Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1922-06-09

and the price paid This is straight official let
congressman are coming more and more to send
their quotas of seeds out, not to the voting lists
in their districts but to the school children, to
civic organizations chambers of commerce, banks.
and factories for workmen and great deal to
miners
With the department opposed to the congression-
al seed distribution. and with congress habituaIy
Tor It. Oliver f. jones' originally from Cincinnati
who is in active charge of this work, has had an
unenviable job as buffer between the department
and congress for about twenty years. He prob
ably knows all the members of congress more in
timately than any other man in Washington be-
cause he is calling upon them in their offices every
day IN the year. AT present he is getting
than 200 telephone calls day from them dictates
about 100 letters a day to them, and has 20 or 30
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. r. A. Oakley and ]. E. w Tracy
purchase under contract ali the seed that enters
into the congressional distribution and supervise
the mechanical and physical work of filling the
packages and mailing them. Mr.. Tracy is in
charge of the seed warehouse located at $50 Penn
sylyania avenue, which is not at all MODERN we'll
ventilated or lighted. This building was erected
in 1884 and was the scene of receptions banquets
and inaugural balls for Andrew Jackson, Martin
Van Buren, and Abraham Lincoln. This is not
g0Vefn1nent-0WneQ DunQlng, DQC mas Deen rented
by the department and used as a seed warehouse
for about ten years
The filing Of the orders of congressman is an
interesting part of the free-seed distribution The
members supply their franks in sheets of ten.
They are cut up into single slips and counted into
bundles by expert counters from the bureau of
engraving and printing AS member sends in
an order blue slip is made out calling upon the
seed warehouse to deliver that quantity, and this
is accompanied by the corresponding number of
franks. The seed packages are either sent to the
office of the member of congress, if the franks
not addressed are mailed out directly f. om
the seed warehouse if they addressed
These franks are now coming in at the rat, of
100000 or 100000 day. Each member is entitled
to 10000 packages of vegetable seeds. and 1900
packages of flower seeds. AS each Of these pack
ages contains five small papers of seeds, it really
means that 10000 papers of seeds are sent out
by each member Of the senate and house
The way in which these seeds are first put into
the small papers and sealed and then put one each
of five different kinds into larger package and
sealed with the members frank pasted each
nackage for direct mailing, is an interesting part
of the congressional distribution system. This
is done by contract and this year new contract
or is on the Job Frank Clarke of Waco, Tex. who
has speeded UP the work by devisng guing
machine
The seed envelopes are filed by machinery,
which automatically weighs the contents of each
envelope Two girls work at one of these ma
chimes one filing and the other sealing the little
envelopes on a revolving belt. Filling and sealing
600 of these little envelopes is consdereda good
DAVIS work. The girls get piecework over 10000
dry.
Other girls sit at big tables pastng the congress
sionaI franks onto the container on which are
nrinted the names of the five varieties of yege-
tables or flowers that are to be placed within.
belt carrier runs beside huge bins into which the
small packages of seed have been dumped. AS
the girls finish pasting the franks on the big en-
velopes they are carried, one al time, along this
travelling belt roadway and in front of hin at
regular intervals are girls, each of whom slips in
a small envelope and the container proceeds to
an inspector and then past another girl, who seals
up the package by machinery