Newspaper Page Text
MAG.\ZIXE SECTION.
MRS. SANTA CLAUS.
UNCLE SAM’S DEAD LETTER EX
PERT GUIDES STRAY CHRIST
MAS GREETINGS.
Sends out Many Presents to Children
-Has a Remarkable Memory and
•Kno vlodge.and Dec. puers the most
Puzzling Addresses.
Tucked away in a little corner of
the Postoffice Department at Washing
ton behind a desk which has held a
thousand interesting stories sits a
charming white haired woman who is
known the length and breadth of the
land as “Mrs. Santa Claus.”
The woman to whom this suggestive
ly dear name has beep, given is Mrs.
MRS. “SANTA CLAUS”
T fkcti Lyle Collins, head of the “Open
ly and Unmailable Division” of the
. Department.
iSach holiday season brings to her
de3k thousands and thousands of
“Santa Claus” letters and were she of
tb <> ordinary type of clerk, thinking
o. / of the salary she draws twice a
r' lith, these letters might go into
Uncle Sam’s waste basket without so
much as a thought for the writers.
Not so with Mrs. Collin 3. Through
her generous heart, her love for chil
dren and, possibly, with a memory or
two of her own when she, too, believed
in the real existence of the children’s
patron saint, this lovable woman at
tends first to her duties of returning
the letters to their writers if this i 3
possible and then she plays "Mrs.
Santa Claus” to her army of little
friends.
Christmas Presents to the Children
When such a thing is possible Mrs.
'Collins finds out the addresses of these
children, sends them some little thing
they have asked for and gets her
friends interested in them until she
has now earned the title which came
to her so long ago’ merely through her
associations with this part of Uncle
Sam’s po3toffice.
This is rather the sentimental side
of Mrs. Collins’ work, but there is an
other and scientific phase of it which
has made her invaluable to the Gov
ernment. She is the official chiro
graphical expert of the Department
and through her efforts each year
ninety per cent, of mail matter bear
ing manifestly indecipherable ad
dresses finds its way to the person to
whom it is addressed.
Mrs. Collins is a linguist and a deep
student. Added to this she ha 3 stored
away in her brain a fund of general
tornSn/ja. so
j <no
/00 6 l \
*rr ) ,
wtm
knowledge which enables her to solve
problems which would puzzle a hun
dred other heads. Her knowledge of
streets in various cities of Europe led
to her compi.ation of a street directory
of its countries.
The value of Mrs. Collins’ work in
ferreting out addresses is all the more
notable when it is considered that each
postoffice in all the large cities has a
division especially set apart for de
ciphering illegible and otherwise puz
zling addresses. So after this has be<>n
done letters which are still unclaimed
are sent to the postoffice at Washing
ton.
Knows All Languages.
Mrs. Collins has made such a study
of this rather psychological work that
she knows just what section of the
country, even to the cities, in which
various nationaities have settled. She
can put her finge'r on the Japanese,
the Chinese, Greek 3, Spaniards, Italians
and all the rest of them.
Thft particular talent has enabled
Mrs Collins to decipher many a letter
which would have been otherwise un-
iHmtlnmnmj iftmutm*.
intelligible. Among the hundreds of
such which she received the other day
was one addressed to “Y gnac Lech,
Combryja Co, brot stryt no 903,
Szanony Pan."
How many, or rather how few, peo
ple would have known how to go about
locating this person. The letter was
postmarked Florence. Mrs. Collins’
own store of information told her that
the Cambria Iron Works of Johns
town, Pa., was employing a large num
ber of Italians and she sent the letter
on. Sure enough Mr. “Yanac Lech”
■was there and received the letter
which, without Mrs. Collins’ assist
ance would never have fallen into his
hands.
A facetious student at the University
of Virginia wrote to a young society
girl in Washington and addressed the
envelope entirely in Greek. It takes
greater obstacles than that to balk
Mrs. Collins and the young woman re
reived her letter as promptly as if
it had been addressed in the most
legible English hand. The list of such
letters is almost unlimited in length.
