DIETETICS
This subject of the relative value of foods is one that interests every individual. The Department of Agriculture is making a brave effort to secure a law regulating interstate and international commerce, requiring that all foods sent from one state to another, or to foreign countries, shall be labeled for just what they are, and shall conform to the government standard in excellence.
For instance, renovated or "process" butter is now passing its ordeal. "Process" butter means that a large quantity of butter has been sent to a factory or elsewhere, and there worked together and colored to secure uniformity of appearance, and then placed on the market. The government requires that it shall be properly labeled. It is of less nutritive value than either oleomargarine or butterine. A government leaflet gives householders and merchants full directions for discovering the real value of anything called butter. Every farmer should secure a copy of the Agricultural Year-book.
I remember once, a number of years ago, at a table in London, discussing with some merchants from South America the subject of buying their goods in the United States instead of England.
One man from British Guiana said: "It is impossible to deal with the United States; they have no food-test laws, and we buy one thing and get another. Then take machinery and implements. The first three or four purchases will be all right, after which they put off on us shelf-worn goods which they could not sell at home."
When the government can put an official stamp on each article exported it will be good for the permanence of our export trade.
No such general law now exists, and the best our government can do is to certify that the goods comply with the standard of the country to which they are to be sent. It is believed that many of the preservatives used with food products are harmless to the human body, and a scientific test of this was conducted in December, 1902. The Agricultural Department called upon the young scientists of the colleges and universities to assist in settling this question. A picked body of students were supplied with the purest food to bring them to perfect condition, and soups, meats, vegetables, jellies, etc., containing preservatives claimed to be harmless will be given them, and as soon as a touch of dyspepsia is manifest the test will be dropped. It was doubtful whether football and baseball managers, not to mention such insignificant factors as professors and mothers, would consent that their favorites should be submitted to such experiments. But scientists are earnest seekers for truth, and enough subjects were readily found to make the trial.
It is not so much the making of impure foods that is objected to as it is an effort to provide that goods shall be labeled for what they are—that is, a can labeled raspberry jam shall not consist of gelatine with a few raspberry seeds and juice used for coloring, but shall be the real thing.
In recent testimony before Congress a case of this kind was brought out. A certain firm made jelly from the refuse of apples—that is, rotten and wilted apples, peelings and cores, stuff which when made cost the firm one and a half cents a pound—and this they sold as apple and currant jelly, selling hundreds of buckets. The government forced the firm to label the buckets correctly, and the sale became insignificant. Now, the poor need cheap foods, but it is not fair that they should have to pay more than a thing is worth; besides, such frauds interfere with the industry of the farmer's wife who sells pure jelly.
The government now sends agents into every city, who buy from the shelves of grocers just what they offer for sale. The grocer, of course, does not recognize the government agent. The stuff is then sent to the laboratory, and the grocer and manufacturer notified as to results. The latter is told that his formula will be published, and before that is done he will be permitted to offer any statement that he may think advisable.
We are apt to think the "embalmed" meat agitation during the Spanish war will injure the trade of the country more than the war itself, but that agitation was right if it saved the health of even one soldier, and, above all, if it secures society in the future against deleterious canned meats.
It is well known, tho not approved by the government, that there are several canneries in the West where horse-flesh only is used. The government watches them closely and forces them to label the goods for just what they are. These goods are sent to such foreign countries as do not object to the use of horse-flesh.
Most States have stringent food laws, but so much food is sent from the State in which it is produced to another that State laws become inoperative.
The government finds glucose (not in itself harmful) to be the basis of many frauds. Colored and flavored it is sold as honey, and it is the foundation of very many jams. Cocoas and chocolates are made from wheat, corn, rice, potatoes; pepper, cinnamon, allspice, nutmegs, and mustards are made from almost every cereal. Pure vinegar is rare. Almost any kind of wine can be drawn from the same spigot, colored and flavored to suit the requirements of the wine desired.
Sometimes in foreign lands I have thought that London particularly needs a commission on pure coffee. I think I shall know the taste of chicory as long as I live from experiences in that city.
Most foreign countries make stringent food laws chiefly on liquors and butter. Germany draws close lines on meat, including all forms of sausage, with some restrictions on butter, wine, coloring on toys, and coloring matter generally.
Every European country has stringent laws on the composition of beer. I wonder how long American beer which rots the shoes of the bartender, and brings paralysis to his right hand, would be tolerated in Germany or Britain? At the Buffalo Exposition, in the government display, was one sample of "peach brandy," the formula of which was forty gallons of proof spirits, one-half pound of an essence, one quart of sugar syrup, and a sufficient amount of coloring matter. The "bead oil" on the same shelf, it was claimed, was a solution of soap intended to produce a "bead" on liquors, and thereby give the appearance of age.
Could anything better prove the need of a government standard than the above, or the further facts that one man is now in the penitentiary for fraudulent use of the United States mail in advertising ground soapstone as a flour adulterant, and that fifteen cheaper oils are now used to adulterate pure olive oil?
If I were a young college woman I would go in for chemistry, and make myself a food specialist for grocers, exporters, and importers. I would make my home in some large institution where the food question as to what nutriments the body needs, and what will produce best results at the least cost, could be tested scientifically. I would take the cook and her helpers into a loving partnership to improve the dietetics of the establishment, and yet reduce expenses. There is a new business now ready for earnest college women.
XX
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
The Department of the Interior was created by act of Congress in 1849. When the names of its subdivisions are enumerated, it will readily be seen that no adequate description of it can be given in one or two chapters.
