Part 7

The Ogles, father and sons, during the past fifty years have had much to do with the making of the criminal history of this country. George Ogle, the father, was a river pirate and farmhouse plunderer, the Ohio River and its tributaries being the scene of his operations. The sons, bred in an atmosphere of crime, early embarked in independent unlawful enterprises. Miles displayed pugnacity, intrepidity, and skill, while John was shrewd, plausible, and cunning.

After serving five years for killing an officer who attempted to arrest the family, and when but twenty-six years old, Miles allied himself with the notorious "Reno" gang of bandits, and became the pupil and confederate of Peter McCartney, that past master of the counterfeiter's art. How well he applied himself the records of the Secret Service will testify. An even dozen skilfully executed spurious note issues were directly traceable to him, despite the fact that two-thirds of his manhood were spent behind prison walls.

John Ogle, while not possessed of the dangerous skill of his brother, was his equal in hardihood, and, in his way, quite as detrimental to society. For cool daring, ingenuity, and resourcefulness he was without a peer in his chosen profession, and some of his escapes from the officers of the law bordered on the miraculous. He was introduced to prison life in 1864, being sentenced in the fall of that year to five years in the Jeffersonville, Ind., penitentiary for burglary. Shortly after his release he was traced to Cairo, Ill., with twenty-eight hundred dollars of counterfeit money intended for one of Miles' customers, and, after a desperate fight, was placed in jail. He managed in some way to effect his escape, but was soon recaptured at Pittsburg. This time he told the officers that he knew of a big "plant" of spurious bills and tools near Oyster Point, Md., which he was willing to turn up if it would benefit him. Being assured of leniency, he started with a marshal for the hiding-place. _En route_ he managed to elude the watchfulness of his guard, and jumped from the car-window while the train was at full speed. At Bolivar, Tenn., Ogle was arrested, January 8, 1872, with five hundred dollars of counterfeit money in his pocket. A sentence of ten years was imposed; but John had a reputation to sustain, so he broke from the jail where he was temporarily confined awaiting transportation to the penitentiary. Several months later he was arrested and indicted at Cincinnati for passing bad five-dollar bills. Pending trial, he was released on five thousand dollars bail, which he promptly forfeited, and was again a fugitive.

February 18, 1873, one Tom Hayes was detected passing counterfeit money at Cairo, Ill., but it was not discovered that "Tom Hayes" was none other than the much-wanted John Ogle until after he had made good his escape. So chagrined were the officers over this second break that all the resources of the department were employed to effect his capture, and but a week had passed before he was found in Pittsburg and taken to Springfield, Ill., for trial. This time there was no escape, and he served five years in Joliet. As he stepped from the prison door Marshal Thrall, of Cincinnati, confronted him with an order for his removal to answer the indictment of May, 1872. The Cincinnati jail was undergoing repairs. A painter had left his overalls and hickory shirt in the corridor near the cage where Ogle was placed. Adroitly picking the lock of his cell with his penknife, he donned the painter's clothes, took up a paint-bucket, and coolly walked down-stairs, past the gate (which the guard obligingly opened for him), through the jailer's office, and into the street. Proceeding leisurely until out of sight of the prison, the daring criminal made his way to the river, which he crossed at Lawrenceburg, and, discarding his borrowed apparel, struck across the country, finally bringing up at Brandenburg, Ky., where he obtained employment as a stonecutter. Respectability was, however, inconsistent with Ogle's early training; so about a week after his arrival he broke into a shoe-house of the town, stole $200 worth of goods, and was arrested three days later while trying to dispose of his plunder in Louisville. Fearing a term in the Frankfort prison for some reason, he informed the Kentucky officers that a large reward was offered for his return to Cincinnati. This had the desired effect, and he was sent to the Ohio penitentiary to serve five years.

