Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-20
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

Half century ago preparations were
being made in anticipation OF the TAX
A n ing Of the decennial CEN
a census suS of 1880, and there was
complex. ter because of the aspira-
tons of certain cities to make good
showing In the population returns. The
Star of January IA, 1879, says:
The feature of the new census bill
which prevents, as far as possible, the
protracted enumeration of the popula-
Gion and confines 1t to as brief period
as is thought practicable is doubtless a
good one. But it involves superhuman
labors on the part Of competing cities
like Chicago and st. Louis. The ordi-
nary method of causing ones self to be
counted several times by the census
taker, which under the circumstances
municipal pride tempts each citizen to
practice, is Intellectual. 1t Is thought
that only the severeSt straining Of
Western capacity and enterprise will
enable the inhabitants of these two cit
les to appear in different places at the
same time in SUFFICIENT numbers to vim
dictate their directories. An inStanta-
neous enumeration is not without its
disadvantages"
Washington's city post office had an
itinerant and vagrant career for many
years before 1t was finally
foStaI established in a home of its
Meade own. Fifty years ago pro-
A'eeUS' posal to give it such def
mite habitation was again before Con-
gress. The Star of January Is, 1879.
says:
THE communication of the PoStmaS-
ter General to the House of Representa-
tiveS yesterday supplementary to the
recommendation OF its annual report
that new quarters be provided for the
city post office should receive the early
consideration of Congress. The reasons
for change by which all the branches
of the Post Office Department shall be
brought under the same roof and need
ed relief be given to some of the rooms,
now overcroWded, are as evident as the
necessity for more commodiouS and
more convenient quarters for our post
Office. In time We may expect that one
of the unoccupied spaces that are found
even in prominent and central Iocali-
ties in Washington would be adorned
with a handsome, permanent building
for this purpose, which will be credit
able to the city. To relieve the pressing
necessity of the present the committee
appointed by the Postmaster General
suggests method commended by its in
expensiveneSS and the rapidity with
which 1t can be made available. The
people of the United States. as the con-
stituency of the Post Office Department,
should desire that obstacles to its eff
fective working be removed. The people
of Washington will certainly. take a
similar interest in our local postal IA
cllitieS,"
49,
While for many years following it's
purchase by the United States Alaska
The Wealth ards folly its real
of Alaska value was beginning to
VI 0A"'N"' be realized fifty years
ago. The Star Of January Is, 1879,
says:
THE special Government commits
Sioner to make an examination of
AlaAka has been interviewed at San
Francisco on his return from that Ter
ritory and is evidently of the opinion
that Alaska will turn out to be a good
investment. He looks for one of the
greatest mining excitementS of the age
at no very distant day all along the
coast islands. The unHayorable diSpo-
sition of the native tribes. which makes
unsafe the life of any man exploring
Alaska, has prevented prospecting in
the interior. But enough Is known to
convince every one that the whole region
is rich in gold. 1t is thought that by
maintaining q strict patrol by gunboat,
by enacting and enforcing laws for the
protection Of life and property and by
teaching the interior tribes that the
white man must be permitted to pass to
and fro unmoleSted this comparatively
unknown country will have a future of
unexampled prosperity and discoveries
will be made which will astonish the
whole civilized world. Besides its min
eral resources the timber of Alaska is
said to be valuable and inexhaustible,
and the fisheries, though In their in
fancy, already yield enormously. Seven
thousand salmon have been caught at
single haul of the seine. When Alaska
comes, as 1t Is thought 1t will, to supply
the world with fish. we may look for
fishery squabbleS with Russia on the
Pacific as with England on the Atlantic
side"