It comprises the Patent Office, the Pension Office, General Land Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Education, Commissioner of Railroads, and the Office of the Geological Survey. Each office is managed by a commissioner or director, who has under him a large force of officials and clerks.
In the chief building of the Department of the Interior, fronting on F Street, and extending from Seventh to Ninth, and from F to G Streets, may be found the Patent Office of the United States. No other department so well reveals the inventive genius of the most inventive people on earth.
Once at a table in Paris a Frenchman said to me: "The Americans are inventors because they are lazy."
"Well," I said, "I have heard many surprising charges against my countrymen, but that excels all. How do you make that out?"
"Well, I am a manufacturer. I set an American boy to keep a door open; before half an hour he has invented a machine which will open and shut it, and I find my boy playing marbles."
Photo by Clinedinst
THE PATENT OFFICE
"Sensible boy! Yes, with that view of it, maybe we are; we certainly do not care to do by hand that which a machine can better perform."
The Patent Office is one of the few departments which is more than self-supporting. In the year 1836 but one patent was taken out; during the year ending December 31, 1901, the total number of applications was 46,449. The total receipts for the year were $6,626,856.71; total expenditures, $1,297,385.64—leaving a balance far over five million dollars in favor of the government.
There are divisions for different classes of inventions. When a patent is applied for, examiners make all necessary investigations, and carefully look into the invention claimed to be new, comparing it, part by part, with patents already existing before determining whether a patent can be granted. They have a library with plates and descriptions of about everything under the sun. From this library inventors can have books and plates sent them in order to compare their work with inventions now existing.
The Secretary of the Interior is a member of the President's Cabinet, and receives $12,000 per year. He has charge of the Capitol (through the architect), the Insane Asylum, and the College for Mutes—indeed, it would seem that his work is sufficient for ten Secretaries.
There is an Assistant Secretary of the Interior, who receives $4,000 per annum, and commissioners of different divisions and bureaus who receive from $3,000 to $6,000 annually.
Many officers of this department could command higher salaries in the commercial world, but these positions secure honor and respect not only for the man himself but also for his descendants, hence these commissionerships are very desirable. For that reason men give up a legal practise or a railroad position, bringing salaries eight or ten times as large.
The present Secretary, Ethan Allen Hitchcock,[[4]] of Missouri, great-grandson of Ethan Allen, of Vermont, has a wide experience in manufacturing, railroad, and mining interests, and has served as Ambassador to Russia. He was called to his present place in 1898.
[4]. Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Secretary of the Interior under Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt, died April 9, 1909, age seventy-four.
The Secretary in his report for 1901 entreats that at least twenty more persons of fine mechanical ability be appointed as examiners, as his force is much behind in their work, altho many labor far over allotted time.
The Bureau of Education, established in 1867, is probably as little known to the general public as any branch of the government. It is a clearing-house.
The Commissioner of Education, Hon. William T. Harris,[[5]] is one of the great educators of the world. It is probable if the teachers of the United States could have a personal vote, their unanimous choice would fall upon Dr. Harris as their Commissioner. The offices of the Bureau of Education are in a brick building at the corner of G and Eighth Streets.
[5]. In July, 1906, Commissioner Harris retired on a Carnegie pension and Prof. Elmer Ellsworth Brown, of California, became Commissioner of Education.
The Commissioner has about forty assistants, who are confined to about twenty-eight rooms. This office collects, tabulates, and reports on all schools in the United States. Any one who desires to compare the curriculums of different institutions consults the Commissioner's report. Or should one desire to know what is being done in Europe, or any other part of the world, along the line of art in schools, or manual or industrial training, or the advanced education for women, all such inquiries can be answered by reference to the Commissioner's report.
This bureau is held in high estimation in Europe. Many of the South American republics and some Asiatic countries are trying, through the reports of Dr. Harris, to model their school systems after that of the United States.
Miss Frances G. French has charge of the foreign correspondence, and tabulates statistics and reports on thirty-two foreign countries.
The school work presented by the Department of Education at Paris in 1900 secured favorable commendation from the best educators of Europe. Only three commissioners have preceded Dr. Harris: Hon. Henry Barnard, 1867-1870; Hon. John Eaton, 1870-1886; Hon. N. H. R. Dawson, 1886-1889. The latter was a brother-in-law of Abraham Lincoln. Dr. Harris was appointed by President Harrison, September, 1889. The best work of the Bureau of Education lies in bringing about homogeneity in the work of education throughout the United States. Without the tabulated work of the Superintendents of States, how would the Superintendent of, say, one of the Dakotas, know whether the work of the public schools of his State corresponds with the work done in New York or Pennsylvania? Yet the boy educated in Dakota may have to do his life-work in Pennsylvania. Then the Commissioner's report keeps us informed what the State, Nation, or Church is doing for the education of the colored race, the Indian, or the people of our new possessions.
A short extract from the Commissioner's report of 1899 will give an idea of the tabulated work for women:
The barriers to woman's higher education seem effectually removed, and to-day eight-tenths of the colleges, universities, and professional schools of the United States are open to women students. As is stated by ex-President Alice Freeman Palmer, of Wellesley College, "30,000 girls have graduated from colleges, while 40,000 more are preparing to graduate." The obtaining of a collegiate education gives the women more ambition to enter a profession, or, if they decide to marry, it is stated that—
The advanced education they have received has added to their natural endowments wisdom, strength, patience, balance, and self-control ... and in addition to a wise discharge of their domestic duties, their homes have become centers of scientific or literary study or of philanthropy in the communities where they live.
