Show 1f > 1 r C > WASHINGTON GOSSIP COL EDWARDS WILL BECOME BRIGADIER GENERAL FOR AMERICAN CONSULS Practical Civil Service Recommended Swamp Lands ns Well as Arid Lands Need AttentionQueer Atmospheric Conditions ASHINGTON It AT Is now tho purpose ¬ pur-pose of congress to give the rank of brigadier general gen-eral to tho officer r holding tho position posi-tion of chief of tho bureau of Insular In-sular affairs in the war department 71 I depart-ment This means that Col Clarence Clar-ence whoso real rank is that ot captain but who has been at the head of this bureau since It was established and has dono timework time-work of three men will become brigadier briga-dier general This bureau deals with so many Interests and Its head Is the executive for so many branches of government gov-ernment that It has often been seriously seri-ously considered as deserving to braised b-raised to the rank of a department I with Its chief one of tho cabinet officers offi-cers It has to deal with mailers In the Philippines Hawaii and Porto Rico and Is a little government withIn with-in itself Col Edwards who has been chic of the bureau so long Is ono of the most energetic and popular officers In 1 the service He served in time Philippines Philip-pines and was on the staff of Gen Lawton when the latter was killed and he knows the affairs of that archipelago archi-pelago ns thoroughly and In as great detail ai anyone In the government He has served under Secretaries Root and Taft and has been thin trusted l ly soiifldnnt and assistant to both They have relied upon him for information and for advice regarding tho Philippines Philip-pines and have trusted the administration adminis-tration of insular affairs almost exclusively ex-clusively to him While Col Edwards is a hard worker work-er he Is also fond of play He and Secretary Taft take a good deal of their diversion together In the way of horseback riding Better Consular Service T LAST there will 1 I bo some reform f In the consular servIce u v r t serv-ice A bill has been passed and Is soon to become a law that reor Olt gauzes this service serv-ice does away L I with all fees and I Is calculated to Improve tho personnel per-sonnel of the consuls con-suls and the consuls con-suls general While congress did not authorize in this measure the practical civil service recommended by Secretary Secre-tary Root It Is understood that tho policy of the administration will bo to adopt civil service methods In future appointments Already they have required re-quired candidates for appointments to pass an examination fully as rigid as the civil service commission would devise de-vise The president has let It bo known also that after this bill becomes be-comes a law the appointments In tho future will be only to the lower grades of consul and that the higher places will be filled by promotion as vacancies occur There Is another reform that has not yet been accomplished bill which Is being strongly urged by business organizations and those who demand that the American consular service shall be filled by Americans In an ad dress recently I submitted to congress by Minister Barratt on the sUbject of Americans needed as vice and dep uty consuls he tells tho following rather startling fads Of CO con sulates general 20 or onethird havo vice or deputy consuls who are not Americans Of 225 consulates 113 or half gave vice or deputy consuls who aro not Americans either by birth naturalization or residence Of 11 commercial agencies nine or two thirds have nome resident vice and deputy commercial agents Of six consulates where the Incumbents aro permitted to engage In business two have foreign or deputy vice consuls and one has a consul who Is not nn American Of 41 consulates and com mercial agencies where the officers paid by fees and allowed to are In business 25 engage or over onehalf have vice or deputy consuls who are not Americans while In six cases the con suls or agents are foreigners Our Swamp Lands OW that irrigation has attained t > o F NOW Importance in y I the west and attention Is at traded to Ihe N wonderful fertil t tI ity of desor t II r lands when t Yf water J r fr is turned rn I upon them Ii interest has JI J < Itr I J been revived In f t great sections In f the east that have earl unlllfnble bcen unllroducthe ered with water because they are car For western desert land every acre ot which duel by Irrigation there can be sub Is of eastern an acre Swamp drained and which can be I made highly productive 