Returning to Cincinnati at the expiration of this enforced confinement, he met his brother, who had just been released from an eight-year "trick" in the Western Pennsylvania penitentiary, and, altho no real affection existed in the breast of either for the other, John needed money, and Miles had money and required assistance in a contemplated enterprise. An understanding was soon reached, and these two dangerous lawbreakers joined forces in another scheme to debase their country's currency. Using the same conveyance employed by their father in his plundering expedition (a house-boat), they started from Cincinnati and drifted down the Ohio River, John steering and keeping watch while Miles plied the graver. When the plates for a twenty-dollar silver note and a ten-dollar issue of the Third National Bank of Cincinnati were complete, Miles took the helm and John went below to do the printing. $150,000 of the "coney" had been run off by the time they reached the mouth of the Wolf River, and here the trip ended. Disposing of the boat, the brothers started back to Cincinnati. _En route_ they quarreled over the division of the notes, and separated with the understanding that John was to receive $500 of the proceeds of the first sales.

Miles did not keep faith, and John subsequently assisted the government officers in locating and securing his brother, who was arrested in Memphis, Tenn., on Christmas day, 1884, with $6,000 of the counterfeits in his pockets.

For a number of years thereafter John steered clear of offenses penalized by the federal statutes, and successfully feigned insanity when he could not escape punishment for crimes against the State by any other means.

This is what happened to one town marshal who caught Ogle in the act of burglarizing a store and failed to appreciate the character of his prisoner. It was between two and three o'clock in the morning when the capture was made, and as the lockup was located about a mile from the scene of the crime, the officer decided to keep the rogue in his room until morning. Carefully locking the room door and handcuffing John, he lit his pipe and made himself as comfortable as possible—so comfortable, in fact, that he was soon fast asleep. When he awoke his bird had flown, and the officer's watch and purse were missing.

XVII POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT

EVERY man and woman in the republic has a personal interest in this department of the government. You pay two cents for a stamp, throw a missive into a box, and start the machinery which requires 100,000 persons to run it. If your letter is for the Philippines, you use the railroad and the ocean steamer, with many relays of men and engines to perform your bidding. If your letter is for Alaska, you use the railroad, the steamship, and the reindeer team to deliver it. Not an hour, day or night, the entire year through, but men are toiling to hurry your mail to its destination. If your letter is for one of the large cities, skilful men board the train, and as it approaches its destination distribute the mail for each district, so that your letter will not lie for hours in the central office. If your letter is to a busy farmer who may be in the midst of his harvest and has no time to go for his mail, one of the government's faithful servants takes that letter to him. Yet we are much more likely, withal, to growl at Uncle Sam than to remember the faithful service we receive for so little money.

The Post-office Department is one which is not yet self-supporting. The last annual report of the Postmaster-General shows that the receipts from ordinary postal revenue amounted to $191,478,663.41. Figures are not at hand for a further revenue to the department from money-order business, including post-office orders which were uncalled for. The government expended $16,910,278.99 more than it received. This deficit is occasioned by the second-class matter, which includes newspapers and magazines paying less than cost of transportation. It is also due partly to the glaring abuse of the franking privilege by members of the Senate and House. If a description of what some of these men commit to Uncle Sam to carry for them free of charge were published they would hide their heads in shame. While this abuse continues we are not likely to get a one-cent rate on letters, a rate which would greatly benefit the entire country. Poor people are paying the postage for these Congressmen.

The United States Post-office Department and the post-office for the City of Washington are in a building on Pennsylvania Avenue, which extends over an entire square from Twelfth to Thirteenth Streets, N. W.

The Postmaster-General is a member of the President's Cabinet. He receives $12,000 per annum for giving to his country services which a railroad or great newspaper would consider cheap at $25,000 per annum. There are four Assistant Postmaster-Generals who receive each about half as much as their chief. These are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

The Postmaster-General makes postal treaties with foreign governments, by and with the advice of the President, awards contracts, and directs the management of the domestic and foreign mails.