It is stated that the advancement of women in professional life is less rapid than in literature. The training of women for medical practise was long opposed by medical schools and men physicians. Equally tedious was the effort to obtain legal instruction and admission to the legal profession, and even to-day the admission to theological schools and the ministry is seriously contested; yet all these professions are gradually being opened to women. In 1896-97 there were in the United States 1,583 women pursuing medical studies to 1,471 in 1895-96; in dentistry, 150 women in 1896-97 to 143 in 1895-96; in pharmacy, 131 in 1896-97 to 140 in 1895-96. In law courses of professional schools were 131 women in 1896-97 to 77 in 1895-96; in theological courses 193 women in 1896-97.
The only aggressive work done by this bureau is in Alaska, and of this Dr. Sheldon Jackson[[6]] is agent or superintendent. Besides doing a great work in education, this department has brought about 1,300 deer from Siberia to take the place of dogs, mules, and horses in transportation, and at the same time to give milk, butter, cheese, and meat to the population. The reindeer are self-supporting, living on the moss which grows abundantly.
[6]. Dr. Sheldon Jackson died May 2, 1909.
These animals are loaned to individuals or missions, and at the end of five years the government requires an equivalent number to be returned. The Eskimo, the Lapp, and the Finn become expert in handling these herds, now numbering many thousands. By them mails are carried, and whalers, sealers, miners, and soldiers rescued from starvation, danger, or death.
The education as well as religious training of Alaska is up to this time conducted through the mission stations, all of which are visited, encouraged, and assisted by Dr. Jackson.
The Youth's Companion tersely states the present condition of things:
When the churches first planned to send missionaries and teachers into Alaska, representatives of the several denominations met and divided the territory among them. Should the traveler ask the ordinary Alaskan miner what is the result of effort, he would probably be answered that there has been no result. The miner, in the words of Dr. Sheldon Jackson, is unconscious that the very fact of his presence there at all is the direct outcome of Christian missions. In 1877 Sitka and St. Michaels were armed trading-posts, out of which the soldiers shut the natives every night, that the inhabitants might rest in safety. For ten years not a single whaler dared to stay overnight at Cape Prince of Wales, so savage was the native population. Now, in all those ports, the miner and whaler and traveler can dwell in safety, because of the civilizing work of the missionaries. Probably ten thousand natives have been brought under Christian influences, and many public as well as mission schools have been opened.
Among the Moravian missions of the Yukon Valley few of the natives can read or write. At bedtime a bell rings, and the entire population goes to the churches. A chapter in the Bible is read, a prayer offered, a hymn sung; and the men, women, and children return to their homes and go to bed. Where in the United States can be found a better record?
In introducing religion with the arts, sciences, and conveniences of civilization, Dr. Jackson's work reminds one of the words of Whittier:
I hear the mattock in the mine,
The ax stroke in the dell,
The clamor of the Indian lodge,
And now the chapel bell.
I hear the tread of pioneers,
Of nations yet to be,
The first low wash of waves where soon
Shall roll a human sea.
XXI
BRANCHES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE
INTERIOR
The Gallaudet College for the Deaf is situated in Northeast Washington, at Kendall Green. It is surrounded by about one hundred acres of ground. Until within a year it has been known as the Columbian Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, but the Board of Directors, at the request of the alumni, wisely changed it to Gallaudet College, in honor and memory of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, founder of deaf-mute education in America. The honor is also deserved by the Hon. Edward M. Gallaudet, LL.D., its president at the time. He is probably the greatest teacher of mutes now living. He is certainly the most distinguished one. It is the only real college for this unfortunate class in the world. All the other schools for mutes in this country only prepare them to enter this institution. The college embraces, in a four years' course, languages, mathematics, natural science, history, philosophy, and political science—about the usual classical course in any college.
They are instructed by what is known as the combined method—that is, both the oral and sign methods are used.
Mutes among themselves greatly prefer signs. All mutes can not learn the oral method, and I know by experience among mutes that the talking which they learn is not very satisfactory. Their voices are too loud or too low; in some of them the sound of the voice is most distressing, not having the ear by which to regulate it.
I met one woman in Washington stone-deaf who could talk as well as any one, and I had met her three times before I knew she was deficient in any sense. Then she took me by the shoulders and turned me toward the window, saying: "I do believe you are talking. You know I can not hear thunder, so I must see your lips."
The director for the school of mutes in Japan made a lengthy visit to Washington to study the methods of the college instruction, and several countries of Europe have sent delegates to examine its workings. Dr. Gallaudet has visited every great school for mutes in Europe—not once, but several times—so that he brings to his great work not only his own skill, knowledge, and experience, but also the results of his observations in many lands.
Congress appropriates about $50,000 per year for the support of this college. Here the mutes from the District of Columbia and of the Army and Navy, besides sixty indigent students from different parts of the country, without charge for board, receive a college training. Beside these there are many who pay full tuition. The annual attendance is between one and two hundred. About six hundred young men and women have been graduated, showing that deafness does not interfere with the highest mental culture.
