The Hartford herald., 1880-03-17
Washington Letter.

gNlltlilislll dttObIlt-
ed one of the slIrewdest political mana
gers, but in the conduct Of his cam
paign for the Presidential nomination
he seems to have lost his cunning; or
at least, in his anxiety, to have over
reached himself There is something
ludicrous rs we'll as deplOrable in the
persistent efforts made by the Secretary
to capture delegations from the South
ern States, and the methods employed,
apparently with the acquiescence OF
Mr.. Hayes, make n sorry spectacle of
the pretensiOns of this reform admins
tration. 4 prominent Republican said
to me in conversation recently: 81 am
surprised at Sherman. There was IA
time not very long ago when he was
regarded as the strongest competitor nf
Grant. His financial ability and con-
servative policy il was thought gave
him an exceedingly strong position, but
to-day he is almost without any
strength whatever, beyond that secured
through the most unblushing Use of
Treasury patronage" This is the ac-
tual situation so for as Sherman il con-
cerned and he will find at Chicago that
delegates secured by the influence of
Office-holders, or under promises of Of
fice-hOlders, or under promises of office,
are likely to bolt with great alacrity to
the winning side. His strength in
the Convention will be insignificant
enough to convince his bread-and-but-
ter brigade, perhaps before the first bal
lot, that their interests lie somewhere
else. Shermans's only success seems to
be i'm casting fresh disgrace upon the
hypocritical Administration to which
he belongs. 1t might not be satisfacto-
ry, hut ii would certainly I've instructive
were Mr.. Hayes TO attempt just one
more authoritative Interpretation of the
scope and meaning of that famous or
der about office-holders and politics.
Sherman has likewise brought discredit
upon himself by his recent order in
structing Custom officers to withhold
all information and statistics i'm rela-
ton to cargoes of imports or exports
arriving or departing, when shippers so
request. Congress has been memorial
lied to the effect that this order only
benefits spectators, and bill has al
ready been introduced making the
wIthholdings,of such information unlaw-
full. But this is not the only instance
wherein John Sherman has been found
on the eide of spectators and money
gobblers. Congress will be likely To set
down on him in this case, just as it has
deposited its corporosity upon Assistant
Post Master General Brady's Star
Route swindle. General Hawley in his
speech on the floor of the House de-
clared Brady's action in exceeding the
appropriations SO enormously in the
matter of the Star Route contracts "a
wanton defiance of law" that demand
ed the impeachment of its author. Bra
dy had a strong lobby working in his
interest, but the House has passed bill
checking his abuses, and it is not un-
likely that he will have to resign.
The long labor of the House on the
revision of its rule is happily ended, and
this is the last of that subject. Ii has
been a tedious task and consumed much
time, but it is believed that the advan-
tages secured will amply compensate
for it all. This revision is in fact
memorable event in the history of the
House, as it is the only general over
hauling since the first Congress.
Amendment had been patched on
amendment, and modification applied
to modification until the result was
chaos. The new rules will cause con-
siderable change in the daily proceed
ings, and greatly improve the order of
things. As finally adopted the rules
give the commerce committee full ju-
over the river and harbor bill
and the agricultural committee juris-
diction over the estimates for the Agri-
cultural Department. The amendment
giving the committee Oh public build
ings and grounds the right to report APP
for public buildings and
grounds was defeated. The most notable
event in connection with the final adop-
tion was the rlattening out of Snarley-
VOW Conger. He wanted to amend so
as to keep riders off from appropriation
bills, and when he found he could not,
as 'leader" of the Republi-
can side to fillibuster. But Garfield and
Frye Immediately sat down upon this
and the Michigan mOunte-
bank subsidized. Conger is one of the
souled partisan pests in Con-
gress. PHoNo.