New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1879-11-19
Washington, Letter.
(From our regular corespo ndept. :,

.t'- \trOm our regular cOreSpOndent.)
HE POLITICAL REHABILITATION OF
WAsH1NGT0N--A RETURN OF
STATESMEN AND DIPLOMATs-RE.
NEwAL OF LIFE ON THE AVENUE
A CONTRACT BETWEEN THE ENG.
L1sH AND THE AMERICAN GOVERN
MENT OFFICES. ~ ~ .<~. T..
Washington, D. G. Nov. 9Th, 70.
Washington is beginningt to reas.
sumo it's society smile and political
manners. Congress with it's numerous
nondescript train, is beginning to
arrive. The Executive and his ca.
binet have at lenght settled down in
their homes. Foreign ministers, at
taches of legation, military and ma
val officers may again be seen dri-
wing or promenading on the great
boulevard that stretches from the
Treasury Department to the Capt.
tol. Dashing government clerks,
aristocratic daughters Of a bankrupt
old regime, and stylish parvenudom,
opulent in government contracts,
vie in the display of Partisan fash
ions and American manners onPenn.
sylvania Avenue. In short the po.
litical mill, Mammons court, and
Vanity Fair, have been again
brought in proximity at the only
place where they can be seen in such
developement, on this side of the
globe. What are these to us or we
to them? Has not every American
Citizen political sphere in his mum
cipality. county or state! And as
for the sphereless sex, or, at least,
those whose sphere is in dispute,
have they not social realms of their
own-little pent up Uticas of fash
ion, narrow and provincial they
may call them, but they contain the
germ and the elements Of all that
we see in Washington, Boston, or
the proudest court of Europe. But
it is we'll for one, both bodily and
mentally, to get out Of his accus-
toned environment for, a little while,
and, as the most eminent investiga.
tors have not thought it beneath
them to study the lowliest form Of
life and the most primitive systems
Of polity, the American citizen and
cheyenne will find. their horizon
broadened and their usefulness en-.
CHANGED by studying political move
ments and social tendencies, at the
only seat of National Government
that is accessible to them. Those
who imagine there is nothing worth
knowing outside their own village
in Virginia, will make a greater mis-
take than the greatest mistake Of
DR.. Johnson, for the village which
he mistook for the world was Lon
don.
The habitue of Washington who
has been away during the summer
will observe but few changes. The
city has grown to such grand pro-
portions that the addition of a hun
dred or more houses make no per-
addition to the mass. It is
only when some new and imposing
building is added, like the annex to
the Smithsonian Institution, or the
new Government printing Office in
South Washing ton, which are about
half completed; that the architecture
aNyrowth can be seen or becomes con
splcuous. Few capitals have so
many and such splendid public off.
ces as our own, and on none is so
much money lavlshed for interior
adornment and luxury. In this res.
pect the contract between the u. S.
Treasury Offices and the Bank of
is striking and suggestive.
In the Treasury Department offices
are richly carpeted, supplied with
mirrors, easy chairs, and lounges,
in the other only coarse mating
covers the stone floor, and it is in
other respects furnished with little
ess severity than a prison. The APP
oearance of the committee rooms of
he House of Parliament contrast
with the chamber Of our congress.
'ional committees as does the cell Of
recluse with ladies' boudoir.