The following extract from the report of 1893 will give an idea of the beneficent work of this government institution. The report says:
Fifty-seven who have gone out from the college have been engaged in teaching; four have entered the Christian ministry; three have become editors and publishers of newspapers; three others have taken positions connected with journalism; fifteen have entered the civil service of the government—one of these, who had risen rapidly to a high and responsible position, resigned to enter upon the practise of law in patent cases in Cincinnati and Chicago, and has been admitted to practise in the Supreme Court of the United States; one is the official botanist of a State, who has correspondents in several countries of Europe who have repeatedly purchased his collections, and he has written papers upon seed tests and related subjects which have been published and circulated by the Agricultural Department; one, while filling a position as instructor in a Western institution, has rendered important service to the Coast Survey as a microscopist, and one is engaged as an engraver in the chief office of the Survey. Of three who became draftsmen in architects' offices, one is in successful practise as an architect on his own account, which is also true of another, who completed his preparation by a course of study in Europe; one has been repeatedly elected recorder of deeds in a Southern city, and two others are recorders' clerks in the West; one was elected and still sits as a city councilman; another has been elected city treasurer and is at present cashier of a national bank; one has become eminent as a practical chemist and assayer; two are members of the faculty of the college, and two others are rendering valuable service as instructors therein; some have gone into mercantile and other offices; some have undertaken business on their own account, while not a few have chosen agricultural and mechanical pursuits, in which the advantages of thorough mental training will give them a superiority over those not so well educated. Of those alluded to as having engaged in teaching, one has been the principal of a flourishing institution in Pennsylvania; one is now in his second year as principal of the Ohio institution; one has been at the head of a day-school in Cincinnati, and later of the Colorado institution; a third has had charge of the Oregon institution; a fourth is at the head of a day-school in St. Louis; three others have respectively founded and are now at the head of schools in New Mexico, North Dakota, and Evansville, Ind., and others have done pioneer work in establishing schools in Florida and in Utah.
In Dr. Gallaudet's travels he was met in every country by the educated mutes, and by his sign language could converse with them, showing that the world has at least one universal language. Every honor that grateful hearts could shower upon a devoted friend and philanthropist was shown the doctor in his travels in Europe. He deserves them all.
The Smithsonian Institution is situated on a fifty-two acre reservation between the Capitol and the Potomac River. The main building is near the center of the grounds opposite Tenth Street, West. It is built of a fine light purplish gray freestone which is soft when it comes from the quarry, but becomes almost like granite on long exposure to the air. It constitutes the great National Museum, in animal, vegetable, geological, and even social life. Relics of almost every administration, particularly from Washington's to Jackson's time, are preserved here.
James Smithson was the natural son of Sir Hugh Smithson, first Duke of Northumberland. James Smithson took a degree in Oxford in 1786. He died in Genoa, June, 1829. He desired to found in the United States, a land he never saw, an institution which should live in the memory of men when the titles of his ancestors, the Northumberlands and the Percys, were extinct and forgotten.
The institution is for the increase of knowledge among men. It assists scientific men in original research, and it publishes the results, which are sent to leading libraries, and are also accessible to scientists throughout the land.
The bequest was for several years before Congress, but in 1846, when the funds had reached three-fourths of a million dollars, the Smithsonian Institution was founded.
Its translators turn all scientific works into English, so that Americans can have the benefit of them in their own language.
Miss Thora Steineger, a Norwegian lady, has charge of the classification of all animals received by the Smithsonian. Women's work in the scientific departments is gradually increasing, as colleges, like Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, and Bryn Mawr give more and more attention to science.
Here one can see the birds of all lands, animals of every clime, vegetation from every latitude. The idols of heathendom glare at passers-by; the quaint costumes of the Asiatics, the Eskimos of the extreme North, and the inhabitants of the islands of the sea are worn by wax figures so lifelike that one almost fears to make any comment in their presence.
The fruits of much of the learning of the world are under this roof, and every youth in our land should see its classic stores.
XXII
BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS
This bureau is located in a beautiful white marble building between Seventh and Eighth streets, facing the Patent Office. These two buildings are among the very best specimens of architecture in the capital.
Hon. Francis E. Leupp, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, receives a salary of $5,000; the Assistant Commissioner receives $3,000. They have about one hundred assistants in Washington, consisting of clerks, bookkeepers, stenographers, superintendents, architects, draftsmen, etc. Of persons connected with Indian affairs, on the field, including Indian agents, storekeepers, teachers, farmers, and artisans, fully 10,000 are paid government money. There are in the United States, exclusive of Alaska, 269,388 Indians under the government care. Of these, 184,881 are not included in the five great tribes. Over 98,000 of these Indians wear the dress of civilization, and over 46,000 can read and write. Of communicant church-members there are 30,935—not a very large proportion after two hundred years of instruction.
There are 59 agencies, and about 20,000 Indians outside of the agencies. The reservations are, generally speaking, the lands which white men considered they would never want, being the most barren, forlorn, hopeless spots in the state or territory in which they are located. Bad as they are, many of them are now coveted by the white man, who, under the plea of breaking up Indian tribal relations, will within a few years buy or appropriate the last acre.
There are now no nomadic tribes; the hunting-grounds are all taken, and the Indian must work, receive government rations, or die. The Indians receive over $200,000 in money, some by contract receive rations through removal, and all are assisted with agricultural implements, seeds, and breeding animals.
It was once my lot to see an Indian tribe forcibly removed from some place in the North to the Indian Territory. A more sorrowful sight can scarcely be imagined. My recollection is that they were the Nez Percés. They were large men with fine heads and faces. The women were worthy to be the mothers of warriors. As they camped for the night, the men gathered in small circular groups, sat Turkish fashion on the ground, and smoked their pipes in absolute silence. Sorrow, dejection, and despair were written all over them. The women pitched the tents and cooked the suppers, with the bent bodies and cast-down countenances of broken hearts.
A company of regular army men was their escort. I spoke to the officers. The captain said: "I hope my government will never again detail my company to do such work. It simply uses me up to see these broken-hearted people. Many have escaped, but I can not shoot them."
That they have been deeply wronged, no one doubts; that they are still in many cases victims of the white man's cupidity, is self-evident; but the government is trying to do the best now possible for them. It is not possible in a short time to correct the errors of a century, but when kind hearts and wise brains are acting in their behalf the future may be considered more hopeful.
