, 1877-11-24
Our Washington Letter.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 5, IS.

|
terdav while ensaring beyond possibility of
change democratic majority IN the United
States senate in 1879. and adding Pennsyl-
wanna to the democratic column, did rot
bring so full measure of success rs many
| hoped for But there have been no losses,
and the moderate gains may be better In the
| end than more brilliant but less substantial
ones In the forty-third congress the re-
publicans had large majority, but IN the
next one the democrats had majority OF
| eighty. If that eighty had been twenty
there is no doubt the party would be better
| of to-day Slow gains are sure cams.
Silver men are greatly elated over the pas
sage, in .he Eouse, of the silver remonetiza-
ton bill. II VIII be well to remember, how.
| ever, that the senate is yet in the way and
that even after the measure has gone through
| that conservative body it must sui receive
approval at the White House.
Neither viii it do to forget that the men
who seem to haze made Mr. Hayes clay III
their hands on all other subjects are bitter
| enemies Of remOnetization. Misunderstood,
however, that Senator Jones believes Hayes
has received a revelation on the subject OF
silver and will promptly approve the bill if
passed
The contest now in the Honse is on the
bill 10 repeal the resumption act, or so much
OF il as fixes 1873 as the date OF resumption.
The friends and enemies Of the bill look Tor
4 long contest. 1t may be said with certainty
that the representatives who were away when
the silver bill was voted on Will be IN their
seats whenever the question OF resumption
is to be considered Without expressing any
opinion as to the merits of the question, your
correspondent can say that he has rot the
slightest idea that the bill of MIR. Ewing,
which simply strikes out the date at which
specie payment shall be resumed, Will be-
come a law If Mr. Hayes is committed to
ANYTHING in such manner THAT he cannot
help himself, /: Is t. resumption III 1879. 1t
was easy for him and members of his cabinet
to give a thousand colorings To the civil SER
vice reform order, for that loosely drawn
document was apparently meant to mean
everything or nothing as occasion might re-
quire but his pledges on the subject OF
resumption are So numerous and ST. explicit
that he cannot evade them or explain them
away.
1t is needless to say that the appointment
of Hon. ID. ". voorhees, as Senator from
Indiana gives great satisfae- ION here, IN and
out of congress No democrat is more pOpu-
lar in Washington.
Your correspondent has rarely alluded to
reports of cabinet changes, rs those which
have been suggested heretofore have been III
various respects Improbable. There seems
to be- more than the usual foundation for the
one which indicates the early retirement of
Secretaries Schurz and Kay. lt comes IN
such 4 shape that it seems at least worthy OF
note.
so far, Congress has not even alluded, oih-
cially, to the great fire in the Patent Office,
or to any means of restoring the building, or
to the demonstrated Insecurity OF all the
public documents in various department
buildings. 1t was hoped that early action
would be taken on so important \ subject.
There seems To he 10 doubt but an appro-
p,iation will be made to ensure our repre-
sentation ut the Paris exposition next year
As usual, some viii susges: an eytrava9ant
sum, and others viii oppose an expenditure,
bat there is an excellent chance for common
SENSE to come In and have It's own way for
once As we manufacture the most perfect
agricultural machinery III the world, and
many other things for which there Will be an
enlarged foreign demand whenever their
exeelleneeandeheapness are generally known,
it would seem that any reasonable sum spent
in securing American representation at the
great international fair would be well spent.
From the fact that less than the usual
number OF applications forpatents have been
made OF late, 1t would seem that inventors
Were fearful that the great Patent Office fire
had interrupted the work of The Office, and
hesitatcd to forward their models and papers.
The business of the Office is as promptly
attended to as usual, ard there is, to say the
least, no greater danger than before of the
destruction OF models and papers. In fact
there is less, owing to the greater care exer-
cised. REX.