The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-03-25

of Manchester to issue bonds for improve
ments in said town.
A large number Of bills were ordered to
engros>ment.
Adjourned at 10 P. NJ.
Washington.
Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.l
as"r WASHINGTON, March 90.
c1vIL.sERyiCE Reform.
Some of the particular friends and advo-
Gates of civil-Service, reform, not including Its
chief pleadcr, the President, are SolctouS
lest the bantline, which has within the past
ten DAYS been rocked very violently in its
cradle, shall sicken and die forever. The.
coming into power Of the ne,o ddminish1s1
ton is the rock upon which it seems to the
uDholders of the "re(orm" a split is most
| likely to occur. Politicians cannot refrain
from plying their trade upon the change OF
Government, and they have pounced down
| in such force as almost to have crushed THIS
| policy of the Administration. Grant, not
wthstanding reasons which the friends
of the reform Systcm allcse they pos
sess to back their opinions that the re-
cent goodness is dying out OF the civil ser
| vice, upholds it manfuIiy when there is any
talk over it. and protests to bureau othcers
and others who have consulted with him
about appointments that the next best man
| IN the service Of the Government should be
brought to the. front and fill vacancies that
occur and it is touching to see how Cabi-
net officers and appointment clerks will
camly listen to applications for office and
turn reycrentIy to the little pamphlet of
" ciyi!-service rules and regulations" that is
ever conveniently near their desks, and say
fn1n ~
according to the gender of the applicant,
appoint you to q position in my Office; but
even if there was q vacancy am debarred
by these rules The Jobs comforter
then turns to the paragraph giving direc-
tons for application for Office under these
very same rules, marks it with his pencil.
and bows his visitor out OF his presence.
That is all and always success. There Is
no further petition. The certainty OF eX-
animation for Il place in one of the public
departments here has killed nigh on to. thou
sands of aSpirfln:s for office within the past
haf.year. But all this is narrowing the souls
of the politicians, and they will nurse their
wrath this summer to keep it warm until
next winter, when if there has been any re-
cuperalion gained by the system during the
long recess it will he knocked horS du combat
on the first round it has with congressman
after the rush for Office is lasted by the Or
eanization Of the new House.
THE LADIES IN THE EMPLOY OF THE
... GOVERNMENT
here at the captaI have been gamers under
ciyil-scryice reform, and [ venture to say
that there is not in all the Department a sin
Gle instance of female clerk who unheSita-
tingly felt her ability TO enter the lists for
promotion and pass the requisite exanlna-
ton who has not passed the ordeal and re-
ceiycd the coveted advancement OF official
grade aud compensation. Here Is one case
OF very recent occurrence in the Internal
Revenue office, where balf dozen ladies
were promoted one OF them getting an clgh-
teen-hundrcd-dollur-p Office. l have
often noticed the husiues>-likc department
and systematic air of the lady who took this
prize She has been highly commended by
the Commissioner and other officials for her
competency, and the general verdict in the
entire office is that she is as competent as any
man in the o flee. That is a nice point for
the woman rights organizations to poke at
Congress next winter, and should create
Sucere friends Of the service in their camps.
THE LITTLE UNPLEAsANTNEsS
that occurred the other day between tue hon
it seems, without resort to anything serious.
The ripple it caused upon everyday matters
here was too slight to be a nine-days' Won
der. The Understanding "hold-mysclf-per-
sonally-reSpousible" sort Of talk that both
INDUCED, and that is heard only occasionally
in Congre IS, does not mean in these piping
peaceful days anything like an interview ut
fifteen PAGES in the gray of the morning, and
most certainly the knowledge that such
warike words had been spoken did
not rutfle in the least the calm de-
neanor of the chief of police lest prepara-
tions were going on in his bailiwick
to disturb the public peace. Suppose such
coIloqny had happened fifteen years ago
between these gentlemen. 1t was not an un-
frequent occurrence so far back; but it meant
war in those days. How the chief of police
would have mustered his blue-coated clans
to stop the duel. Now, lie knous the majesty
of the law will not be violated. Not because
of ttint-heartedness or Skittish dispositions,
but because tue code in Congress is the most
defunet of dead letters, and tue penalties for
Il violation of the law in that respect would
deprive legislators Of present and future po-
litcal honors as well as, perchance, their per-
sonal existence, The only chance for Con-
greSsmen TO avenge attacks upon their honor
is to search the records, and "hurl back "
the respective imputations at each other
with all the scorn they deserve"
have seen it in print once OF twice that
THE NEW ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF TIE TREA-
f.. -.-.. suRY,
Mr.. Sawyer, is a brothcr-in-aw of the new
secretary, Mr.. Richardson; and have also
heard this alluded to by gentlemen here who
were disposed to couple with the assertion
certain remarks about nepotism. / should
like to warn conservative Democrats not to
take any stock in this, on they will give the
enemy another chance to rcpel the assertion.
| have been making inquiry. The Secretary
and Assistant Secretary are not related. They
arc not even brulhcls-in-law for though
one has mastered the iutricacics Of the noble
profession, and risen to the altitude of a
Judge of prob1te, the other has been con-
tent, before his political star began to ascend
in the regions of the Palmetto, to follow
that other honorable and worthy profess
sion of an instructor of youth. They are
both from tie same county, l believe, in
Massachusetts, and there is some very distant
family relationship, but that is all. Let US
Democrats be wary, and whenever we see a
| head hitit; but really this Is not a legitimate
head. 4
PRESIDENT GRANT FOR THIRD TERM.
It will hardly. occasion, surprise that
! already there are certain representations
made that President Grant will be in favor
for third nomination, and that it Is sub
| jecl that some OF his friends regard as by
long odds within the range of likelihood. 1t
is possible that Of the people who begin to
preach in this manner are friends of the Adj
| who hive very duIt ayas IN