The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1876-03-03
WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON, d. c., Feb'y 26, 1876,
Special Correspondence.

| departmental to witness the immense amount
of circumlocution and rcd tape, necessary
to get even small matter attended to. The
latest illustration of this fact was when the
House requested the Secretary of the Treas
ury, by resolution, to furnish list Of pri-
vate houses used for public purposes in
| Washington, with amounts paid for rent, &c.
| When the answer returned to that body, it
was found to have passed through the hands
of six clerks, and the assistant secretary !;
all this to prepare letter which an ordinary
man of business could wrto in couple of
hours
The work of investigation has now be-
come so immense that the committees have,
many of them, been compelled to ask leave
to sit during the Session Of the House. The
Naval Committee especially has its hands
full. At every step they find some new
wrong to be righted, some additional fraud
| to be rectified and punished. 1t would not
be at all surprising if these committees
should be compelled to sit during the whole
recess.
Mr.. Banning, of Ohio, has introduced a
bill for the gradual reduction of the Army
to eight regiments of cavalry and twenty
three of infantry, and a single corps of
artillery.
In the Pension Office yesterday, forty-fve
clerks, mostly ladies, received their dis
missal. For the majority Of them there has
been no real use, and as many were brought
here by parties in power, from distantStates
it is likely there may be positive suffering
among them. A clerkship is certainly the
most thankless office on the face of the
earth. The pay is mere pittance compared
with what might be earned by the same
person in other pursuits, and the life is one
of constant and unremitting drudgery, COM
pared with which the existence of pillow
boy is paradise.
General Fremont has been before the
Committee in regard to the Memphis and
El Paso r. II. matter. There was, undoubt-
edly, as it appears, large amount of money
spent but no Congressman received any
thing, according to his showing.
The Senate Finance Committee reported a
bill Friday, amending the law to refund the
national debt, which increases the amount
of bonds bearing A per cent. interest to
five hundred million, and provides for their
redemption after thirty years from the date
States.
Nothing attracts more general interest
here-as it should all over the whole country
than the investigation of the doings and
misdoings of the Board of Audit 1t came
into existence soon after Shepherd was over
thrown. Shepherd, however, merely stepped
behind the scenes, for he continued in re-
ality as much the master of District affairs
as when actually governor. As sample of
how things were managed by the Board of
Audit, l may mention the fees paid to
Mattingly, Stanton and Harrington, three
attorneys who conducted Shepherds de-
fence before former committee. The first
received $1,000 the second $4,000, and the
last $4,000. In addition. to these claimst
(which were paid,) large and exorbita
sum was paid to Murtagh, whose bill, it ap-
pears, Shepherd himself promised to secure
but being himself deposed, compelled the
Board of Audit (his satellites) to settle in
full. This is but one of thousand in
stances in which the Taxpayers of this
District have been fleeced and plundered
under the forms of law These claims were
paid, too, against the earnest protest of
numbers Of influential citizens.
A III,
none Of the currency received at the Treas
ury is paid out again, and it is stated that
there is not sufficient on hand to last more
than two months. Pretty iinanciers, indeed
are our Republican friends, when they have
allowed matters to come to this point.
In the Senate, on Thursday, Senator
Withers called up the bill which provides
for the restoration to the pension rolls of the
names of those veterans of 1912 which have
been dropped from the rolls on account of
dislOyalty. There is really no good and
sufficient reason why these few old soldiers
numbering somewhat over two hundred
should be deprived of their pensions, and
kept in poverty, on account Of single mis-
take. 1t may we'll be taken as a sign of re-
turning good feeling when the Government
shows itself willing to set the example of
forgetfulness. BY the way, it is thought
there will be less reduction made in the APP
preparation for pensions than in any other
direction, though many changes will be
wrought in the manner Of its distribution
and a large reduction in the employees of
the bureau.
Arguments were listened to yesterday,
by the Committee on Post Offices, in favor
of abolishing the carriage of merchandise
by that Department. 1t will of course re-
dound to the interest of tho express COM
panies, if such action is decided upon yet,
in view of the apparent unreliabiiity Of the
mails, as evidenced in the number of arti-
cles consigned to the Dead-letter Office, and
recently sold, it may prove, while somewhat
more expensive, great deal more certain a
means of transit.
Hon. j ohm NJ. Rice, ex-Congressman, and
recently Librarian of the House, has re-
signed and it is rumored Hon. John d.
Young will be appointed in his stead.
The acquttai of Babcock, while it has
legally settled his innocence, has not by any
means done so morally. People shrug their
shoulders, and confidently believe that he
can never again assume the honorable posi-
ton which he once occupied in the Army.
He may not have received any of the pro-
ceeds ofthose frauds, yet he touched pitch,
and was defled."
Speaker Kerr has returned after a short
vacation. His health seems much improved
and he now presides with his accustomed
dignity,
Senator Sharon, of Nevada, has finally
made up his mind to look somewhat after
the interests of his State, and is now in his
seat,
IL l..