Salt River herald., 1879-01-04
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Correspondence of the HKRALD.
WASHINGTON, December ?

Without much preliminary foolish
 ness the house of representatives has
 made commcndable start in the se-
 rious business or the session. Five
 of the thirteen appropriation bills go
 through before the holiday reccss-a
 very unusual state of things-and
 somebody has just said that if they
 kept on this headlong rate, there
 wouldn't be appropriations enough to
 keep them at work until the 4th of
 March. But it would hardly be
 worth while for these solons to let uo
 on that account It is a good plan to
 do your work first and play after
 wards, Past experience, however,
 renders it a tolerably safe prediction
 that these congressman will find
 enough to tinker at up to the very last
 moment, and that the closing hours will witness the accustomed
 crash of belated business, and the
 usual attempt tG crowd five ordinary
 days work into ono. But such is life
 The senate has accomplished little
 beyond the paSssg ge of Mir Edmunds' electoral bill and Blainc's inquiry re- solution. The debate upon this lat ter question has not resulted in the party advantage which iis originators anticipated, nor has it greatly ad- ranced MT. Biaine's personal fortunes in the struggle for the presidency. It is conceded that nOtoricty, and con- maDdIng position for the nomination ip 1sSG, is what the senator from
 Maine is chiefly stliving for. The affecting scene at the late McCul- lough banquet, wherein MT Blaine and Joe. Blackburn, Of Kentucky, embraced across the table in token of returning fraternal feeling between tlle north and south, is aliunde to the senator's present attitude in the sen ate. SOciability-with little feast of reason and flow of soul'-is one thing, and party politics another. Us politicians all understand that Sen afor cOnkling shrewdly declines to play second fiddle to Blaine in the proposed investigation, and a special committee, instead of that on j':di- ciary, will be assigned to the work. Senator Thurman's amendment ex- tending the scope of this inquiry. so that it may possibly reach MasSachu- setts bulldozing, Pennsylvania Cam cronism, and a few other trihing mat ters, was adopted. Everything of party nature aside, it really does seem proper to look little into this huge swindle of federal supervisors of cleo tions. There are grave charges that it amounts simply to the purchase of a few thousand floating votes for per diem of S5, which is paid out of the United States treasury. A mo- ton to hold sessions of the commit tee with open doors, was voted down by the republicans. This seems grave mistake. The light of day can not possibly hurt an honest investiga- ficn- Every such inquiry, involving as it may, serious reflections upon in 1 and even whole commit l tees, should be open and above board, ] giving all an opportunity to know what is going on. The democrats, | none too liberal withal, sci a fair eX- ample in this respect, by opening the doors of the Potter committee, so that . the press had full reports, by its own representatives, of each days sessions. Doubtless the republicans will see the advantage of thIs before going very far.
 Work on the Washington monu- ment has been again abandoned. A score or more of plans have been sub mittcd for strengthening the founda- lions, though there is grave douhts that it needs any strengthening Nearly every engineer in the army, General Babcock, has re- ported observations on the subject, put Col. Casey, now in charge of the public buildings and grounds, has never had an opportunity to tell what le thinks about it; so the directors got together, and said Casey should lave a chance. He has since trans nitted his views to congress. Mean while the derricks and things are tanding around doing nothing and lot earning a cent Congress last ear appropriated quarter of a mil ion dollars to finish the monument, md the money has lain idle in the reaSury ever since. A good deal of ,ad blood exists in the old Washing on Monument Society, that has got way with so much money, as to what elation the society now sustains to he monument, and somebody must lpcido if probablx- boxva,-ar tL.+ | 2