A Spaniard sent a letter to “Sr. Fer
nado Maya, Fuerte galen Colo” and it
was promptly forwarded to Mr. Maya
at “Fort Garland, Colorado.”
Mrs. Collins i 3 a charming woman
and occupies a tiny apartment in one
of Washington’s fashionable apartment
houses.
Senator Harris Balked.
Henry Clay Evans, late consul gen
eral at London, was once in Congress
33a btfs "Eixzt (Christmas.
Long, long ago the Wise Men, we are told. And now both young and old, with shining eyes
Laden with Myrrh and frankincense and gold. Gather to watch their Baby’s glad surprise.
Journeyed afar, and found the Chcphcrd’a fold His ecstasies, bis joy, hi i gleeful cries.
On the first Christmas Day. On his first Christmas day.
Oh Itahy, Bahy, may thy life he sweet;
May tiixl-sent angels guide thy little sact {
May every day to come he as complete
As thy first Christmaa day.
from Tennessee and knows all the emi
nent men of that State. He was tell
ing a good story the other night of Col.
Sandford and Major Saunders, prom
inent business men of the Knoxville re
•ion. They were once on a Pu.lman com
ing this way. It was hot and they sat in
pajamas far into the night. An old
man came in, lighted a cigar smokeu
and said nothing. They did not recog
nize him, and kept on talking about
the miserably poor representation, their
State had in Congress. "It is a pity,’
said one of them “that a State like
ours should have such poor worthless
men at Washington. Our senators are
no good, old Harris is played out and
Josiah Patterson is the only man in
the House that amounts to anything '
At this remark the stranger arose and
in a tone of thunder began to hurl
invective and abuse at the two men
“It is about time I was taking part in
this conversation," he yelled and went
on to tell a few warm things to the
astonished party of two. When he
had subsided a bit one of them asked
"But who are you to get so mad about
It?” “Who am I? Well, I am Jenator
Harris, ding you, and I have much
more to say to scoundrels like you.’
Both men were amazed and they has
tened to apologize. They all became
friendly, and the old man often told
the story on him sell
MOUNT VERNON. GEORGIA, THURSDAY. DECEMBER 21. 1908.
POLITICAL TAXATION.
LEGISLA TION LIKEL Y REQUIRING
PUBLICA TION OF ALL LARGE
CONTRIBUTIONS.
Such a Bill, Introduced Last Year,
was Looked upon as a Crank Meas
ure-Will be on a Different Basis
This Session.
Exposure of the practice of the
great life insurance companies and
other corporations, of making contri
butions to political campaign funds
and of devoting large amounts of
money to influence legislation will
bring before the next session of
congress the question of the passage
of a bul similar to that Introduced at
the last session by Representative
Dourke Coekran, of New York, and
familiarly known as the “Corrupt
Practice” bill. It may not be that
this bill will be taken up and given
the serious consideration which it
was denied at trie lust session, but
that a bill containing provisions of
the same general description as those
of the Coekran bill will be introduced
and pressed to a vote is a moral cer
tainty.
The Coekran bill provided that
every contribution of more than s.io
to a national campaign fund should
be reported to the cheek of the dis
trict court of the United States,
Criminal penalties were provided for
violations of the law.
Looked Upon as a Coekran Oddity.
The bill was treated with derision
laßt winter, both by the daily press
and by gentlemen of L.e i..iuse of
Representatives, the Senate and
Third House. It was worth a laugh,
people said. There was very little
corruption, they averred. The Idea
that corporations employed legisla
tive agents and disbursed huge sums
of money for or against certain bills
was moonshine dop'd out bv sensa
tionalists to gratify the morbid fancy
and the'appetite for scandal of a pe
culiar class of people.
The legislative Inquiry Into the af
fairs and conduct of the Equitable
Life and Mutual insurance companie s
at New York seems to have placed
the matter of campaign contributions
and legislative disbursements In
other than a humorous light. It mat
ters not whether the corporations
come forward voluntarily with their
contributions to o»-
whether they are solicited and bound
ed tiv campaign collector* until they
contribute—the result is tbe same.
