Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-06-18
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER
An illustration OF the IntOlerant Charac,..
OF tho Radical Party-NatIonaIP r,n,.
COMMUNICATIONS Startling.

WASHINGTON CRY, D. c., June -. 1890
The Commissioners of Pensions has 10
clded case presenting some sinpplo,
features, and illustrating the intoIeront
character of the Radical party. The casa j.
question was this A soldier who had fr.4
served IN the Confederate army afterwards
enlisted in the Federal army, and du,;rn
his service therein was wounded. He o.,
piled for pension under the act of ~,
gress $50 made and provided" The c.
missioner decided that the applicant -
though regularly enlisted and fa;tbtn,
soldier in the Federal service, was not ~
titled to pension because of his bovin.
been in the Confederate ranks. AocorS
ing to this most sapient conclusion o.
soldier in question was not entitled to nav
while in the Union armies, and ham,
should be made to refund what he has 81
ready received.
In the good old days of the Republic
man was allowed to pursue any occupation
he chose, provided, of course, he VIOLATED
no law of the Constitution. Now, hovav
or, he must take out license if he desroS
to engage in any business, and then cannot
pursue it unless he receives the most pra.
clous permission of his masters. The
claim agents who pay licence to the gov
eminent are now told by Secretary Boutwell,
that in any affair they may have to trans
act with the Treasury Department in the
line of business they will not be allowed
to approach any officer of that Depart
ment for information connected with their
claims, directly or indirectly, unless thew
humbly ask and obtain the permission NJ
the Secretary of the Treasury to do so.-
Most probably this order has been issued
to enable various officials of the DEPART
ment to do as was done during the war by
many clerks. e., charge ATTORNEYS and
claim agents large fees for letting them
transact business at all.
see by the mornings telegrams that
the National Printers Convention now set
ting at Albany, have adopted resolutions
deprecating making religion or politics
test for employment in the Government or
private printing offices, and denouncing
the action of the Congressional Printer
for employing Lewis Ell. Douglass, the ne
gro rat, whose appointment in the Gov
eminent Printing Office some few weeks
since, in the place of an old and expert.
enced white printer, created so much ex-
oitement in the Typographical Unions of
the country. This last resolution was
adopted by vote of forty-seven yeas, to
th1rty-seven nays. 1 suppose instant war
will be made upon the various Printers
Unions throughout the country unless they
will compromise so as to admit that their
denouncing resolution was intended sim
ply because Douglass was "rat," and not
because he was black.
The newspaper press are publishing
generally, without comment, the following
significant paragraph
"For the proposed testing of the power Of
French Railroads to concentrate large
number of troops at given point quickly,
two hundred thousand soldiers are to be
moved to Strasburg this month" Now
Strasburg is on the Rhine, and the massing
of such a vast number of French troops at
that particular point at this particular
time, is subject for deep reflection. Ma
poleon has preserved an Ominous reticence
for some time past, and as he has beer
under the checks imposed upon
his policy by the Russian Prime Minister,
no one who knows him, doubts that he will,
at the earliest opportunity, seize the chance
to " get even" with his rival. He certain
ly cannot cheat the world, much less Prus-
STA, with the idea that he simply wants to
test the speed and carrying capacity his
railroads.