Evening star., 1921-01-16

"6 ooi1e0 to"eiS, and yet that
IS one OF the functions of the library,
1t washes upward of 10000 towels
a month at fraction of a cent per
towel much cheaper than buying pa
per towels. and about one-flfth Of
what the laundry bill formerly came
to.
The summary and ruthless way in
which the republican economy pro-
gram Is being carried out in the
House appropriations committee is il
!ustrated by two comments made by
Representative Will r. Wood Of In
diana, chairman of the subcommittee
on the salary measure for government
employees. DR.. Herbert Putnam, libra
rian Of Congress. was witness Rep
resentative Wood said:
Il notice that you have request
edo,t ed an a,,.l increase in salary for
establishment. You are not excep-
tional in that respect, but I think we
can relieve the situation by asking
you to omit anything with reference
to an increase in these salaries"
When Secretary Alexander of the De-
increase in salary for the chief of the
division of supplies. who has held the
position efficiently since the depart
ment was organized in 1903. from 81, 100
to 1880. the same as other division
chiefs. Representative Wood said: I'm
comparisons made. as well as for the
sake OF economy. let us reduce the
salaries Of the other people,"
Engineer officers in the War De.
partment are now writing text books
for Uncle Sam, which are to be used
TO instruct the commissioned and en-
ilsted personnel in military engineer
ing and map making. Col. c. o. Sher-
rill OF the office Of the chief Of en-
gineers told Congress all about it the
other day. He said: II am myseH
q writer OF text books. I have writ
ten several as q private Individual
and one is a large and comprehensive
book on military topography, and it
Is sold to officers at $3.50. These
people down in the Office Of the chief
engineer are writing a text book
that tina VIII VIII take axe, the place Of my book.
issue them at a very small expense,
probably 40 or so cents. and vet 1
realize. although my sales will be
decreased. that that is a good thing
to do" He emphasized that these
books are the property of the gov
ernment and not for private profit.
Another thing that the people
throughout the country do not ap.
preciate is the amount Of mail that
every member Of Congress receives
SO that the job Of secretary to a
member. at $4,000 a year, is far from
a sinecure. Besides all the depart
mental work that has to be done and
all sorts Of odd jobs that constituents
ask. the mere task Of handling the
mail is staggering. Frank w. Col
lier, postmaster Of the House, testi-
fed the other day that the 435 MEM
bers receive on an average Of 500, 900
letters and other small mail a week
and from ten to fifteen tons Of heavy
mail a day.
Harry wurzbach of Texas. the sole
republican elected from that state.
who is coming to the next Congress
as successor to Representative Caslos
Bee, Postmaster Genera: Burleson's
brother-in-law, has already arrived
He is looking the ground. over and
getting points. Despite the fact
that he is the first republican member
Of the House from Texas in more than
third Of century, the firts time he
sat in the House it was on the demo-
cratic side with his colleagues from
Texas. He is being chaperoned by
Representative Hudspeth, demo-
cratic St0lWart.