Vice-president Gillette of the Mu
tual Life Insurance Company testi
fied that his company contributed
$P2,500 «f the policy holders’ msnsy
to the republican committees In the
last three presidential campaigns,
and John A. McCall, president of the
New York Life Insurant*. Company
admitted that he had contributed
$150,000 of the company’s funds to
the same committees. In fact the
big companies have frequently been
contributors to both political parties.
Ruble May Demand I cgislation.
There are two questions involved
in any fair consideration of these dis
closures. The first is the desirability
of corporations taking such an active
and influential part in political cam
paigns and the second Is the moral
ity of corporation officers making
contributions on tlielr own Initiative
out of funds that are really trust
funds.
Os course a law can be made pro
hibiting campaign contributions by
Insurance companies or other corpo
rations. Tills may correct tbe abuse
or it may not. Laws are not always
obeyed or enforced. There, for exam
ple are the laws of Moses. The world
has been violating them for thou
sands of years. It might be consid
ered fair if the directors of every in
surance company, savings bank, trust
company or other corporation hand
ling the people's money, would adopt
a rule forbidding absolutely all such
contributions ami holding every offi
cer financially and morally respon
sible for its observance. Second, po
litical candidates and coinmltt-'''s
could announce that they would
neither solicit nor receive contribu
tions.
Public sentiment is rapidly crystal^
lzing Into tbe conviction that corpo
rate contributions should either be
made impossible or else required to
be made in such public fashion that
they would be robbed of their bane
s ill effect. ~
Foote’s Farrago.
Foote, the comedian, when a young
person of either sex applied for a po
sition, seldom refused outright, but
gravely handed them the following
lines, and asked them to commit and
repeat them to him correctly in ten
minutes. If repeated with no error,
he promptly took them for trial.
That there could be no collusion
with those who applied later, he fro
quently changed the order of the lines
and the proper names:
fio she went Into the garden to cut a
cabbage leaf to make an apple pie and
at that time a great ahe-bear c °™‘ n *L up
I the utreet poos It* head Into the shop.
What, no soap? Ho he died and «he ver,
Imoudently married the barber: and there
w*re present th® and the J J
Idles and the Garyulles and the great
Panjandrum himself with the little i round
button at the too, and they fell to play
ing the garre of “c-tch catch can,
t lT the gunpowder ran out thi neelH or
their boots.
The popularity of "Trilby” for a
rim* exceeded that of aov novel pule
llsbed with tbe possible excepttoa of
“Uncle Tout’s Cabin."
NEW PONTOON BRIDGES,
Collapsible Boats of Canvas Which
can e Carried by One Man.
The soldiers of tho United States En
gineers’ Corps seem to have solved one
of tbe greatest problems which has
confronted generals in command of an
army when on the march. Small un
fordablo streams are often encountered
by the army and these must bo crossed
In the shortest time possible. In fact
large rivers often confront an army
when about to gi\o battlo to tho enemy,
and it would take weeks, If not months,
to construct even temporary bridges
to allow the men with their heavy
armaments to cross. The pontoon
boat, of course, is well known to every
reader of history, for this most useful
TUB PRESIDENT'S TURKEY
auxiliary came into great use during
the war of tho Rebellion. The pon
toon train, however, is a very cum
bersome affair when the ordinary flat
bottom boat with the necessary tim
bers and accessories are packed on to
what is known as the “pontoon train."
The German army recently adopted a
sort of sectional pontoon boat which
allowed of greater mobility to tho
train.
However, the soldiers of the United
States Engineer Battalion have been
drilling in the use of pontoon boats
made of heavy canvass stretched over
a wooden frame. These boats are wa
ter-tlght and when assembled are cap
r ble or supporting six or more men
A boat may be ta en apart and packed
Into a small bundle light enough to be
carried by one man. Upon arrival at
a small stream nil that Is necessary Is
for each man to unstrap his bundle
quickly put the boat Into shape, and
launch It Into the water. The wagons
which must necessarily carry the tim
bering and flooring of thq bridge to
be, can be sent forward with a much
smaller guard than is neeessary when
the cumbersome pontoon train wagons
each carrying a boat or section, are In
motion.
