Evening star., 1914-12-27
CITY OF RICHMOND
PUTS MEN:TO WORK
Employment Found for 500 in
Municipal Improvement
Projects Started,
SENATOR 'ECHOLS' DEATH
STARTS LIVELY CAMPAIGN
Many Candidates to Succeed Him.
Tax Commission Report to Have
Prompt Legislative Attention.
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Star.
RICHMOND, Va, December 26-The
| city has put about 500 men to work at
| street cleaning, laying water mains,
grading streets and roads and all
sorts of jobs. The city appropriated
FOR this purpose to relieve the general
depression and lack OF employment.
When the time came men applying
for jobs packed and iammed the city
hall for several hours. Carpenters,
painters, plasteTers. bricklayerS and
other tradesmen with no work in their
trades We're eager for any task that
presented.
Campaign for State Senate.
| The death of State Senator Echols of
Staunton has precipitated a lively cam
paisn for the vacancy. Gov. Stuart has
ordered that a special election be held
January 10.
! The district is composed Of Staunton,
| Augusta and Highland. 1t is recog-
! nized as dry" district. The factions
are already altgning themselves on this
| issue.
| II there should not be time enough
| tor 1hs democrats to hold a primary.
republicans believe they stand a chance
70 get in man of their political faith
| With split of the democratic vote
and there are at least five candidates
! already MENTIONED republican might
\ walk in.
| The drys are in the majority. and arc
understood to favor Prof. c. T. Jordan,
recognized leader Of the anti-liuuor
/ forces: Business men and others dis
| cuss the adVisa bility of naming a man
with general business experience and
familiar with the trend of public af-
fairs.
The candidates have short time In
which to get their names on the ballot.
They are required by law to file their
candidacy at least twenty days before
| the election.
Test of Strength.
Those interested in determining SEN
timent Of the legislature on the report
OF the tax commission have been at
work for several days. Speaker Cox
has ordered the finance committee to
| meet here January 6, one week In ad-
vance Of the date set for the legislature
| to convene, and to consider the report
and the bills, and to be ready to re-
port soon after they shall have been
referred for consideration and report
Men engaged In sounding out meul-
bers have declared that not less than
hfty-seven or sixty are in favor of the
the commission. and have SO declar red
Forty others win vote on the proposi.
tion. These are said to be about evenly
divided between standpat and the tax
commission idea.
New Post Office Building.
Richmond is to have new post Of
fee building, to be used for nothing
save post Office purposes. This an
nj 1att
| ceived here from the Post Office De-
partment. The location is yet to be
determined. but the chances arc that 1t
Will be on Main street and close to the
Union station, through which the bulk
Of the mail comes at this time.
Owners offered property adjoining
the post Office for en1arging the old
building. Inspectors sent here by the
Treasury Department made two re-
ports, each opposing the enlargement
of the old building and declaring that
Richmond needed a building with ca
pacity to handle the growing business
for years to come.
The Treasury Department is consid-
ertng two available sites. There is
reason to believe that one of the sites
will soon be purchased and that the
new building will be provided for in he
appropriation bill of the next Con-
gress.
Missing Records Recovered.
Charles City county has an old order
book with entries dating from 1866 tol
1856. It has been missing since 1862.
having been appropriated by stras-
slers Of the Federal army when Kear-
ny's division marched from Provi- |
dence Landing to Yorktown.
The old book is Well preserved and
the entries legible. The book shows
that it was taken to Philadelphia. and
In 1863 sold IL, Cannhpl1'S
the purchaser being Thomas H. Wynne.
After that 1t disappeared until it |
came into possession of persons in this |
city, number of years ago, where it
has since remained. County officers |
got trace of 1t and made a demand for
the return Of the document, holding |
that It was stolen property and that |
the title could not vest in any person
or organization save the county Of !
Charles City. The owners agreed to sur |
peiea pesasr s,eS on Pay a of the
eral days ago. 1t contains the name Of |
the man who Captured" it,
Christmas to the Poor.
Through efforts Of an afternoon pa
per in this city, the Salvation Army 1
yesterday distributed 500 baskets of !
provisions to poor families of Rich
mond, white and black sharing in the
distribution. In addition moro than |
1000 toys were given to children of |
these families.
The Elks also distributed baskets. |
One merchant distributed 1000 bags of !
flour to the poor. The Rotary Club |
gave presents to the value of $1,000 to |
crippled children. Many institutions
gave large sums to relieve the poor and !
those out of work. (
New Legislative Members.
Four new senators and two new
members Of the house will serve in the
legislative session to begin January
13. c. OConnor Goolrick will succeed
r. &C. L. Moncure. as senator from
Fredericksburg, and W. L. Andrews of |
Roanoke will succeed John NJ. Hart,
Both retiring senators are now collectors |
Of internal revenue. W. C. Corbitt vii!
come to the sepate from Portsmouth,
succeeding S. Z. Montague. now post
master there. E. r. Fuller will be a
member of the house from this city. A
successor is yet to be elected for R 8.
Hartley Of Sussex, killed in railroad l.
accident several months ago. Then
there will be the successor to Senator
Echols.
Justice Crutchfield Frees Many.
Justice John Crutchfeld Of the police
court Christmas eve freed Seventy-nine
offenders against law and order. They
were in Jail for being drunk, for disorder
l., trivial pa