Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 December 1900 — WASHINGTON GOSSIP [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WASHINGTON GOSSIP

Before the winter is over there is to be a systematic trial of the rural free delivery service covering large areas in different parts of the country. Nothing in the mechanism of the government has been so surprising as the successful application of the free delivery service to small farthing communities. The practice hitherto has been to take individual routes along certain well-defined roads, but now an effort is to be made to extend the service to whole counties. Hitherto the only complete county service has been in Maryland, where a special postal wagon or traveling postoffice has been operated in Carroll County. It is proposed now to inaugurate the regular rural delivery service without the use of any specially constructed vehicle in Washington County, Tenn.; Kent County, Delaware; Fairfield County, Connecticut; Niagara County, N. Y.; Washington County, Pa„ and Keokuk County, lowaT These differeut counties have been s.eleeted with special reference to varying conditions which obtain all over the United States, and when the service is satisfactory in these isolated towns it can readily he extended. It is believed that by a year from now'the experiment will have proceeded so far as to allow of an attempt to deliver the mail everywhere in the United States where the population per mile will at all justify it. • The official returns of the late presidential election are beginning to come in. The electoral vote of Ohio was the first to arrive, and then Alabama and Miss“ sippi. Those are the only States heard from, but it is expected that the remainder will come with a rush within the next few weeks. One set is sent by mail, and a duplicate by messenger, the former going to the Secretary of State and the latter to the Vice-President. The count will take place in the presence of both houses of Congress at 1 o’clock on the second Wednesday in February in the .hall of representatives. It is a singular fact that there is no provision of law for notifying the President and Vicepresident of their election, but if they do not hear of it it is their own fault. It is a singular fact that the only bloodthirsty communications received at the White House and the Department of State on the Chinese question come from ministers of the gospel, especially from missionaries. Forgetting the gentler teachings of Christ, they insist upon the application of the old Mosaic Taw iu the punishment of the Chinese—an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth—an I the utter destruction of the cities in which the wickedness has been committed. They demand the lives of the Emperor and Empress downger, and all the members of the court and the wholesale slaughter of the 3 offlcials of the government. Many of them demand that Pekin shall be burned to the ground and the site sown with salt.

The Fostoffice Department has decided upon six special stamps for the benefit of the Pan-American exposition at Buffalo. The 1-cent stamp, of green color, will have a picture of a lake steamer to represent the great transportation industry of the inland seas in which Buffalo is so much interested. The 2-cent stamp, printed in red, will have a railway train; the 4-cent stamp, ip red-brown, an automobile; the 5-eeut stamp, in blue, a picture of the new bridge at Niagara Fallen the 8-cent stamp, in litac, a picture of the lock at Sault Ste. Marie, and the 10cent stamp, of light brown, an -ocean steamer. The census bureau issued a bulletin giving the results of the enumeration of the domestic animals in inclosures, but not on farms or ranges. Of 1,878,207 barns or inclosures reporting domestic animals, which was substantially onethird of the total number of farms in the United States, 784,500 contained 1,466,970 neat cattle, 1,355,630 inclosures reporting horses aggregating 2,833,877, and the aggregate of other animals reported follows: Mules, 102,115; nsses, 12,870; sheep, 150,470; swine, 1,592,901, and goats, 47,052. Secretary Wilson believes that it is possible to raisfe the same crops in Alaska that are raised in Finland, where the natural conditions ate similar and a population of 2,500,000 people is supported by agricultural industries. He has reached this conclusion after three years of exploration and experiment by competent agents. While the area susceptible of cultivation in Alaskn is very small compared with the vast extent of that territory, the agricultural possibilities are no longer a matter of doubt, and the arable soil is scattered in small tracts so that it may serve to supply a large local demand if properly cultivated. There is now in the treasury of the United States $474,U>8.336 in gold coin, an increase of $76,000,000 during the year. The> increase during the last three pmnths has been over $45,000,000. Of this amount $230,755,809 is held to redeem outstanding gold certificates. The remainder, amounting to $243,000,000, belongs to the government. It is estimated that the national banks hold $197,000,000, which, in addition to that in the treasury, makes a total of $070,000,000 under control of the government, while the total gold supply of the entire country is estimated at $1,100,000,000. Robert Wilcox, the new delegate from the territory of Hawaii, will receive the largest milenge pay that has ever been drawn by any delegate Ar Representative. In order to reach Washington, Wilcox has bad to travel nearly 7,000 miles , by sea arid rail. This, with the return trip to IDmolulu, will make bis mileage account, fit the rate of 10 cents per mile. $1,400 f/r each round trip. Wilcox wib be entiled to draw this sum in addition to once a year, thereby m . ing /u income sccon'i only *o that -f tiie Speaker.