The Hartford herald., 1880-06-23
Washington Letter.


Washington Letter.
The thousands of government clerks
and officials in Washington who hung
around bulletin boards four or five days
shouting for their fav0rites are a Woe
fully disappointed lot since the final re-
suit at Chicago. Never did a presiden-
tial nomination fall 80 fiat as this one,
here at the Capital. Politics have de-
cidedly practical aspect To these govern
ment employees. With them it is not
only n question of getting Il favorite
candidate, but of getting one who can
win and keep them i'm their nice, soft
places. A few years back they had no
fears and bet on the candidate every
time, but since the election of 1876, they
are very shaky, and to-day half of them
are making calculations upon Il sudden
departure from Washington soon after
the ith of March next. This is no joke
1t is the truth. A large majority of
these people We're for Grant. Many of
them came i'm during his two terms and
they know him and have great faith in
his star. They would have felt safe
with his nomination. Among the 9TH
ers Sherman and Blaine were about
equally favored, but Garfield was not
thought of, and he was not wanted.
Ask Republican what he thinks of it,
and his first words will he, 81 an disap-
pointed" And so they are, all of them.
There may be no antagOnism in the
party for Garfield, but there is also no
enthusiasm. He was not wanted. His
record is not good; he is not u stalwart
i'm the regulation sense, and he is pOpu-
lar with an administration that is very
unpopular with the party. The long,
bitter struggle in the convention be-
tween the two leading factions engen-
dered conditions which were likely to
render any nomination hazardous, but
either one of the prominent candidates
would have met with the unbOunded en-
thusiasm on the part of his own faction,
while Garfield is u wet blanket to all ot
them. And then to think of the tail Oi
the ticket is only to provoke a laugh. Ii
certainly is n bad case. The nomination
of Arthur is regarded here rs n piece OF
malice on the part of Conkling. Ger
tainly to put on to the tail end of n re-
form administration ticket a man whom
Hayes and Sherman kicked out of the
New York custom house, because he
was corrupt and unfit for the place, Is a
piece of sarcasm Of the highest order.
The National Republican publishes
what it calls some "reminiscences of the
candidates, but they are not half 50 TAX
ing rs some "Reminiscences" published
i'm the Post, quoted from Garfield's rec
ord and from the letters of Sherman
and Hayes To Arthur when they re-
moved him.
The censlis-taker with his bottle OI
standard ink strapped over his shoulder
and big portfolio under his arm is now
abroad in the land. From all accounts
he does not have smooth sailing every
where. There are still some people who
do not understand the Uses of census
taker. The troublesome cases are most
ly women. The dOmiciliary visit OF
the enumeratOr finds her i'm possession,
the husband, or other male members @:
the household, at the store, shop, or ont
i'm 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 cen
sus enumerator is sort Of legalized im-
pertinence. The printed list of ques-
tiOns, which rs neighbOrly gossip she
would answer i'm ten minutes any day
i'm the week, are fraught with an awful
significance. If she is ignorant she
never heard of the census, and is ready
from the outset to slam the door i'm the
face of the enumeratOr. If she is intel
ligent and understands what it is about,
she is snot at home" or treats the Of
Tending caller with scOrn and indiffer-
ence. On the whole, she don't care for
the census, anyhow. 1t smacks too
much of cOmpulsion. The interrOgatory
comes coupled with threat. She may
think her answers are to be printed i'm u
book opposite her name i'm big type,
and she is reluctant in stating anything
which shall not he read with interest
and to the family credit. She is "nOt
certain,r or she "forgets," or she "won't
say for sure" She will cram the un-
happy enumeratOr with family history
on every point but the official one he
desires and insist on his taking it down.
She will give her eldest child's age as
thirty and her own at forty, and leave
the enumeratOr to account for the dis
crepancy. On this particular head she
may often tell the truth, but she Is evil
IDENTIFY not expected to do so. 1t is
stated by experienced census takers that
not more than one woman out Os every
twenty can be believed on her statement
as to her own age; and further, that it is
customary for the enumeratOr to rely
upon his judgment in that matter. TAX
ing one consideration with another he
earns his two cents on every woman, If
he does not get her ideas at dead loss.
The only way to get even Is to fill up
with few fictitious names, and this Is
what the energetic enumerator probably
often does.
The Spring TrOtting meeting of the
National Fair Association was almost Il
total failure. The most noticeable
feature of it was big "chuck" wheel,
operated i'm a prominent position on the
quarter stretch. The police winked at
it, and concentrated their forces to
pOunce upon the small boy who at
tempted TO teach the country youth the
magic of the "sweat" cloth behind the
fence. Our scrupulOlls police, however,
probably recognized q difference be-
tween "chunk" game under the aus
pices of the influential Fair Association,
and II "sweat" game operated for the
exclusive benefit of the urchin owning
it. But as there We're light receipts mt