The San Francisco call., 1913-07-20
AT WASHINGTON
BY IRA e. RENNETT

One Of the most remarkable letters
ever received by president OF the
United States Is comfortably placed on
President wilson's desk in the execu-
tive Offices of the White House.
If at any time during the next few
weeks the president desires to turn to
course of light reading he'll have 1t
right at hand. The latest freak mis-
sive to the president Is 10000 words
in length and contains just Is news
paper columns of type
Every few days letters of unusual
length come into the White House, but
this Is the record breaker for length.
When one reached the White House a
few days ago 10000 words long the
clerks gasped. What they did on the
receipt of this one has not been ex-
planned.
The latest missive IS from Isaac
Lawrence. president of the American
Tariff Reform league Of New York. 1t
contains enough suggestions as to how
the president and members of his
cabinet should conduct the affairs of
the United States to keep several
presidents busy for many months to
come.
Mr.. Lawrence's suggestions, all made
with great seriousness, are even more
remarkable than the number of words
he takes to tell about them. One of
them Is that the president appoint
rT~or Ia, Ct rry,t W n
his cabinet when the first vacancy oc-
ours. Mr.. Lawrence highly esteems
Mr.. Murphy. He says that Mr.. Murphy
would be worth his weight in gold to
Mr.. Wilson's administration and that
his appointment would "solidify the
party in the whole country
Very early in the letter Mr.. Law
renee Incorporates an article about
himself from the Brooklyn Eagle,
which says that he is S4 years OF age,
"a man with a remarkable career and
a remarkable history, strongly
equipped mentally and physically and
in full possession of his unusual facul-
ties"
Another frill is passing, retreating
safe and sane, plain grapejuice admin
istration.
The embossed stationery upon which
members of congress, heads of depart
been wont to inscribe their we'll chosen
words is to be no more. The joint COM
mittee on printing of the two houses of
congress has just issued orders to the
public printer to throw away the en-
bossing dies and to print no more of the
nossy stationery SO pleasing to the eye.
A bit of quick figuring convinced the
joint committee that embossed station
cry has been costing Uncle Sam many
year, and the expense was
as statesmen became more
impressed with the beauty and elegance
of the raised letters showing off to ad-
their names.
Hereafter, IL the member of congress
or government official is too fancy for
the plain printing which the govern
ment will furnfsh-why, he may Just go
ahead and buy his own embossed sta
tionery.
The cost of embossed letter heads,
noteheads and envelopes used by the
senate in 1909 amounted to $1i.6S7. In
1910 the embossing bill was s15739 in
1911 1t was $1S,T15 and in 1912 $16,193.
The house totals batted away above
the 800 mark. In 1909 the embossing
bill for the house, its committees and
members amounted to s17,924. in 1910
the fancy stationery had made such a
hit that the bill was s41,233, in 1911 it
was s34.47s and in 1912 It went back to
to s3s.677
IN the year 1912 the embossing OF
stationery. which included the cost of
the paper itself, amounted to SCI, ,09S for
all branches of the government service
tive departments. The departments,
however, used comparatively a small
amount of embossed paper. The state
department for instance, had an en-
year and the department OF justice
came second with an expense account
of S1,1S1.27. 1t is explained that these
went ahead because it is
customary to write diplomats on fancy
letter heads and the department of jus
tice has a habit of using the raised let
ter stationery in communicating with
judges and district attorneys.
The embossing bills for the other de-
partments and their bureaus were COM
paratively small. ranging from $50 to
$3.50 per year.
The joint committee on printing took
the position that exclusive of the paper
and incidentals it was costing the gov
ernment about $50, 900 a year for the
embossing process. Was it worth while?
The committee on printing decided not.
The order of the joint committee on
printing will cause loud wall when
Its effect is first felt by the congress
men who have been using the ornate
f;opor,r