It is gratifying to see that the present Commissioner urges that local schools shall do the work with the Indians, for even tho the Indian should learn less, his home ties will be maintained, and his knowledge, as it is acquired, will be applied in the home. Then the reconcentrado methods can be abolished.
Young Indians should be placed with farmers to learn farming, and paid as much as their work is worth. In the same way girls should learn housekeeping. Of all people the Indian is a social being. If placed on farms all the homes would center in one place. Our young white people can not stand the loneliness of the farm; how can we expect people who have had tribal relations to endure it?
The white man's trades and occupations only to the degree positively needed should be forced upon them; but their own bead-work, fancy baskets, queer pottery, and Navajo blankets should be greatly improved, and their artistic tastes in their own line cultivated. Let us make them see that we white people like their own characteristic work, and we will not need to turn their industry into new lines.
Miss Estelle Reel, Superintendent of Indian Schools, visits all the Indian schools, whether in civilization at Carlisle and Hampton or at the farthest reservation. She receives a salary of $3,000, with an allowance of $1,500 for traveling expenses. Stage-coach, buckboard, railroad, boat, and canoe are familiar servants in her work.
Photo by Clinedinst
THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS
Photo by Clinedinst
THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY
Looking from the Capitol
Photo by Clinedinst
GRAND STAIRWAY OF THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY
Photo by Clinedinst
THE ROTUNDA (READING-ROOM) OF THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY
Photo by Clinedinst
THE PENSION OFFICE
Photo by Clinedinst
THE STATE, WAR, AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS
Photo by Clinedinst
THE GERMAN EMBASSY
Photo by Clinedinst
THE BRITISH EMBASSY
Photo by Clinedinst
THE NEW FRENCH EMBASSY
Photo by Clinedinst
THE RUSSIAN EMBASSY
Every line of her splendid reports teems with heart-and-soul enthusiasm. She has just put out a book entitled, "Course of Study for the Indian Schools of the United States, Industrial and Literary." Besides the common school branches, it treats of the elements of agriculture, bakery, basketry, blacksmithing, carpentry, cooking, housekeeping, laundry, physiology, shoemaking, tailoring, upholstering, and, in fact, almost everything needed in daily living. Through it all runs a real practical teaching in morality—that good work is truth, bad work is untruth. Work in any one is the measure of character.
You remember President Roosevelt, in his New York speech concerning missions, spoke of the great underpaid army of faithful clergymen all over this land who, in obscure places, hold up the correct models of morality, who keep the ideals of the nation to honest, simple, earnest, true daily living. Much more is this true of the missionaries among the Indians.
I remember once visiting the Indian school at Albuquerque, New Mexico. Professor Bryan was then at the head of it. The school was partly supported by funds from the Presbyterian Church and partly by government money. At the table I was trying to find from each one his or her share in the great work they were doing. I asked each one, and each gave me a short, graphic account of his work. I sat at Professor Bryan's right hand; just opposite me sat a bright-faced German, looking the wisest person at the table. As I came to him I said, "And you, Professor?" "Madam, I am the cook." Whether my face flushed with surprise or not I do not know. No one smiled. After a somewhat embarrassing moment for me, he said: "Madam, since I was a little boy I have desired to be a missionary to the Indians. I received a good education, graduated at the Berlin University, took a course in theology at a seminary in Germany, then came here, where I found that my imperfect English was an insurmountable barrier to religious work among the Indians. We had no cook. Some of our best teachers were ill nearly all the time, so I became the cook, and I do it unto God, believing that every soul saved by these devoted workers, whose health I have improved, is part of my work. Do you approve?"
"Do I approve?" I said. "Why, every pot and kettle becomes a sanctified implement in your hand. The Master said: 'And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.'"
XXIII
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
The great necessity for a separate building for a Congressional Library was first urged by Mr. A. R. Spofford, in his Librarian's Report in 1872. An appropriation was made for the purchase of the ground in 1886. The site consists of ten acres of ground, facing the east front of the Capitol. The ground and the old buildings upon it cost $585,000, and the building itself, $6,032,124.34.
It is the handsomest, most convenient, and best lighted and ventilated library building in the world, and I believe it to be the handsomest building for public purposes in the world. The building is of the Italian Rennaissance order of architecture. It has three stories and a dome, and covers three and a half acres of ground. Its dimensions are 470 × 340 feet, and the height of the wall 69 feet.
The Library, or collection of books, was founded in 1800, Congress appropriating $5,000 for that purpose. When the Capitol building was fired by the British, this Library was nearly destroyed. It also suffered from fire in 1851.
The Library of Congress purchases rare books from all lands. Its chief source of supply is through the copyright law, which requires that two copies of every book copyrighted should be sent to the Library. It has acquired by gift or purchase the Library of Thomas Jefferson, of 6,700 volumes, for which $23,950 was paid, the Force Historical Collection in 1865, the Smithsonian Library in 1867, and the Toner Collection in 1882.
The Smithsonian division is largely composed of books on scientific subjects. The law library of over 92,000 books yet remains in the Capitol building.
The Force Library is a fine collection of books, manuscripts, and papers concerning the early history of America, especially of the Colonial times.
Every picture, photograph, piece of music, engraving, dramatic production, pamphlet, or brochure published in the United States can be found here in the copyright edition. The collection is the largest in the western hemisphere, comprising about 1,000,000 books and pamphlets. The Library has forty-five miles of shelving, which is more than twice its present requirements. There are in the book division 207 employees, and in the copyright-rooms 49. The caretakers number 116. The appropriations by Congress for service, and for the printing, binding, and purchasing of books, amount to not less than $1,000,000 annually.
