The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1879-10-04

Our Washington Letter.
Craft ing Comparison Of American and
Foreign Trade Gen. Grants Nag
nifcent Reception Preparing De-
partmental Reports Enlarged
Postal and Commercial
Facilities Needed.
WASHINGTON. D. e., Sept. "a, 1879.
EDITOR CHIEF:
Every report from abroad gives
gloomy picture Of the affairs Of labor
ing and business men. From nearly
every section Of this country the re-
ports are exactly opposite. Secretary
Evarts, in addition to the general in-
quiries sent out from the State De-
partment to consuls and other officers
as to wages Of laboring men through
out the world, and to which 90 many
interesting replies were received and
published lately, has made success
full effort to gather information as to
business affairs abroad. The result
of q comparison of business abroad
with business at home is very graft
flying.
There il activity about all the pub
lie buildings of this, the peoples ma
tional city. The Departments are
getting their several reports ready
for the printer, the legislative and
judicial buildings are being cleaned,
repaired and altered, to make them
ready for Congress and the Courts,
and every thing seems to be in fair
state of preparation for the coming
season, except the index to the Con-
gressional Record for the extra session.
Of course this produces crop Of
allegations as to the reasons and mo-
tives Of the delay. It is said by Re-
publicans that the index is kept back
for the purpose of preventing the
Record from being used in the current
canvass as freely as it would be if the
index had been completed earlier.
The matter is not very important to
the public, but the swift charges
against the managing men of the two
parties are instructive as showing
how ready politicians are to find
fault with each other.
Quivering wires, power presses, and
whispering win,ls have borne to ham
let and home, on hillside and in val
ley, the glad news that once more he
whom tho whole world has delighted
to honor has set foot on the shores of
bis own, his native land. During all
his journeying the people of this great
country have rever forgotten him,
and around the hearthstones of this
nation the prayers of Christians have
INCREASINGLY been waited heavenward,
that he might be spared to return in
safety again to our shores. The To-
kio never bore freigbtage so pre-
cious and as eastward she steamed
toward the Golden Gate, the people
in expectancy with flushed hopes
spoke to each other, of the brightest
of earthly names, Ulysses s. Grant.
Old comrades in memory again lived
amid the scenes of wars stern reality
and made long, weary marches and
fought bloody battles. Mothers in
homes where brave ones come no
more to whisper their names, amid
their tears, caught the inspiration
that pulsated everywhere and filed
the people with enthusiasm at the
glad news of Grants return. The
enthusiasm kindled upon the golden
coast shall stream across the conti-
nent, and brilliant as the pageant
shall be, with its laundering cannon,
its banners Tapping in the breeze, its
bands playing, it's glare Of electric
lights, its rockets and Roman candles,
they will all but family express the
deep regard and affection the country
bears for the quiet, modest man the
world has so highly honored.
"Grant's name will live in history upon its
And never be forgotten when time is old
His noble deeds Of valor his country's flag
to save
Will live in story and in song long as that
flag shall waye."
When Congress assemblies an effort
will be made to extend our postal and
commercial facilities BY Government
aid. A partial plan failed last year,
through prejudice aud misunder-
standing, but the plan will be en-
larged so as to reach all interests and
extend our communications to all for
eign markets, in order to increase the
demand for our products. South
America is rich market for all our
surplus, manufactured or natural, but
the trouble is that England has such
a monopoly that private enterprise
can not compete with it. The Eng
lisll merchants have had the benefit
of Government aid, and ours can not
be expected to succeed against such
nilds nnlass some legislation Is granted