Evening star., 1922-03-19

to automobile factories for distribu-
tion among the operatives and which
are being sown in plant garden plots.
Similarly large quantities are being
sent to the cotton mills in the south
for distribution among the operatives.
Through Vermont farm machinery
company at Bellows Falls some seed
packages were distributed last year.
enthusiastic and were allocated GER
tain sections of a big park. Young
truck gardens have resulted, and
this hitherto uncultivated land took
on new beauty" writes the congress-
man.
WITH the department opposed to
~ the congressional seed distri-
button, and with Congress habitually
for it. Oliver F. Jones, originally
from Cincinnati, who is in active
charge Of this work. has had an un-
enviable job as buffer between the
department and Congress for about
twenty years. He probably knows
all the members of Congress more in
timately than any other man in
Washington, because he is calling
upon them in their offices every day in
the year. At present he is getting more
than 200 telephone calls a day from
them. dictates about 100 letters a day
to them and has twenty or thirty Of
them calling on him in his Office each
day.
The seed distribution is conducted
under the bureau of plant industry,
of which DR.. William A. Taylor is
chief, but he has too many other du-
ties to give detailed consideration to
this one federal activity. although
he does keep well informed about 1t.
r. A. Oakley and J. f. w. Tracy pur-
chase under contract all the seed
that enters into the congressional
distribution and supervise the me-
chanical and physical work of filling
the packages and mailing them. Mr..
Tracy is in charge Of the seed ware
house, located at 339 Pennsylvania
avenue, which is not at all modern.
well vantilated or lighted, and not fitted
with sanitary equipment Of modern type.
This building is well worth special
attention. 1t was erected in 1914, and
was this scene OF receptions, banquets
and inaugural balls for Andrew Jack
son. Martin Van Buren and Abraham
Lincoln. 1t has been used as the seed
warehouse for about ten years. There
are three floors in the front of the
building and five floors in, the rear.
The second and third floors have twen-
ty-two feet Of headroom. The third
floor. which was the banquet hall, is
suspended by four two-inch iron bars,
and measures 44xsS feet This was
done SO that there would not have to
be supporting pillars from the floor be-
low, which was the ballroom. The only
entrance that the President had to the
ballroom was down winding stairs
and through q small door not more than
five feet in height. so 1t must have
been an interesting spectacle to see
Andrew jackson and Abraham Lincoln
bending their tall frames to duck
through this small doorway.
\ y X
THE third floor is now braoed from
the second floor with big timbers.
because during the Spanish-American
war the floor collapsed, due to the fact
that in a space 25x22 feet boxes of
ammunition were piled without any
thought Of weight until about 435 tons
was too much Of a load and the floors
fell through. This is not a govern
ment-owned building. but has been
rented by the department and used as
a seed warehouse for about ten years.
The filing of the orders Of congress-
men is an interesting part of the free
seed distribution. The members supply
their franks in sheets Of ten. They