Any one can read or study in the Library, but only Congressmen, members of the Supreme Court or their families, or the President's family, are permitted to take books from the building. No pen-and-ink work is allowed in the Library, for fear of stains.
In the basement, one room is set apart for the blind, where they may read for themselves, and almost every afternoon they have a concert, or some noted author reads from his own writings, or some distinguished speaker lectures before a most appreciative audience of blind people.
ONE OF THE BRONZE DOORS OF THE CONGRESSIONAL
LIBRARY
The present Librarian is Mr. Herbert Putnam, of Boston. The most interesting personality in the building is Mr. Ainsworth R. Spofford, who was the Librarian from 1864 to 1897.[[7]] He was appointed during Mr. Lincoln's administration. He is a walking encyclopedia.
[7]. Mr. Spofford died at Holdness, Mass., August 11, 1908.
I once asked him for the names of a few books on anthropology. He poured out such a stream of titles and authors that I was obliged to call for quarter. He then wrote me out a list of fifteen titles and authors, taking only a minute or two for the whole matter. He seems conversant with every subject. His memory concerning books is simply phenomenal.
In the Library is a perfect copy of Eliot's Indian Bible, published in Cambridge in 1661, the last copy of which brought $1,000. Here, too, may be found the works of Cotton and Increase Mather (1671 to 1735), and leading journals, all publications of our country from 1735 to 1800. Bound volumes of many of them can also be found here. The first edition of the Mormon Bible, published in 1830, and printed at Palmyra, New York; Archbishop Cramer's version of the Bible, 1553; Martin Luther's Bible; and the Catholic version of the New Testament, 1582, are among the rare volumes in the Library.
An extract from a copy of the Washington Post of 1897 well describes the official test of the device for sending books to and from the Capitol:
An official test of the device for transporting books between the Capitol and the new Congressional Library was made yesterday afternoon. Mr. John Russell Young, the Librarian; Chief Assistant Librarian Spofford, and Superintendent Bernard R. Green assembled in the small receiving-room, just off Statuary Hall, about 2 o'clock. Mr. Young had prepared for the test a list of books known only to himself until they were ordered from the Library.
The first volume sent for was William Winter's poems. Mr. Young gave out the name and Mr. Green wrote it on a slip of paper. This was placed in the pneumatic tube, which flashed it to Mr. David Hutcheson, who is in charge of the reading-room of the new Library. The book was ordered by Mr. Hutcheson from the shelf-clerk and sent to the desk in the center of the reading-room by the Library carrier. It was then taken to the big carrier in the basement and started on its journey to the Capitol. The time consumed from the moment of sending the order by pneumatic tube until the leather case containing the desired volume deposited its cargo before Mr. Young was exactly ten minutes.
Mr. Young then sent for a copy of "Faust" in German, Hugo's "Les Châtiments," and Hildreth's "History of the United States," vol. i., all on one order, and for the London Times of 1815, the year of the battle of Waterloo, on a separate order. The "Faust" and the history arrived in eight minutes and "Les Châtiments" on the next carrier. The order for the London Times was an extreme test, as the volume is so large that the carriers in the Library connecting with the shelves would not accommodate it, and a messenger had to be sent from the main desk to the top deck of the south stack, where the newspaper files are shelved. When the messenger returned he just missed the carrier, which had been sent off with one of the other volumes ordered, and he had to wait the four minutes consumed by the transit of the carriers before he could start the Times on its journey. It arrived at the Capitol just thirteen minutes after the order for it was sent.
The carrier consists of an endless cable, with two metal baskets at an equal distance from each other. These work on the cable, the power for which is furnished by the Library dynamo. The books are carried through the tunnel, and when they reach the wheels which change the direction, the speed is automatically slackened, so that the delivery is made gently and without the possibility of damage. Smaller books are first placed in a large sole-leather case. The carriers are taken through the tunnel at the rate of six hundred feet per minute. Should any trouble occur, the mechanism can be instantly stopped by an electric button, one at each end. The machinery of the carriers and its instalment was largely the work of Superintendent Green.
All who witnessed the test were surprised at the ease and swiftness with which the books could be sent for, taken from the shelves, and transported a distance of about a quarter of a mile. Librarian Young was very much gratified. He characterized the system as remarkable. The test also demonstrated that the arrangement of the books in their new quarters is perfect, as those sent for were selected at random and were readily picked out from the enormous collection by those in charge of the shelves.
In this labyrinth of beauty, known as the Library of Congress, I believe a man would see no fault. But women, except as allegorical characters, such as imaginary figures of history, science, pomology, art, etc., have no share in the scheme of ornamentation. But men of all ages, of all branches of art, science, commerce, and literature, are memorialized in painting, sculpture, writing, or suggestion of some kind, either concrete or abstract. It is true, Sappho (whom I suppose the artist thought was a man), grown dim in the long vista of years, is a lone woman among the world's élite. No George Eliot, nor George Sand, nor Harriet Hosmer, nor Rosa Bonheur, nor Mrs. Browning, nor Mrs. Stowe now stands near Holmes, Whittier, Longfellow, Byron, or Landseer. This omission is not like our gallant American men.
I remember once at a table in London some distinguished English women were complimenting the achievements of American women. I replied, "I have met the college women of almost every European country. I do not find American women in any way mentally superior to the women of Europe. But American women accomplish much more than their sisters east of the Atlantic simply because of our men. Now here in England your husband and brothers insist on silence, but with us if a woman sings or talks well it is the hand of her husband or father that leads her to the front, and it is the kindness of our men that starts us on our public life, helps us at hard places, and encourages us everywhere. No, it is not our women who are superior, it is our men, our gracious, helpful men."
