Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1880-10-08
FROM WASHINGTON.

september, ana nor once the lalen-
dar division Of seasons seems to APP
ply 10 us. The abscntccs have re-
turned III droves and Washington
begins to hc itself again. Probably
there is no city in the universe de-
serted by SO large proportion ofits
population during the summer
months. Congress is gone, with all
its employees and attaches, and
the other departments of the govern
mcnt run on abou. half their force,
Half remains whi,c the other goes,
thus dividing time between them
until all have had holiday OF
course these oyer-worked goven-
ment clerks need a couple of months
rest They work us much as four
or five hours n day during the re-
mainder of the year, some Of them
and some Of them don't II il
one of the campaign cries of the rad
ical party that the Democratic Con-
gress has crippled the government
by cutting down the force IN some
of these departments and refusing
to appropriate money for so many
fat salaries But il is all hosh |
am pretty thoroughly acquainted
with th1 workings OF all the cxccu.
tive departments, aud can state with
u good deal of cmphaticnoss that in
nearly every one of them the force
is still unnecessarily large, with num-
erous sinccures here and there that
might we'll b. dispensed with.
know one fourteen hundred dollar
clerk who says he is employed to
lift the paper weights from one
position to another on his desk, and
he is noexception.
There are many others whose
services are ust about as extensive.
There may be one or two bureaus,
IN some Of the departments, where
the clerical force il none too large
or not large enought, but TO meet
this some Of the idle ones should be
transferred from other bureaus of
the same department,
But if anything proves that we
have II great many more officials in
III our civil service than there is any
need Of, it is the spectacle now pre-.
sentcd, all over the country, Of
thousands of salaried officers of the
government absent from their posts
and dcvoting the time for which the
people pay them TO campaign work
for the radical party.
1t is estimated that the aggregate
salaries of the officials thus engaged
amount to over three millions of
dollars.
Cabinet ministers, heads Of bur.
eaus, chiefs of departments, foreign
ministers, collectors Of revenue, dis
trict attorneys, marshals, and OIL
cials of all kinds are thus employed,
while the business of the govern
ment is neglected. If there is any
need ofall these oilic, rs they should
be at their posts attending to the
duties for which they are SO liber-
ally paid, but if they have no du-
ties demanding their attention,
their positions should be vacated
The people at large know very lit
tlo concerning the extent 70 which
this abuse is carried, and that, too,
under an administration which
started out with such extraordinary
professions Of n pure" civil service.
There IL not much to talk or
write about IN Washington now,
except politics, but Of that we have
right smart, as they say in Vir-
ginia.
The currentseems to running NIL
one way, however, and the straits
and tribulations Of the Republican
committee begin to manifest them
selves. Maine was crusher 10 the
Radical cause, and people not nc
qnaintod with the inside workings
of the campaign can not appreciate
the extent Of decentralization Tint
followed the result in that state.
Lack Of funds il one Of the diff
culties the Republican committee
encounters now for Tie first time in
its history. OlIice.holders and
wealthy politicians are not as free
70 pony up" for losing cause MS
when victory seems certain.
And that is what is the matter
with the radical cash box. The as
sessments made early in the cam
paign were very generally respond
cd 70, but, 70 begin with. the money
was squandered where il has not
done much good, and now the ef-
fort to collect a new levy is fraught
with mnch difficulty. Every per.
son holding an office under the
government, from clerks and Off
cials ~ scrub-women and sweepers
In the departments, and Notaries
Public all over the country have