Middletown transcript., 1877-09-22
Washington Letter.

" A5MAA9tNN5 -. 1s8 ASStte-s ASsA9
Cue hT one the roses fade. Mr.
Hayes Wi the first conspicuous viDlar
tpE 6f bin own civil service reform order
Id making a progress through Ohio
prior to the election. Then it was an
nounced In the face of thousand
promises to the contrary that Depart
ment clerks here this Fall should have
The usual election leave. Now It y
said that the civil service order does
not prevent voluntary contributions
of Office holders for political purposes.
'tVoIuntary contributions is what the |
great bull-dozer Zach. Chandler called
them when he gave the clerks to un-
derstand that they could do as they |
pleased about giving, but they must
sgiive OF 30" Two clerks will be wri-
ting OF d desk, and one viii be taken
and the other left, and the one that is
left viii be the one that has made his
voluntary contribution"
There Is mild kind Of curiosity
here to know what place Assistant Sec
retary Mccormick will receive if he
leaves the Treasury Department. He
il spoken Of by his friends for about
every important place in the govern
ment. from Minister to England to As
sistant Secretary Of the Interior. We
know that wherever he may 90 we
shall hear Of him--through the news
papers. His name Is one that McCor-
mick will not willingly let die for lack
of newspaper pufery.
1t is an ungraeious thing TO speak,
save in the way of kindness, Of any
| lady, and ] don't intend to do il; but
there il a silly story going around IN
the papers concerning Mrs. Grant
which ought to be corrected, and which
certainly was never told with her con-
sent. 1t is to the effect that an attache
Of the White House, retiring from ac-
/ tive service on account of sickness, re-
ceived every month from Mrs. Grant
4 check for 800, up to the time Of his
death. The truth IS, I believe, that
through the kindness Of Gen. Bah
i cock-a much abused man by the way
the name Of this employee was kept
| On the rolls and was paid regularly un-
til he died, but was paid by the United
States.
The State Department has nofurther
fears Of conflict with Mexico. Con
tinued peace with that country means
ruin tothose numerous spectators who
expected to enrich themselves IN va
rious ways if war occurred. Millions
upon millions Of dollars in claims
against Mexico would have appeared,
and the aid Of our Government have
been demanded to enforce their pay
ment. wrote you lately Of 9 Col.
johnson, who has over twenty millions
/ Of dollars in such paper, and he is one
Of MANY. Then there are companies
and individuals who claim that they
have rights in the great mines OF North
ern Mexico, and they, too, would have
profited by war, for the almost certain
result Of a contest would have been the
I ACQUISITION Of the Northern tier o.
: Mexican States BY us, and these mining
arightsn which are not recognized by
Mexico, would have had fairer chance
/ ofrecognition BY Uncle Sam.
Ex-Assistant Secretary Of the Treas.
ury SAWYER, and other prominent per.
sons are being tried "a our criminal
court. The charge is, that while saw
yer held the position named above, he
acting in collusion with the other ac
cused parties, secured the payment q
| d large amount Of money on fraudu
| lent claims. 1t is not likely Sawyer
Will be convicted, though the facts, d
stated, have little room to doubt hi
guilt. We all know that it is not al
ways possible to prove by legal evi
dence what appears plain to the ordi
nary spectator.
4 Payment Of pensions through the re
duced number Of agencies is made thii
month forth first time. There has beer
! considerable delay not incident to pay
ments under the larger number o
agencies. This may in part be RENE
died. The extra expense Of from twen
! ty-ive cents to d dollars, caused t.
MANY pensioners, il, however, neees
sity Of the reduction. All the pension
ers, in Baltimore, for instance, accus
} toned to draw their quarterly allow
J ance without expense, by simply going
! to the agency, in that city, are nov
. compelled, four times in each year, t
} prepare and execute papers and send
. them to this city. In all cities, wher'
! agencies have been broken up the sam'
: expense is incurred. a calculation
shows that the individual pensioner
will ii this way lose twice what tn
government will save. SoLoN.