committee Is soon to
frame and which congress will enact after
the holidays
These new positions would virtually be
those Of assistant congressman" They
are suggested as one expedient for shifting
from the shoulders of representatives OF
! tile people the routine work of conducting
! correspondence and running departmental
! crrands in order that the real representa-
! tives might devote themselves to the more
dgnified tasks of studying public questions
and attending to the simon-pure matters
| Of legislation.
The advocates of such an innovation be.
leve the house of representatives should
consist of between 200 and 300 members in
stead Of the SOL at present. They would
therefore not only reduce the size of the
| house in its membership, but probably
! would go so far as to make the size of
membership permanent. A law was en-
acted back in the fifties prescribing that
the house should consist permanently of a
given number of members-something like
J htIt - ~ he de
binding upon subsequent congresses, when
ever they chose to enact new apportlon-
ment laws at the ten-year census periods.
IT is clearly established by an investiga-
ton conducted by the Postoffice depart
ment that the unrestricted manner in
which the franking privilege is now being
used by the several federal services and
| by congress is responsible for a waste that
annually reaches into the millions.
| Postmaster General Hitchcock believes
that many of the abuses of the ranking
system could be prevented and conse-
quently a marked economy effected. His
plan to accomplish this is to supply the
| agencies OF the postal service with special
! official envelopes and stamps to be issued
on requisition TO the various branches of
| the federal service requiring them, and
| such records to be kept of official stamp
supplies as will enable the Postoffice de-
partment to maintain proper postage ac-
count covering the entire volume OF free
! government mail
The first step in the direction Of this re-
| form has been taken in connection with the
| new postal savings system. Special stamps
and stamped envelopes have been provided
! instead of franks in the free transmission
OF the official mail resulting from the
business of this new system. BY prop
erly recording the issuance of such stamps
and envelopes an accurate account can be
kept of the cost to the government OF
handling the postal savings mail, which is
certain to become an important item of
expense and which ought to be separately
| determined
| The postmaster general hopes that con-
gress will authorize the substitution Of
special official stamps and stamped en-
velopes for the various forms of franks
now used to carry free OF postage the vast
volume Of departmental and congressional
mail matter During the past year up-to-
date business methods Of accounting have
been introduced in the department, but the
postmaster general has been greatly i'm
peded by the impossibiity of determining
with exactness how far the various ex-
penses Of the business are increased by the
present unrestricted use OF the frankins
| privilege.
! The next speakers fun pams is James
/ Beauchamp Clark, explains Harpers Week
! ~ When he went out into the world he
discovered that Clark was the sixth most
common name I'm America, and that James
was nearly as prevalent as John OF the
| measles James b. also was curiously nu-
| merous, and James B. Clark far from I'M
| usual. In the young mans town was a
man Of that name who used to get his let
I tiers and throw them away This was very
annoying. So the future statesman dropped
/ James and became Beauchamp Clark
Beauchamp is a well known name out west.
They pronounce it Beecham. like that of