One Good Use Tor Millionaires.
Regret has been often expressed re
garding the threatened extinction of
many species of wild animals.
Os late, however, some of the world's
millionaires have begun to devote their
attention to the task of preserving
them, and numbers of wealthy men
have ■ established or endowed parks
and private zoological gardens, in
which buffaloes, antelopes, giraffes,
gnus, and other dwindling species are
carefully cherished. In some cases
herds of bison are kept, after the sash
lon of deer, on the estates of great
landowners.
Nor are Kuropo and Asia behind
hand. Large preserves of big game
are to bo found In France and Ger
many, and In England the Duke of
Bedford has made a wonderful collec
tion of wild animals at Woburn Park.
It comprises many rare animals, in
eluding waterbuck, gnus, sable ante
lopes, and some almost extinct species
of deer.
Strong on Detuils.
“ 'Rastus, where’s that rake?”
“De rake’s wld de hoe, Marster.
“Well, then, where’s the hoe?”
“Marster, de hoe’s wid de rake."
“Well, 'Rastus, confound It, where
are they both?”
"Dey’s boss togedder, Marster. ’Pears
like youse pow’ful tickler ’bout details
dis rnawnin’. You leave de regulatin
of all dat to me, Marster. and I’ll look
out fo’ yo' Interests.”
Time to Move.
Oh that I were where I would be.
Then would I be where I am not.
For where I am, I would not be,
And where I could bs, I aannoL
WHITE HOUSE XMAS DIMMER.
THE ROOSEVELT IA MIL Y CELE
BRATES IS THE GOOD OLD -
FASHIONED WAY.
Always Have Huge Rhode Island Tur
key Which Is not Spoiled by French
Cooks. President Himself Does
the Carving.
Old fashioned cooks and old fash
ioned cookery hold the fort in the
White House kitchen at Christmas
tide. When the President and Mrs.
Roosevelt give one of their great state
dinners to eighty or one hundred
guests, they usually entrust all the
preparations to professional caterers,
hut when It comes to the dinner which
is pre-eminently the home meal of the
year tho French chefs have to give
way to women who know just how to
prepare tho generous wholesome
dishes that an American citizen looks
forward to finding on his dinner table
on the Joyous holiday. President
Roosevelt also shows a fondness for
carving tho turkey himself.
A good old fashioned Christmas din
ner, moreover, with all the essentials
from turkey to plum pudding Is a reg
ular Institution at tho White House
during tho present administration.
Perhaps President Roosevelt, with
his assertive good health and his fam
ily of lively young folks, are particu
ly well qualified to appreciate a rous
ing yule-tide feast, but whatever ha
the reason certain It Is that during the
Roosevelt regime the Christmas re
past has become one of the most Im
portant as well as one of the jolliest
meals of tho year.
To Be Family Reunion.
President Roosevelt and his family
follow the general policy of all pre
vious occupants of the White House In
observing Christinas as a family fes
tival. This year it will have especial
significance as a reunion, since of late
months the Junior members of the
Roosevelt household have been scat
tered as never before, by reason of
their attendance at different schools
and colleges. The Roosevelt Christ
mas, while a family affair. Is by no
means confined to the Immediate
household. The Roosevelt children
have long been allowed to entertain
their numerous cousins on Christmas
and other relatives are likewise In at
tendance, while the President and
Mrs. Roosevelt usually ask a few per
sonal friends to also Join the party.
Christmas dinner at the White
House is served In the evening and the
President arouses an appetite for It by
(Continued on next page.)
Do You Use
gj Acetylene?
We Want to Send You
Ul A SAMPH BURNER
'We behave wo have th« very best and the
r-heafl. A-?of Acetylene I timer*. Our sample
will grow better than we can explain here why
.t would pay you to use our burner*.
Write us to-day, mention kind of Gene
rator u-ed, eDcbae 8 cents In stamps to cover
,/Ootage, and we wi l a* nd you
A Sample liurner
W. 1.1. CRANE COMPANY
1131-33 BROADWAY
|8 New York, N. X.
|
PART TWO.