The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1879-01-16

ticians to assist them in working up
mean, contemplate schemes, and be-
smearing men whom they dislike or
fear 1t has never accomplished any
real good, because If any violator of
the laws is ever discovered by the con-
cern, small " divvy" insures him All
easy escape. There are members of the
force employed who are baser by ma
ture and practice than the meanest I
thief they shadow or apprehend. The
Investigation by a Senate committee
into the charge recently made by one
of these tools against Senator Conover,
has caused Secretary Sherman to " re-
organize' the bureau, but the reorgan-
ization is only,a change in form, with
out effect. The fellow who has chang
led United States Senator of stealing
a clause from q bill which he had failed
to defeat, sstill retained, although in
vestigation fails to develop the faintest
shodow Of proof. Possibly somebody
paid to have the charge brought. The
bureau must co." The only service
it has rendered under the past and
present administrations has been to
make points" against parties person.
ally obnoxious to the President or Sec
retary of the Treasury, and to assist in
covering up actual frauds. 'z %
The efforts of the Republican Senate
to secure large appropriations for its
partizan officials to disburse, is not the
only evidence that the "hard times"
SO troublesome to most people have
not reached the north end of the capi-f
tol. The annual report Of the Secreta-
ry of the Senate recently rendered, is
an interesting exhibit. Among the
bills which Uncle Sam has paid are
charges for pocket-books, worth from
81 to 3.75 apiece; pocket knives, cost
$2O.4S per doz.; all sorts of fancy and
expensive note paper and envelopes,
visiting and mourning cards; cork
screws, worth $3.50 per dozen; auto
graph albums at prices ranging from
"a cents to $3.50 apiece; card papeteries
at SIS per dozen fifty pounds of gum
camphor, at 40 cents per pound; doz-
ems of gallons of bay rum at from S4
to $3.50 per gallon; cologne at Ss per
gallon; hundred thousand tons of ice
at Al cents per hundred weight; dozens
of gallons of alcohol ginger, essential
oils; shaving cream at SIS per doz.;
Pinaud's soaps and other articles suf-
ficient to equip well appointed fancy
store. Eight lunches furnished the
committee on appropriations, cost $3.50.
Eight boxes of lemons and 12O pounds
of sugar, which was used presumably
| for lemonade, cost $65. 40. Senator Nor
toms clerk of the committee of privi-
leges and elections, got, besides his
regular pay, $40 for "extra" services,
and i" Outrage" liar. Redpath got near
] ly 81, 900 for services with the sub-com-
| mittee that went to South Carolina.
The latter is now getting in his work
again with ihe Teller. committee in
New Orleans. -. -. '''5''
1t really begins to look as though
Georges monument will never be COM
pleted. When Congress several months
ago appropriated a big sum of money
for the purpose, people assumed, re.i-
sonably enough, that something would
speedily be done. The, old chimney
called shaft has stood twenty years
in the present unfinished Condition
and the derrick timbers on top of it
have creaked and swayed in the wind
until rotten, while the rain stains on
the white marble have turned from
red to brown. Last year there was
feeble attempt to spend the appropri;i-
ton, but strange to say, instead of be-
ginning on top of the monument, our
modern engineers undertake to finish
the shaft. by undermining its base, and
after a seven thousand dollar ditch had
been dug, they stop to consider what
to do next. Plan after plan has been
considered, adopted and then aban-
doned, and now they are Fostering
Congress again. Col. Casey, Superin-
tendent of Public Buildings and
Grounds has submitted his ideas, and
Mr.. Story, the Sculptor. has done like
wise. When the stone from Rome, as
the contribution of the Pope, was
seized and destroyed by the Know
Nothings, some ignorant old fool
prophesied that the monument would
never be finished. It certainly looks
as if the managers were in conspiracy
with the prophet, and by undermining
its foundation propose to give the old
tribute to the Father of his Country
such lift as to render its completion
an impossibility, if indeed they don't
topple it over into the neighboring
pond, and SO end it for all generations
to come,
A New England Senator is reported
to have been thrown out of his sleigh,
during the recess, and dragged some
distance while holdidg on to the reins,
whereupon local poet sings:
There was an old man who went out in a sled,
When the horses kicked up and Immediately
fled,
For they thought by the beard it was old Santa
Claus.
But when he fell out it was only old Dawos.
PHONO.
Letter From Chicago.
CHICAGO, Jan. 5th, 1879.