The First Assistant Postmaster-General has charge of the salary and allowance division, free delivery system, post-office supplies, money-order division, dead-letter office, and the general correspondence.

The Second Assistant Postmaster-General has charge of the contract division, division of inspection, railway adjustment (which includes weighing and deciding on what pay shall be given railroads), the mail equipment division, and foreign mails.

The Third Assistant Postmaster-General has charge of postage stamps and postmasters' accounts, registry office, and the special delivery system.

The Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General has the appointment of many postmasters and of post-office inspectors, and has charge of the bonds and commissions for postmasters. This last place was formerly filled by Mr. J. L. Bristow, of Kansas. During the first year of Mr. Roosevelt's Presidency Mr. Bristow officially decapitated as many as fifty postmasters a day, and it is claimed it was a slow year in the business. Of course, for every one who lost his place some other fellow was made happy. Mr. P. V. De Graw now has the office.

No impure books, pamphlets, or papers are allowed transportation by the United States mail. Men in this employ have a right to insist that their work shall not include indecent matter. As far as possible the government tries to prevent advertisers of dishonest businesses from using the mails for fraudulent gain. It is to be hoped that the time may soon come when all financial schemers who now defraud the wage-earning class by circulars on mining, oil, or industrial stock, or other doubtful enterprises, shall be obliged to prove to the government officials that the scheme represented is just what the circular sets forth. All Building Associations and Insurance Companies should pass under the same law. Good people would be glad of this inspection, and bad people make it necessary.

The Postmaster-General recommends that the government have inspectors appointed who shall see that neither telegraph nor express companies be permitted to carry matter for lotteries or any known fraudulent enterprise. The McKinley and Roosevelt administrations will be noted for the improvement and extension of the rural delivery system.

The dead-letter office is one of great interest, and is found in the general post-office building. Of unclaimed letters there were last year nearly six million; of misdirected letters, 454,000; and of letters without any address, 39,837. Any letter which is unclaimed at a post-office after a few weeks is sent to the dead-letter office. Here it is opened, and if it contains the name and address of the writer, the letter is returned; but letters signed "Your loving Amy," "Your devoted mother," "Your repentant son," fail to reach the eyes and hearts of those who wait for them in vain. Last year 526,345 unclaimed letters written in foreign countries, probably to loved ones in the United States, were sent to the dead-letter office. Think of the heartaches which that means! Think of the loves and friendships wrecked thereby!

Letters whose envelopes display the business card of the writer are returned to the sender by the local postmaster after a certain period. Papers, magazines, and books with insufficient postage are sent to the dead-letter office, held for a short time, and then distributed to hospitals, asylums, and penal institutions.

Wherever "Old Glory" floats, there the servants of Uncle Sam carry his mail. Of this department every citizen should be proud, for its speed and efficiency is equaled by no other mail service in the world.

XVIII DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

ABOUT fifty years ago, at the request of Hon. H. E. Ellsworth, the sum of one thousand dollars was set apart in the interest of agriculture; now there is a Department of Agriculture, and its Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet.

The present Secretary of this department is Hon. James Wilson, of Iowa. He served several terms in Congress, was Regent of the State University of Iowa, and for six years prior to his present appointment was Director of the Iowa Experimental Station and professor of agriculture at the Iowa Agricultural College, Ames, Iowa.

The Department of Agriculture consists of twenty different divisions, each one of which is worthy of a complete chapter. The department has many buildings, but the main one stands within the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution, in a bower of blooming plants and clinging vines. Every kind of plant from the tropics to the Arctic Circle which can be made to grow in this climate can be found in this department.

Studies in ornamentation, best methods of grafting, pruning, budding, hybridizing, and treating diseases of plants, trees, and animals are thoroughly investigated at its experimental stations.

