The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1910-03-22
WASHINGTON LETTER
BY CARL scHoFIELD. Special Core
spondent.

BY CARL scHoFIELD. Special Core
spondent.
A piece of wood about three feet III
length and an inch and half in
diameter which was sawed from some
of the timber of historic old Long
bridge, across the Potomac river, near
this city, was the present received by
General Isaac r. Sherwood, represent
ative from the Toledo CO.. district a
few days ago. The donor was B. f.
Howard of Gulfport, Miss, a member
of the Eighth Ohio artillery during
the civil war and native of the
Buckeye State.
Cane From Long Bridge.
Mr.. Howard accompanied his pres
ent with lengthy letter, in which he
related considerable history of the old
Long bridge. The timber rapidly dis
appeared when the viaduct was finally
torn down to make room for a new
steel bridge, and what little remains
at this day is priced very highly. The
cane sent General Sherwood was cut
from the supports of the bridge.
Mr.. Howard said in writing:
''This is not presented as big
stick to be welded in authority or
bossism, but as silent reminder that
the feet that once pressed the planks
of the old Long bridge, supported by
the uprights and brace of which this
is piece, have by a great majority
now crossed the silent river flowing
through a dark valley, forming the
great divide between the known and
the unknown. This great army, before
which the soldiers of any nation might
have retreated that day without dis
grace or kings have stood with heads
uncovered, comes back to us now in
memory only
Historic Old Bridge.
The old Long bridge was the route
traversed by the million or more Tn
ion soldiers who participated in the
great jubilee and parade in Washing
ton Just after the war closed. At that
time it was the only route by which
the broad Potomac might be crossed,
and it was also used by the thousands
of soldiers who went to the war from
the north Atlantic and New England
states. The site of the historic struc-
ture is unmarked, but visitors at the
national capital in their rounds of the
places of interest rarely miss viewing
the spot.
Pay of Representatives.
When you ask why this or that rep
resentative is here there is little
chance for mistake in the reason Civ
en-. With mighty few exceptions men,
bers of the lower house are here be-
cause they had a chance to come. The
pay of representative is $500, and,
able as this or that representative
may be, $500 is pretty good pay.
Also each representative draws $125
month with which to provide him
self a secretary. The representative
draws it, you notice, not the secretary.
There was one representative from
the west who made no secret of it
that he lived on the $125 a month,
being his own secretary, and salted
down the $500 untouched.
The Secretary's Stipend.
The representatives when they draw
this $125 a month sign statement
that the money is to be used as pay
for their secretary. This is mentioned
merely in passing. Most of the secre-
taries get the full amount drawn by
their representatives-or a good many
do. Yet the secretaries would like to
be on the payroll for this amount, pay
able to themselves, and they have
been trying for years to get there.
If they got ON the payroll-and con-
gress has never consented to put them
there-they would be sure of getting
the $125 month they are supposed to
get. Clerks of senate committees (and
each senator has a committed are on
the payroll, and they get an extra
months pay when congress adjourns,
an extra months pay which comes in
very handy when the long summer is
just begun. That is another reason
why the secretaries would like to get
on the payroll.
Near Crown Suggested.
A petition is before congress asking
that an executive emblem of gold and
jewels to include the seal of the Unit
ed States be designed and presented
10 the president for wear on state oc-
casions.
The thing would be in the form of a
collar, with this difference-it would
be worn as monarch would wear a
crown. AT other times it would be
kept in safely guarded vault and not
left lying around the White House,
where visitors might run off with it.
The petition came from Michigan
The point worthy of note is that
Washington generally takes the idea
seriously. Washington has decided
that the suggestion will be rejected as
not suited to the chief office of this
American sort of government.
Uncle Sans Soldiers.
President Roosevelt thought that
army officers should be comparatively
tall men. So he made change in the
ARMY regulation providing that candi-
dates for admission must be at least
| five feet five inches in height Now