Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-02-14

tne interior. MIS-. nOmpSOH mas so Iar rec0F-
cred from her recent indisposition as to be
| able to see visitors. while seated on sofa.
! II Cr two daughters, her niece, Miss Stem, and
the, daughter of Bishop Simpson pleasantly
welcomed all who came to the home of the
| Secretary of the Navy.
Mrs. and the Misses EvartS received q large
| number of calls.
Mrs. John Sherman. Miss Sherman. Miss
| MOultOn, and Miss Parsons made the home of
the Secretary of the Treasury very bright
| mat gentleman himself joined the party after
four O'Clock.
Secretary McCrary made some calls at the
| residences of his colleagues yesterday. He
was accompanied by cousin of his own name
from keokuk. Mrs. McCrary had an agree
| able reception.
Attorney General Devens made calls yester-
! day with Chief Justice Gray, of MaSsachu-
SettS: The latter is about the largesJ man in
Washington at present, Width and Wisdom"
| OF Massachusetts like that of the United States
seems to develop the two simultaneously.
Mrs. John Lee and her daughter, Miss Annie
| Lee had " lea yesterday afternoon, which
was numerously attended.
The Assembly given by the Washington
enjoyable abe GENERAL Sherman na and we General srH
| Van Vliet We're among those who most fire.
quently Joined in the dances. Both of these
other veterans of war and society, We're
among the dancers the previous evening at
| Mr.. and Mrs. LOWrieS' party
| General Martin, of South Carolina. who is a
| ciassmate of Generals Sherman and Van Nliet.
is now here, and made calls with the latter
! yesterday.
Mrs. Mulligan, the widow of the brave gen.
| eral OF the name who distinguished himself
| during the war in western campaigns, is al the
| Ebbitt House. She is said to be endeavoring
| to obtain the Chicago pension agency now
held by Miss Sweet.
Mrs. Sherman has lost one Of her bright trio
| of young ladies. as Miss MOultOn is now visit
Judge BARLEY.
| Miss Minshall, of Terre Haute, was expected
to arrive last evening to make visit to the
The Unity Club meets at s J. Bowen's on
Friday evening, when A. X. SpOtford, esq,
will deliver an essay on "Traveling at Home
mgton with high reputation as writer and
elocutloniSt. will give recitation.
THE RETURNING BOARD CASES MeSsrs
Shellabarger and Wilson, Of this city, who are
acting as advisory counsel for the members of
the Louisiana returning board in matters that
need attention here. have received letter
from the Hon: John Ray, one OF The counsel
for Messrs. Wells and Anderson, in which Mr..
! Ray reviews briefly the condition of the re-
turning board cases, and says: The conyic-
| ton OF Anderson and of the entire board is
l0regone conclusion, and nothing can save
them if they are tried in the state court. 1t
makes no difference what the law and what
the evidence may be, the public prejudice,
aided by the manipulation of our state law in
| procuring jury, makes conviction certain.
| They have no chance. think ! explained
| tulS Hdttti eo you Nnen last Ill washington.
| Under the statute and the civil rights bill this
| question can be reviewed by the T. S. Supreme
| Court on writ of error from our Supreme
| Court, but in the meantime you see the conSe-
| quences. We are in a bad condition, and no
| help or hope. Anderson is as innocent of the
! crime as if he had never been on the board ::
! yet he has been convicted. God help us
THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON POST OFFICES
and post roads agreed to-day to postpone ar
tion on the nomination OF Reed to be postmas
ter at Toledo until the 7th of March The COM
| mission of Bowling, present postmaster at To
| lodo, expires on the 5th of March, cOnSeuuent-
~ vacancy OF at least two days will exist in
me Toledo post office. Ben Butler made an
| argument before the committee to-day against
| Il favorable report on the nomination Of Sar
| gent TO be postmaster at Nethuen. Mass A
one-legged eX-sOldier by the name OF COgswel
| IS postmaster at Methu-n. and his removal is
! not desired by majority Of the citizens Uithe
| town. Butler said that the President ma le
| the appointment OF Sargent without full I'M
der>tandlng OF the ease, but declined to with
| draw the nomination and suggested to Batter
| that he represent the facts Of the case to the
committee having the nomination in charge.
AN IMPORTANT REFORM IN THE MAIL LET
| TINGs.-The Post Office department has ac
| cOmpliohed a substantial reform in an import
ant branch of its operations. Such arrange
| ments have been made that great mail let
ting will be effected without furnishing the
| slightest ground for grumbing to the most
| "unc0nclllated contractor that ever failed to
obtain an award. The system of examining
proposals formerly employed by the contract
| office was so loose and offered so many OppOr-
tunites for fraud, that even when the clerks
| were irreprOachable there was constant room
tor suspicion and complaint on the part of bid
ders; and during ex Postmaster General jew
eIs Ofhclal reign these opportunities for
ncTo9kedness' were utilized, as dismissals,
based by him on this ground, testify. 1t was
| often intimated, when the former system was
in operation, that bids were destroyed and
others substituted in their stead, and that the
marks OF identification, which were merely the
initials OF bureau officers. were counterfeited,
and there is, unfortunately, good reason to be-
| neye that the charges were not in all eases un-
founded; Under the present administration
| IL was determined to make radical change
! and the Second Assistant Postmaster General
both to silence complaint and to protect the
the Postmaster General that the preliminary
work on the proposals be done outside OF his
bureau by commission especially appointed
for this purpose. This new plan was applied
| to the great mail letting for eighteen states
and territories west of the Mississippi, which
Is one OF the most important labOrs of the de-
yolyed and from the fact that it includes the
bulk of the star service of the United States,
Tor the compensation of which special compu-
tation is necessary, while the compensation of
steamboats, and railroads is determined by the
weight OF the mail matter. On February I'd,
| at 3 o'clock, which was the fixed limit for re-
were placed was locked. The keys to the iron
door OF the vault were kept by the Postmaster
GeneTal, and those to the wooden door by Mr..
! llaZen, Third Assistant Postmaster General
who, with MIR. Marshall, superintendent OF the
| railway mail service, constituted the appointed
commission, On February 4th this commits
| sion, assisted by clerks detailed from all the
| bureaus Of the department except the
| contract Office, and changed from day
| to day, proceeded to open the proposals
Each bid as opened was stamped with a com
| blned ting stamp and special device from
die made by the Bureau of Engraving and
| frlntlng which it is claimed cannot be imi
| tated, and numbered by a paging machine
| from the Government Printing office. Thus
| the bids are counted, distinctive mark
placed on each, and its destruction prevented
| When this operation was finished for all the
| proposals the work of recording the number
| OF each bid, the name of the bidder the num-
! Der OF the route, the amount of bid and note of
| any lnfOrlnality was begun. This register when
completed, will be placed in the hands of the
| postmaster General, and will furnish him an
| easy means Of determining whether contracts
are rightly awarded. Finally the bids as re-
corded are turned over to the contract office
ior classification and the award of contracts
| 1t Is arranged that the Postmaster General
| shall retain the die as we'll as one set of the
| Keys TO the vault in the intervals between
Working hours throughout the entire opera
| uon. The importance OF the letting is com
| mensurate with the precautions observed A
| total OF 25,l2 bids were received, distributed
II fnltrr