Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-04-24
WARRINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP. :

not included in the act recently passed (knowr
rs the CLERKS bDl's) is regulated. In reply
to such questions, We have to day, that accord
ing to the best information we have been able
to obtain, Congress has never imposed restric-
1 tons or limit to the wages of mechanics and
laborers in Government establishments-such
as navy yards, &c. They did so, however, in
the case of those employed as clerks, messen-
gers, and watchmen, in the Departments. The
rates of compensation to the former have al
WAYS been subject to the control of the head of
| the department or superintendent Of the work
on which their labor has been employed, and
have frequently been changed to suit eireum-
| stances and times. Their case does not ne
| cessarily, need legislative Intervention, if an
increase Of wages be sought by then. With
regard to the latter classes of persons, though
the heads of Departments may be discreet
they had no discretion as to the amount of
wages to be allowed. Congress has always
maintained barrier there, which no power
but that Of Congress could remove.
The pay of the clerks in the Navy Yard and
at the Observatory, we understand to be fixed
by law, and can only be changed by legisla-
tive action. That of other employees in the
civil branches of these establishments, and the
Navy Agents Office, ara subject to depart
mental regulation, with no other restriction
than the limit of appropriations made by
Congress. II we are not misinformed, the
rates Of compensation to the employees in the
Coast Survey, C'excluding pay and emolu-
ments of officers of the Army and Navy, and
petty officers, and men of the Navy employed
on the work, y is discretionary with the super
intendent Of that branch of the public service
subject to No limit but that of the appropriation
which is made in the aggregate for the whole
work-the one appropriation to cover all ex-
penses, except the salary Of the superintendent
and the employees who are paid from the
Army and Navy appropriations; and the ex-
penditure and objects thereof being discretion
airy with the head of the Office -.
Col, Benton's Very Last-The onslaught
of the Col. in Saturdays Inteliigencer on the
new postmaster at st. Louis, is much talked
over in political circles to-day; affording no
little amusement, inasmuch as it shows that
| the venerable Colonel's propensity to write
down every body ne fails to like, for monster
in human shape, is as strong as ever upon him,
Notwithstanding his increasing age. 1t happens
that the gentleman whom he indirectly de-
nounces so unsparingly in this case, has been
Comptroller of St. Louis, and is we'll known to
many gentlemen here, for one of the first men in
all the West in point of character and standing;
having fairly earned his position in society by
a long life of proverbial probity and public
utility. The fact that every newspaper in St
Louis, without distinction of party, except the
Colonel's organ, the Democrat, endorse his
appointment as capital selection indeed
seems greatly to outweigh the Colon el's denun-
citation of it, in congressional estimation which
is attributed to the fact that for some fifteen
years past, the gentleman in uestion has been
accustomed to joke publicly over the name,
In which the Colonel permits the world to per
ceive that he estimates men emily as they miu
lister to that disease of his, of personal vanity
which is VIGOROUSLY chronic in his case
In truth, his declaration that he does no.
consider his letters safe in the St. Louis post
office since this gentleman's appointment, is
classed with his threat to deliver in the rotun-
do. whatever Of his long and rather extrava-
gantly -heralded anti-Nebraska speech that he
may not be able to get off within the lcur
| to be allowed him under the rules Such re.
marks and such notes to the press. have tc-eth-
er earned for him the soubriquet of ''our Mrs.
Partington,' by which he is now known ia
| miliarly to the men of the preas around WASH
ington. ..- ..--. -..-...
They Want veto-There seems to be :
very earnest desire among the congressional
opponents Of the bill granting lands for the
benefit of the INDECENT insane of the several
States and Territories, for the veto of that
measure. We have been cognizant of the
| under-eurrent of congressional and political
| feeling here on every passing question fol-
many years, and have before seen nothing
like the nervous anxiety manifested for a veto
in this case. There are reasons for it, stronger
and deeper than the mere question of savin g
for the General Government the ten million.
of acres of the public domain, proposed in thu
bill, to be given away. Indeed, they look Il
the future complexion of parties.
| 1t is not to be doubted that in the next pres
idential election, the floating leaders Tor rather
politicians) who were Taylorites in 1s4s, and
Pierce men in 1852, will hardly be for the
Democratic candidate if the stringent eours,
Of the present Administration with refer
ence to .hae use Of the public money and
e-nef property Of the Government, be counte
| nanced up to that time. There is an eyiden
belief among the strict constructionists and
| rigid economists of the Democratic party i,
Congress, that the party will be safer witt
them in opposition as soon as possible and
they believe that they--the floating politi
eians-hold ON at this time only for what the,
still hope to make out of the Administration
Hence they want a veto ON this bill, if but I,
| give such gentlemen an immediate assuranc,
that they cannot reasonably expect to max,
any thing out of President Pierce and his con
stitutional advisers. They say, further, tina
the next presidential election is to be Tough
mainly between the forces of strict construc
ton and rigid economy ON the one side, and
II