The New York herald., 1875-12-09
Cant from Mnshinrton.

Cant from Washington.
Congress opened its session on Monday.
The Message has been read We are, we
trust, to have little peace until the com
mittees Of the House are announced. In tho
meantime the correspondents of the party
press are busy, and we read their elaborate
lucubrations with interest and curiosity.
We note the old canting strain. One
would think from reading the dispatches
that Washington is divided into two
camps-one of the absolutely good and
the other of the absolutely bad. We are
told of the fights between the 'rings;" how
Tom Scott owns one man, and how another
is the creature of Credit Mobilier. We
have pictures of Mr. Kerr ''sitting in his
parlor, holding aloof, making no promises,
giving no pledges; man of lofty and ideal
virtue, despising political machinery and
manguvring with his head in the clouds
and his thoughts ever ascending to the purer
atmosphere. Then we have glowing, graphic
picture of Fernando Wood 'in his library,
surrounded by his books" proudly turning
aside from the Speakership contest as some
thing beneath him, as ''dirty business" in
which he would not put his hands. The i'm
pressions we gather from Mr.. Wood, as he is
thus painted, is that in time of Roman vir-
tue and purity of public life he would have
been chosen Speaker without opposition. As
it is, he is sacrificed to the decadence Of
the times. Then we have beautiful pic
ture-small cabinet size, done in the style Of
the old Dutch masters-of Sunset Cox sitting
at one end of the table, and, upon hearing
the result of the second caucus ballot, order
ing Mr. Hewitt to direct his friends to sup
port Mr.. Kerr. Then we have him approach
ing Mr.. Kerr, and saying, in his sweet chirp-
ing canary bird tone, that in doing this he
had no selfish aim that all he wanted was
to be appointed member of his old Com
mittee on Rules This beautiful picture is
illustrated by a figure of our glorious Mayor
Wickham in the background, beaming jo-
vially upon the party, and 'Iight Horse
Harry" Watterson, of the Louisville Courier
Journal, nodding in the corner of the room
after the fatigues of the day.
Then we have another picture, in dark
Ribera tints, of Randall, of Pennsylvania,
surrounded by lobbyists and gamblers and
pool sellers, owned by Tom Scott, of Penn
sylvania, his record covered over with salary
grab and other mistakes altogether such
character as would compel his immediate
expulsion from the House by party
anxious for purity and good govern
ment." But all of sudden the caucus
ends and the scene changes. Wood descends
from his library to be a candidate for the
craftsmanship of one of the committees, and
Randall is brought forward, after ALL as the
real leader of the party anxious for REFORM"
and Mr.. Cox, who is said to have views on
hard money which no one could discover
when he was in Ohio last fall, is to have
charge of the Committee on Banking and
Currency. The democratic party is har-
monizing. There are no more intrigues, no
more jobs. Tom Scotts name is not even
mentioned The whole panorama-th thievery
and corruption and conspiracy-sinks out of
sight, and the party stands before us ready
for reform"
These pictures would be interesting if
they had any value. They represent the
cant of these Washington correspondents. 1t
is, especially in the party press, dreary, dis
tasteful, untrustworthy business; and these
correspondents write simply from their own
feelings, from the desire to help or hurt-as
partisans not as spectators. The truth is
that Mr.. Cox and Mr.. Kerr and Mr.. Wood
and Mr. Randall and Mr.. Lamar and all the
rest of them are politicians anxious for their
own advancement. They have risen into pub
lie life by politics. They have been in that
business for years They are all tarred with
the same stick. They know the schemes,
the tricks, the subterfuges the whole cate
chism from beginningto end. Mr.. Kerr, with
all of his 'honesty, could no more go through
an Indiana Convention or canvass for Con-
gress without twisting and bending than he
could ascend into the heavens like Elijah
Mr.. Kerr is no better than Mr.. Randall; no
worse than Mr.. Randall or Mr.. Cox or Mr.
Wood. They are all of class. They have
their virtues and their faults, and so far
from any election of the Speakership or
any nomination of committees represent
ing honesty against dishonesty the cleo
ton might as well have been done by q
page, blindfolded, putting his hand into
box and taking out the first name. The
democratic majority met, first and above. all
things, to destroy the administration and
build up their own party. They mean to
carry on the affairs of the government and
make as much capital as they can. All this
cant about superfne honesty and desire for
reform is midsummer moonshine.
Cable Rates and Cheap Telegraphy.