The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-08-22
nuR WASHINGTON LETTER.

OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
To TIE EDITOR OF THE NEW NORTHWEST;
One of the most ludierous of episodes
occurred here recently in a wOrdy en-
counter between Columbus Alexander
one of our citizens, and Hon. Eppa
Hunton, a member of Congress from
that portion of Virginia opposite the
District. Alexander is a wealthy curb
stone broker, whose ideas never go be-
yond per cent, aud who will resist pub
lie improvements which involve him
in expenditure for taxes, as perth
naciOusly as he would insist upon a
debtor complying with what is nomi-
mated in his bond. He fought the Boss
Shepherd dynasty under the battle-cry
of fraud ring" until, through his zeal,
he became somewhat OF a mouomaniac
on all tax matters. His Imagination
pictures every member Of Congress, or
official who has to do with affairs of
the defunet Shepherd government, as
so many members Of the "ring Of
"a eAAAhs @fAAs AAu4A0AA aAo1AoAEA III NiAooll4E
a bill regulating tax assessments,
thereby arOusing Mr.. Alexander's ire,
and he at once rushed into print with
an article charging "ring" upon Mr..
Hunton, which, OF course, elected
spirited response. In the subsequent
correspondence Mr.. Hunton sent a
challenge to fight, but Alexander con-
fined himself to the glory of being a
Nirginian, leaving Hunton no al
tentative, under the code of honor, but
TO post his opponent as a liar and
coward. Both parties are men nearly,
or quite, sixty years Of age, and their
belligereut exhibitions are so supremely
ridiculous that every body is wishing
the farce had been continued; for, if n
duel had been reached, "Midshipman
Easy's" triangular fight would have been
surpassed in laughable details and con-
sequences. But Nirginia's wounded
honor is atoned, and we thank Mr..
Alexander for demonstrating, beyond
all question, that capital is timid and
cautious in assuming risks. Mr.. Hun
ton is now busted in securing a re-nomi-
nation, and has his hands full in trying
to distance his many competitors. He
figures in the history of the late war as
the General commanding the rebel
forces at the Balls Bluff defeat, in
which the gifted Senator Baker, Of Cal
ifornia, was killed. Bakers statue
stands in the old Hall Of Representa-
tives, California placing it there as one
Of the two statues to which she is en-
titled, and his opponent, General Hun
ton, is now one of our Lawmakers.
One can hardly realize the changes
which time produce, and nowhere in
our country can one find more seeming
anomalies than right in the capital.
Mr.. McMurtrie, who represents the
agricultural department at the Paris
Exposition, writes General lie Due, the
commissioner, that American wines
and Minnesota sorghum sugar are at
tracing much attention from French
men. One large dealer desired to pur-
chase a cargo Of the sugar, and claimed
it to be a better article for all purposes
in his line than any beet OF cane sugar
he had ever seen. Representatives from
all the large cities of France, excepting
Bourdeanx, had sampled our wines,
and pronounced them equal to French
wines of the same name and grade
This is a high compliment, and we may
presume that, as Bourdeaux wines are
without exception spurious and adulter-
ated, the taste of its experts is hardly
competent to judge our pure specimens,
hence, their absence from the test.
People are generally ignorant of the
fact that Bordeaux wines are manu-
factured to order, and that its clarets
with high-sounding names are sheerest
humbugs. y few years since a suit in
the United States Court in New York
City over cargo Of Bourdeaux wines
brought out this fact, and any Amer
ican who, after reading the minutes Of
that trial, can allow himself to believe
/ he is drinking wine when imbi6ing
French claret, must subscribe to Bar
NUNS doctrine, that man prefers to be
humbugged. or the one hundred and
eighty varieties of American grapes
grown in the experimental garden at
Montpelier, the Cynthiana, Jacques,
Norton's, Virginia, Hermon and Herbe-
mont prove the best, and are more ex-
tensively distributed by the govern
ment. These varieties are little grown
here in their native country, and we
dou9t whether any of them would take
a third-rate position in a wine-grower's
convention, yet they develop into the
| first in France. FELIX.
Washington, D. c., August ID, 1878.
/ How To Stop YOUR PAPER.-Occa-
siOually, TOR some reason of a personal
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