Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1881-03-30
From our regular correspondent
WASHINGTON LETTER,
WIsuIssIos ID, O., March %, 1851

some days past has been the question
OF an extra session, A week ago "
MAS regarded rs settled ati'rmal'Ve'S
but during the present week u has
been again involved in Doubt The
politicians arc mostly IN favor Of ",
and no doubt the call would have been
Issued on Tuesday had not p'ofes's
from business circles, and especially
tho banks, come In thick aud last -
OF course the hanks don't want
funding bill passed, aud they exert
greater influence than people generally
understand. Then, too, business mea
generally tear u session OF Congress
during tho spring and early summer
would do much to unsotlle trade ana
keep the country IN u state OF excite
ment. From New York, Boston,
Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Chicago
strong protests have poured in upon
the President, aud they have had
great weight. Undoubtedly the seS'
sion, II called, would extend far into
the hot weather, for the two parties
are so evenly balanced in both houses
that little progress could DO made in
the transaction of business TO which
either side unitedly objected, Po'
litical questions would certainly come
TO the surface, for one of the principal
objects OF the Republicans in calling
the session is to investigate Southern
elections with n view to unseatlns
number of members claimed to have
been unfairly elected, These objects
the Democrats would resist even to
the extent of filibustering against them.
Then the funding measure also IS a
source of difference between the two
parties. the Democrats favoring legls-
lation that is Objectionable TO the
banks, such as the fifth section OF the
bill vetoed by President Hayes
Secretary Blaine tavors the extra ses
sion chiefly because he thinks the
veto was mistake, or at least gave
an advantage to the Democrats an d
Greenbackers, especially in his State,
which he is anxious to counteract by
the prompt passage OLA funding bill
>h,ough Rep~Hl;aa" C""s-"aa. So
These are the considerations, pro and
con, relative to an extra session, to
which may be added the anxiety OF
aspirants for.the offices of the House
and Senate. ! will not undertake TO
predict the result, since it will be
known before this letter is in print
Next to the extra session question
the ofice.seeker has occupied most at.
tention Of late. The town fairly
swarms with them, and the button
holing process can be witnessed ad
Abituns any day or evening in the
hotel lobbies- Every one Of the De-
partments il overrun with them, and
the President has been besieged and
worried until be appears worn and
depressed. He commenced day or
two since to take regular exercise on
horseback to overcome the effects OF
this pressure and care. do not use
the term "office.seeker" in any often
sive sense, though that is the popular
thing. Any citizens has right to
seek an office if he wants it, and there
is nothing more certain than that he
will never get what he wants, in these
times, unless he does seek it. Every
man now in official station, high or
low, has been an office seeker at some
time, and the majority twill be again,
probably. But the trying feature of it
is that so many come at once, and
such large proportion aspire to places
entirely out Of their reach. Fewer
changes have been made by the new
administration than was anticipated,
and, of course, there are many dis
apointments. fl is now in order to
ring in that old joke about the man
who came on for an assistant secretary
ship, dropped gradually down thro'
the grades to small clerkship. aud
finally borrowed $40 to get out OF
town with. There are undoubtedly
many cases Of which this is an illustra-
ticn. For the one hundred and thirty
additional cleIkshirs voted by Con-
press for the Pension Office, there
were over three thousand applications.
So the distant reader may see that,
while bis right to seek office is un.
disputed, the chances Of bis getting it
are almost as they would be for draw
ing lottery prize. 1t is poor
business at best, aud any young man
who can obtain employment in any of
tho ordinary avocations Of lite, will 10
the end do better to keep away from