Whatever women in the United States have accomplished beyond their sisters in foreign lands has been done because of the friendly, cordial, helpful encouragement of their husbands, brothers, and fathers; so in this Library the womanhood of the world is slighted in the house of her friends.
XXIV
THE PENSION OFFICE
The Pension building is situated on Judiciary Square, near G Street. It is the largest department building in Washington, being 400 feet from east to west and 200 from north to south, and 75 feet high.
The walls surround an interior courtyard, two galleries extend around this court, and from these galleries access is attained to the rooms on the second and third stories. The building cost half a million dollars; it is of mixed architecture, not beautiful in appearance, but the best lighted, heated, and ventilated department building in the city. It is sometimes called "the Meigs (name of architect) Barn," because its outline is not unlike a Pennsylvania red barn.
When the architect had finished escorting General Sheridan through the building, just after its completion, the former inquired enthusiastically, "Well, Sheridan, how do you like it?"
"I find only one fault," said the General, solemnly; "it is fireproof."
At the close of the year 1908 there were on the rolls 951,687 pensioners. During 1908 there were added 413,017, with a loss from death of 428,701, making a loss above all gains of 15,684.
The number of pensioners should grow less each year.
There remain on the rolls the names of no widows and but two daughters of Revolutionary soldiers. In the last report of the Commissioner of Pensions (1900) but one soldier of the War of 1812 survived. He was at that time (September 10, 1901) 101 years of age. Of the Mexican War, the names of 2,932 soldiers and 6,914 widows are still on the rolls; of the Indian wars (1832-1842), 1,820 survivors and 3,018 widows. The war with Spain left a legacy of 20,548 invalids, 1,145 widows, and 510 nurses, drawing pensions. Besides these there is the great army of Civil War pensioners.
If the government would, at least twice each year, publish in each county the names of persons receiving pensions, the amount paid, and the alleged cause of disability, it would bring the blush of shame to the face of many a liar who now draws a handsome sum from his government. The money is largely paid into the United States Treasury not by the rich of our country, but by the laboring class of men and women.
Patriotism which requires a lifelong stipend is of doubtful color.
Soldiers of the Spanish War at the time of their discharge were obliged to sign papers declaring any disability which existed. Then each soldier was examined by the surgeon and his company officers, and these again certified either to his perfect health or to his disability. It was found that the health of many had been greatly improved by exercise in the open air, free life, and plain diet.
Eleven years after the Civil War only six per cent. of the Union soldiers and sailors had applied for a pension; it was found only a little over three years had passed since the close of the one hundred days' war with Spain, yet more than twenty per cent. of the soldiers and sailors of that war had applied for pensions.
The great majority of those mustered out had declared over their own signatures, and that of the surgeon and commanding officer of the company to which they belonged, that they had no disability whatever. Yet thousands of these very men applied for pensions, and in their applications have set forth in minute detail the large number of disabilities acquired in the service. One man within forty-eight hours after his discharge as a sound man discovered ten physical ills, any one of which should suffice to secure the bounty of a generous government.
I submit the following extract from Commissioner Evans' last report:
A good object-lesson in this regard is furnished by the history of a volunteer regiment which was recognized as one of the "crack" regiments in service during the war with Spain. Its membership was notably a fine body of men, and its officers were men of experience and ability and skilled in military matters. Few regiments had as good a record for service as this one. It was at Camp Alger for a time, then at Camp Thomas, then at Tampa, Fla.; thence sailed for Santiago de Cuba, where it was placed in the trenches and did good service until it returned to Montauk. From there it was returned to the place of its enrolment, and at the expiration of a sixty days' furlough was mustered out of service.
This regiment had a membership of 53 commissioned officers and 937 enlisted men. There were no battle-field casualties, but 1 officer and 22 men died of disease while in the service. The published report of the medical officer on the muster out of this regiment shows that 1 per cent. of the men of the regiment were improved by military service; 5 per cent. were in as good physical condition as at time of enlistment; 24 per cent. were but slightly affected, and, as a rule, the troubles were not traceable to military service. Of the remainder (70 per cent.), or 528 men, the general condition was as follows:
| Irritable heart, due to fever | 365 |
| Mitral regurgitation | 4 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 214 |
| Acute bronchitis | 47 |
| Phthisis | 3 |
| Gastritis | 158 |
| Enlarged or congested liver | 116 |
| Enlarged spleen | 316 |
| Inflammatory condition of intestines | 53 |
| Irritability of bladder and incontinence of urine | 76 |
| Nephritis | 5 |
| Hemorrhoids | 11 |
| Varicocele | 61 |
| Inguinal hernia | 3 |
| Rheumatism | 26 |
| Myopia | 19 |
| Slight eye strains | 29 |
| Slight deafness, due to quinine | 17 |
| Chronic nasal catarrh | 9 |
| Sprain of back | 3 |
| Old dislocation, right shoulder | 1 |
| Gunshot wounds, left forearm | 2 |
| Badly set Colles fracture | 1 |
| Secondary syphilis | 2 |
| Suffering from pains in the muscles, especially the calves of the legs and lumbar region, loss of weight from 10 to 30 pounds, accompanied by more or less debility | 471 |
| Relapses of fever continuing to recur up to January 4, 1899 | 87 |
Up to June 30, 1901, 477 claims for pension have been filed in this bureau on account of service in said regiment for disabilities alleged to have been contracted during the brief term of its existence.