Vegetable and flower seeds, grass seeds, plants, trees, bulbs, and grape-vines are distributed in the department through the Senators, members, and delegates of Congress. By this means the best varieties of the vegetable kingdom are carried throughout the United States. During the coming year the country will be more carefully districted, and only such seeds and plants as have been thoroughly acclimated will be sent to the several districts.

Members of Congress from cities exchange their quota of vegetable and crop seeds for flower seeds, thus leaving more of the former for members with a farming constituency.

The following statement shows the amounts of seeds, bulbs, plants, and trees, so far as the allotments have been made, for a recent fiscal year:

Each Senator, member, and delegate will receive—

_Vegetable Seed_ 12,000 packages, 5 papers each.

_Novelties Vegetable Seed_ 500 packages, 5 papers each.

_Flower Seed_ 500 packages, 5 papers each.

_Tobacco Seed_ 110 packages, 5 papers each to districts growing tobacco.

_Cotton Seed_ 70 packages, 1 peck each, to districts growing cotton.

_Lawn Grass Seed_ 30 packages.

_Forage Crop Seed_ Allotment not yet made.

_Sorghum Seed_ Allotment not yet made.

_Sugar Beet Seed_ Allotment not yet made.

_Bulbs_ 10 boxes, 35 bulbs each; or 20 boxes, 17 bulbs each.

_Grape-vines_ 8 packages, 5 vines each.

_Strawberry Plants_ 10 packages, 15 plants each.

_Trees_ 20 packages, 5 trees each.

For seed distributed alone the government appropriates $270,000. Think of the beneficence of that! The rarest and best seeds that money can buy will be planted in every State and Territory of this country. Experts are continually sent abroad to find new cereals, fruits trees, animals, and flowers.

The department has at least one correspondent in every county of the United States through whom the statistics on acreage, quality of crops, and success of experiments are reported at stated times.

All questions pertaining to farming are answered by this department. If a man desires to buy a farm in Kansas or Alaska, a portion of the country of which he knows little, the department will tell him of the climate, the crops likely to be remunerative, and the obstacles of soil or climate to overcome. A chemist will analyze the soil for him, tell him what it contains, and what it needs to produce certain crops. An entomologist will tell him the insects prevalent which may destroy his crops. The scientist will also tell him how to destroy the inserts, what birds to encourage and what to banish.

At Summerville, S. C., the government has a tea farm with a fully equipped factory, and the tea produced is claimed by experts to equal the best imported article. This year one thousand acres of rice land near Charleston, S. C., will be put in tea. The cost of producing American tea is about fifteen cents a pound; the yield is four hundred pounds to the acre, the wholesale selling price forty to fifty cents per pound, and the retail price seventy-five cents to one dollar per pound.

In the wheat-growing States the government is trying a fine variety of macaroni wheat, in order to compete successfully with the imported article, of which $8,000,000 worth enters this country annually.

In the cotton States the government is trying Egyptian cotton, which is now imported to the value of $8,000,000 annually.

In Arizona and other dry tracts dates and other Egyptian fruits are being successfully acclimated. In the hot states rubber, coffee, bananas, and cocoa are being tried.

Our fruit markets are being extended into Europe, and special agents and consuls are using every influence to enlarge this market. At the Paris Exposition our pears, apples, peaches, and plums were a never-ending surprise to people of all lands. Californians made us all proud of them by their lavish generosity, and the result has been that pears and apples have been sent in large quantities to Southern Europe, also to Russia and Siberia.

New cottons are being sent throughout the South, new prunes and plums along the Pacific Coast. Important experiments are being made in sugar producing. Pineapples are being acclimated in Florida, plants which produce bay rum and various perfumes are being introduced in several states, and olives from Italy are being tried in Porto Rico and the Philippines.

In many different States soils have been examined. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, it was found certain soils contain ingredients to produce the finest Cuban tobacco, and other soil regarded as useless was shown to be capable of producing certain rare plants. Every state should call for this kind of analytic help, until we make the United States the garden of the world.

XIX DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY ON PURE FOODS

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.