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February 8, 2021
#351
Another milestone for
Barbara Schock as we posted her 350th Sandburg's
Hometown the first week of
February 2021, exactly eight years ago, February 4, 2013, when it all began!
Thank you,
Barbara Schock, for sharing your extraordinary gift of these vignettes of Galesburg &
19th century American history.
Uncle Sam's Cats
By Barbara Schock
Reading old newspapers can be an amusing pastime. The
Galesburg Public Library has a large collection on microfilm of several
Galesburg newspapers from the past. Many people make a trip to the library to
look up the announcement of their birth in the newspaper. The obituaries are of
interest to older people. Family historians secure many tidbits about
individuals in their lineage. Persons interested in local government can review
reports of city council meetings. Attorneys may search reports of court cases to
support their client. Historical columns recall days gone by for those
interested in history. Then, there are articles which illustrate a time which
was very different from the world we live in today.
On Wednesday, January 4, 1893, The Daily
Republican-Register published an article about the feline employees of the
federal government. More than 300 cats were ensconced in fifty post offices in
larger cities to protect mail from the rats who chewed through mail sacks as
well as the mail.
The article continued “Each city postmaster is allowed
from eight to twenty dollars a year for the keep of his feline staff, sending
his estimate for ‘cat meat’ to Washington at the beginning of each quarter. Care
is taken not to feed the animals too ‘high,’in order that their appetite for
live game may be keen. It is laid down as a rule that ‘no meat shall be given
when there is a mouse or rat to be caught.”
The article also described the use of cats in the war and
navy departments in Washington to protect important papers. Rats were known to
chew through electrical wires causing fires so the felines provided a safety
measure against that hazard as well.
Cats were also kept in the Capitol building and the White
House. During cold winter nights an unknown member of the feral cats sought
shelter in the Capitol. They were said to race through the halls at night. Their
vocals echoed through Statuary Hall. The White House kept a black and white
female in the kitchen and a black tom in the stables.
We have learned that the Williamsfield and Dahinda Post
Offices kept cats on the premises at least until the 1950s.
Carl Sandburg recalled that his family kept a cat for a
short time, but it was always underfoot and there just wasn’t room in the
kitchen for parents, children and cat. A bird in a cage was somewhat better, but
didn’t last very long.
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