1 r 1 The drainage so necessary millions of acres will hater hate handled by tho government aadG rcsentntlvo Steenerson of 111no nn has Introduced a bill for the ret lion of swamps It Is estimated that there atoll 000000 acres or swamp lands United States some 7000oti i to which have been surveyed and great bulk of which would splendid farms it the s excels tll fl were drawn off In the Kat KaaiO river basin In Indiana It and iiif illiq there nro 400000 acres of the richest bottom lands that arn1 jcct to overflow Where they ill 1 been reclaimed through expenelI rate drainage works they are r nj high as 160 nn acre It baa estimated thnt this whole track bo drained effectively at a costctJ more than flO an ncre In Florida tho Everglades 1 would afford an empire of soma i 000 acres In New Jersey and glnla are vast swamps among n the famous Dismal swamp Iu t nols there are 4000000 acres of af land in Michigan about COBacoJ Iowa 2000000 acres in Mlnni 5000000 have been surveyed and ft are hugo areas not yet surveyed B Steenerson bill demonstrates thali government can transform n Into fertile farm lands and thtfig settler or owner will pay back to T government the relatively small J of the Improvement Pesky Postage Stamp HERE has more comjuj I during the t winter about i i age stamps Chas C-has been heard years The pi things Just t not stick haltl time and the t n 1 authors have been raj ly abused Ttt Assistant POI master General Madden 1 t says 11 jtj stamps dont stick dont blame d post office department blame T weather bureau It Is not the m logo that is responsible but the p collar atmospheric conditions ire lent this winter nail spring If li little red stamp will not adhere tot envelope there is no comfort paid better brand of climate Is dealt by Chief Moore of the weather ij I lean There is also another trcilt The post office department Issue W styles of stamps the summer sUq and the winter stamp Mr Madden admitted the other k that there was nn unusual numbEr complaints about the stamps notitld Ing while he said upon Investlga of these complaints were found to t l unjust For Instance he u i there Is a complaint from a basics man in New York Wo sent an lEE to investigate and found that In t establishment a man had been In li hafilt of wetting tho stamp by tolls a big sponge and drawing It across back of the sheet of stomps rip the mucilage completely off While every complaint we ti run down has turned out to be wit out sufficient foundation there mil be something wrong or we would get so many The gum IB exactly II same as thnt used last year woo hero were practically no complain so the fault cant ho there My rPJ Ion Is that there Is something In ti t atmospheric conditions which can this Indians in Town N THE boar house for Into try kepi by B 1 + Beveridge and t which I mentt was made In lit Z dispatches rert I ly there Is I present quit delegation ol t I t red men lush foresting to rbla and a a this placo Lice their Wand W-and manners They nro Just fit i other folks In their habits of mlj Mr Bevcrldgo said tho other day Most of them are as regular In tbU hours as the Virginia farmers arf most of them are farmers PractK ly all those from the Indian tern tory follow that of thU It Probably the star boarder tabllshment Is the chief of the SD cas Andrew John He spends a grtil deal of his time here every win l b the Interest of his people The S ° of R cas ale n nation Independent United States and have made sere treaties with tho federal governiW Chief John said the other day that I is a puzzle to the lawyers to detern Just what the Senccas aro asa tn fa and what they are ns Individuals dor the laws of New York they are a i special corporation existing by n The chief tolls some Interesting tn tlons of the Indinns speaking of s IM tho other day ho said of III t 20 00 Several winters ago some representing halt n dozen tribes nil j iit to with W assemble here evenings preters and relate legends of the r lEi with rlous tribes I was struck thai the taro r each tribe adopted as t ° Ite that animal of their tales frequent In Its own country orlgl l Tho Creeks nnd Choctaws ly from the south wero fond 010 possum and tho rabbit Our S e6s fI legends have to do with animals fl I hunted especially the deer TW vorlto Seneca legend is of a child i our tribe that overcame giant a evil spirits The Sioux told tales l ai n marvelous battles with the buffalo tho Chlppewas from northern Mln sotn filled their stor wllb fupPal bK animals I JJIti oJJ |