Idaho semi-weekly world., 1880-06-22
WASHINGTON LETTER.
from our regular Corresponient.]
WASHINGTON, June 10, 1880.


around bulletin boards four or five
days shouting for their favorites are a
woefully disappointed lot since The
final result at Chicago. Never did a
Presidential nomination fall SO fat as
has this one here at the Capital. Poll
tics have a decidedly practical aspect
to these Government employees. With
them it is not only a question Of get.
ting favorite candidate, but of get
ting one who can win and keep them
in their nice, soft places. A few years
back they had no fears and bet on the
candidate every time, but since the
election of 1875 they are very shaky,
and to-day half Of them are making
calculations upon sudden departure
from Washington soon after the 4th
Of March next. This is no joke. It is
the truth. A large majority Of these
people were for Grant Many of them
came in during his two terms and
they know him and have great faith
in his star. They would have felt safe
With his nomination. Among others
Sherman and Blaine were equally ia
vored, but Garfield was not thought Of,
and he was not wanted. Ask a Re
publican what he thinks of it, and
whatever he may finally say, his first
words will be, i am disappointed" !"
And SO they are, all of them.
There may be no antagonisms in the
party for Garfield, but there is also no
enthusiasm. He was not wanted.
His record is not good; he is not
stalwart In the regulation sense, and
he is popular with an administration
that is vely unpopular with the party.
The long, bitter struggle in the con-
vention between the two leading fac
tlons engendered conditions which
were likely to render any nomination
hazardous, but either one of the prom
inent candidates would have met with
unbounded enthusiasm on the part of
his own faction, while Garfield is a
wet blanket to all of them. And then
to think of the tail of the ticket is only
to provoke laugh. 1t is certainly a
bad case. The nomination of Arthur
is regarded here as a piece of malice
on the part of Conkling. Certainly to
put on to the tail end of a reform ad-
ticket man whom Hayes
and Sherman kicked out of the New
York Custom House because he was
corrupt and unfit for the place is
piece of sarcasm of the highest order.
The National Republican publishes
what it calls some "reminiscences of the
but they are not half so
taking as some "reminiscences pub
lished in the Post, quoted from Gar
fields record and from the letters of
Sherman and Hayes to Arthur when
they removed him.
The census-taker with his bottle of
standard ink strapped over his shoul-
der and big portfolio under his arm
is now abroad in the land. From all
he does not have smooth sail
ing everywhere. There are still some
people who do not understand the uses
of census-iaker. The troublesome
cases are mostly women. The domi-
ciliary visit of the cnumerator finds her
in possession, the husband, or other
male members of the household, al
the store or in the fields. 1t is the
women of the country who furnish the
statistics, and woman is said to have
no head for figures. Now, to most
women the census enumerator is al
sort of legalized impertinence. The
printed list of questions, which as