The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-05-04
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON.
From our Special Correspondent.
WASHINGTON, April a, 1876

w ASdlNGION, Aprll At, lofO.
The events of the past two months are
fraught with interest. Frauds, high
handed and in high places, have been
unearthed; and, as our Sunday Capitol
says, when public man puts on his coat
in the morning he is not certain but that
he will take it off in Jail at night. His
tory reproduces itself; and our country
is rapidly tending to the condition of
ancient Rome in its latter days, when,
after the subjugation Of Carthage, sena-
tors and people in all conditions aban-
doned themselves to luxury and vice.
The first Scipio laid -Ae foundation for
the future grandeur of Rome; the last,
by his conquests, opened the door to all
manner of luxury and dissoluteness.
Washington laid the foundation for q
great and glorious republic; Grant,
(called the second Washington,) by his
corrupt administration and expensive
style of living, has had an influence
upon officials and their families most
pernicious. "The morals of the palace
are the morals Of the people"
The humane are interested in the in
vestigation (which has awakened SO
much sympathy of the United States
Asylum, located here, for which vast
sums have been appropriated by Con-
gress to make it one of the finest in the
country. 1t is handsome to look upon.
The buildings are large and solid, and
the grounds beautifully laid out and
greatly admired; but there the beauty
ends, for the soul sickens to read the
testimony where patients have been
kicked to death, stripped and placed in
cold rooms during winter, knocked down
by attendants, the food scant and un-
wholesome, and convalescent soldiers
made to work ten hours day for the
Superintendent, sometimes in water
nearly up to their knees. All of these
abuses have been brought to light, and it
is to be hoped punishment will fall where
it is due. 1t is most unaccountable that
the treatment of the insane whenever
investigated is found to be brutal. I
heard person say, "Take humane
man and place him in such position,
and he would become so Injured to woe
and misery as to become callous and
hard-hearted." Such being the case, it
would benefit humanity to know the
length of time necessary for the transit
tion, so as to have them removed before
elimination. Too long tenure of office
is conducive to tyrany and all of the
evils in its train. Third terms even are
Objectionable.
Friday, April 14th, the colored people
of this city celebrated the anniversary Of
their freedom by raising statue to Lin
coin. Only eleven years have passed
since his death, and the colored people
have raised monument to him. The
day after his death a colored washer
woman out West sent five dollars towards
the statue, which sum has swelled to an
amount sufficient to cover the expense.
What have the American people done
for Washington, who did SO much to
make us free people? The Continental
Congress on the 9TH of August, 1888,
unanimously resolved to erect an eques-
trian statue of General Washington at
the place where the seat of Government
should be established; on the Oath of
December, 1899, the National Congress
passed resolution that marble nionu-
ment be erected in the city Washington