Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-02-04
OUR WASHINGTON LErrER.


President making is the principal oc-
cupatiOn here with both parties. The
Republicans in the House relieved by be-.
ing thrown into minority from respon =
sibility for legislation, aud skilled as they
are in parliamentary tactics, watch and
wait, and trip the Democrats on every
question they put forward for party pur-
pOses.
The Democrats, who came into power
in the House upon promises of reform
and retrenehment, have frittered away
two months of the session iu W orss than
useless attempts to make political capi-
tai, every one of which have recoiled up
on their own heads, and firmly establish
ed Blaine as their master.
The Democratic campaign Of two years
ago that resulted in the election of an ex-
Confederate and D .mocraIic majority in
Congress, was based upon the assertion
quite generally believed then-that
fraud and corruption was running riot in
every department of the Government, by
which untold millions of the peoples
money was being stolen under cover o
appropriations. Elected mIinly upon
these representations, the Democratic
majority has been in power in the House
for two months, and what have they
done, and what are they doing? Have
they discovered and cut of huge frauds,
and thereby reduced the appropriations
Nothing of the kind. Are they predi-
eating future reductions upon the suppo-
sition that frauds exist, and the probabiI-
ity of their being able to lOp them OFF,
Nolh;ag of the kind; but instead, We
have this piliful confession from their
chairman of appropriations. that the re-
duction must be general and at a 1ni-
form rate of ten per cent
What pItiful showing after all the
boastlng. After your able Representa-
tive, Gen. Garfield, during the years of
his chairmansh'p of appropriations had,
with thorough discriminating knowl-
edge of the workings of the different de-
partments of the Government and their
needs, steadily and judieiously cut of su-
PERFUMES and reduced the apprOpris-
iions more than three hundred millions,
and believed that the same searching
policy of economy carried out for an
other two years would make a further
reduction of about eight millions, and
that that would be found to be about the
minimum that could be reached with
out crippling the service.
And now comes in Mr.. Randall, who,
by his own confession that he purposes
per eeutsse reduction. virtually ainits
that there is not much in our civil ser
vice tha. can be LETT of. Why, the msrest
school-boy could take the estimIiss OF
the different departm ms and figure of
ten per eent.-and yet that IS all that
Randall proposes to do. 'ls ii any won
der, then, that such statesmanship does
not quite strike the country into dumb
adminng aweY
I see by some of the northern papers
that there is an impression that Blaines
chances for the nomination has been In
iurpd with southern Republicans BY his
course on the amnesty debate. This Is
great mistake-it has had the Ell ct OF
bringing to his support a much larger
number of so1thern Republicans than
has ever Ibef6rr7 rallied around him.
Blaine viii go into the GlncinnGti con
venIion stronger than any other candt
date, bat probably not strong enough %
be nominated Ct first, and il is very iikeiy
to happen that so much feeling may afis'
between the friends OF Blaine, Aor'0u
and Conkling that q compromise man
will be taken up. In thst case, the optn-
ion here seems to be thai Gov. Hayes
would be the man. BUcKESE.
4 Washington. il" % 1874
II