I am fully convinced that a small pension of $6 or $8 per month for alleged obscure disability, such as diarrhea, piles, rheumatism, impaired hearing, bronchitis, etc., is conferring a misfortune upon a young man—in fact, a lifelong misfortune—for the reason that it puts him to a decided disadvantage in the race for a livelihood always thereafter in the way of securing employment.
The fact that he is drawing a "disability" pension puts him on the list as disabled and unable to perform the amount of labor that is expected of a sound man, and it seems like misplaced generosity on the part of our government to thus place a handicap upon the young ex-soldier in his search for employment, as it is well known that a large percentage of the young men that served in the war with Spain depend upon manual labor for a livelihood.
Mr. Eugene F. Ware, the late Commissioner, issued the following table to show the difference between the regulars and volunteers of the Spanish-American War:
| REGIMENTS | Killed | Wounded | Missing | Claims filed for pensions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volunteers— | ||||
| 1st—District of Columbia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 472 |
| 9th—Massachusetts | 0 | 0 | 0 | 685 |
| 33d—Michigan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 573 |
| 34th Michigan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 615 |
| 8th Ohio | 0 | 0 | 0 | 652 |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,997 |
| Regulars— | ||||
| 6th U. S. Infantry | 17 | 106 | 17 | 162 |
| 7th U. S. Infantry | 23 | 93 | 0 | 249 |
| 13th U. S. Infantry | 18 | 90 | 0 | 87 |
| 16th U. S. Infantry | 13 | 107 | 17 | 143 |
| 24th U. S. Infantry | 12 | 75 | 6 | 123 |
| Total | 83 | 471 | 40 | 764 |
It is believed that this spectacle, which indicates lack of patriotism, is due to the solicitation of the pension agent, who received $20 for every pension secured. Now this condition of things is an outrage. The name of every man who receives a pension should be published. If he really deserves it, no other citizen will object; if not, he should be scorched by the community.
Is it any wonder that with such a raid upon the United States Treasury that the pension work is slow, and that many soldiers and widows of soldiers of the Civil War have not yet received their deserved pensions?
It seems to me the following extract from the report of the Commissioner of Pensions, in reference to illegalities connected with applications, may be of interest as showing the condition of affairs in 1902:
The 226 indictments tried, which resulted in convictions, were based upon the following charges:
| False claim | 64 |
| False certification | 26 |
| False affidavit | 16 |
| False personation | 5 |
| Perjury | 40 |
| Forgery | 18 |
| Illegal fee | 26 |
| Personating government officer | 21 |
| Retaining pension certificate | 2 |
| Prosecuting claims while a government officer | 4 |
| Conspiracy | 2 |
| Embezzlement | 1 |
| Attempted bribery | 1 |
It has been the uniform practise not to recommend prosecution in any case unless the criminal intent of the parties was clearly shown; and in the cases of soldiers and their dependents, to resolve every doubt in their favor, and not to recommend prosecution where it was apparent that they had been drawn into a violation of the law by others. As a result of this practise, the majority of the convictions secured were against attorneys, agents, sub-agents, magistrates, and others responsible for the preparation and filing of false and fraudulent claims and evidence, and those who falsely personated soldiers or soldiers' widows.
Eugene F. Ware succeeded Mr. Evans as Commissioner of Pensions early in 1902. Mr. Ware is a Kansas man, prominent both in the literature and politics of that State for the last twenty-five years. He has stirred up matters in the Pension Bureau by making even the humblest clerk feel that good work will meet with promotion, and that no influence can keep inefficiency in that responsible place. He has also announced that no one who habitually uses intoxicants can be entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the aged and indigent soldiers, forlorn widows, and helpless children. The consequence is some have been dismissed for drunkenness, others have resigned, others have quit their cups. Mr. Ware comes from a state where prohibition has made the jail a useless building except for storing the great surplus of corn. One of his poems says:
The horse-thief went, the cowboy joined the church,
The justice of the peace is laughed to scorn;
The constable has tumbled from his perch,
The school has left the sheriff in the lurch—
The jail is full of corn.
His poem on John Brown, the hero of freedom, satisfies. The first three verses read as follows:
States are not great except as men may make them;
Men are not great except they do and dare.
But states, like men, have destinies that take them
That bear them on, not knowing why or where.
The why repels the philosophic searcher,
The WHY and WHERE all questionings defy,
Until we find, far back in youthful nurture,
Prophetic facts that constitute the why.
All merit comes from braving the unequal,
All glory comes from daring to begin;
Fate loves the state that, reckless of the sequel,
Fights long and well, whether it lose or win.
Mr. Ware was Commissioner of Pensions from May 10, 1902, to January 1, 1905. Then, much to the regret of President Roosevelt, he resigned. Mr. Vespasian Warner, of Clinton, Ill., was appointed Commissioner January 16, 1905. Mr. Warner had an honorable record as member of Congress from 1895 to the time of his appointment as Commissioner. During the last four years fewer complaints have come from the Pension Office than in former years.
XXV
STATE, WAR, AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS
The State, War, and Navy departments are in one handsome four-storied granite building, with a frontage of 343 feet and a depth of 565 feet, situated on Pennsylvania Avenue, just west of the White House. The building is one of the handsomest in the city, being of the French Rennaissance, modified by American ideas. It has five hundred rooms and two miles of marble halls. In the west wing of the building the Secretary of War, Hon. Elihu Root, and General Miles, Commander of the Army, have handsome rooms for themselves and their many assistants. In the east wing can be found the Secretary of the Navy and rooms for the Admirals and their corps of helpers, and in the south wing the popular Secretary of State, the Hon. John Hay, with a comparatively small number of assistants.