Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-12-15
Washington Letter.

The time for the beginnin-. of the
last session OF the k-ller- Robson
Congress Is near 1T hand. al d $
comiited Republican p ii S. Sen
ators, and Member, ui tie House are
again seen about the streets AMI III
the Hobbies oi the hotels II Is inter
estin5 to observe the effects Of de-
feat, shown IN IL wryness of visage,
and i'll Il certain bedragg lement of
mein ami manner which they all
have. A beaten politician looks as
much like a discarded lover as any
thing you ever saw.
Not since the election of Tilden,
have the office holders here been so
alarmed and SO respondent. The
Machine barrel is empty. The i'm
mense sum that Jay Hubbell levied,
is worse than lost. 1t is now real
lied that his audacious bribery has
not only ruined his party, but has
made its ruin disgraceful. Many
believe that the regime of theft,
corruption, bribery, and bossism,
which has debauched the Govern
ment for SO many years, and, under
the banner of "moral IDEAS" has
stolen every thing, from Govern
ment stationary to Tilden's Presilen-
cy, is on it's last legs Notwith-
st2ndin. this is the hope and belief,
one sees very little of the eXultation
that was conspicuous here when q
Democratic Congress Was elected in
1874, or when Tllden was elected in
1876. This peculiar serious way OF
solemnizinS victory by reserve and
silence is all the more nying to the
vanduished. They regard it as ON
inous of moral and reserve force
that will be more destructive, in the
final onset, than noise and en,husi-
aSm.
1t is curious to note that the Re-
publicans base their hope of success
in the next Presidential election Oh
the prophesied blunders of the COM
inS Democratic Congress. Wait,
they say, until the next House as
sembles and has n rough and tumble
fight over the Speakership. Wait
until it has to face the tariff ques-
ton, the civil service question, the
river and harbor, and the pension
bills. If the next Democratic Con-
gresS wishes to accommodate its Re-
publican friends it will certainly
b.under, blunder early and often.
The Republicans draw q hopeful
au5ury from the fact that although
they lost the House in 1874, they
gained the Presidency i'll 1876.
There might be some reason in the
interference if they had gained the
Presidency without the help of Re-
turning Boards, Eliza Pinkston, and
the Electoral Commission. 1t may
be said that these forces will not
make the next President.
That the Democrats will make
some blunders in the IL, 1t Congress
is pretty certain, but they will be
numerically stronger than the Con-
gress that was elected prior to Til
denis election, and they will be
stronger in the talent and experience
of their personnel. On the other hand,
the Republicans will be weaker in
number, and by the absence of
Blaine, Butler, Garfield, Conger,
aud other able parlianentarians and
debaters. 1t seems to he conceded
that the incoming Democratic Con-
gresS must tackle the tariff sphinx,
claws and all. And, SO far, all sug-
gestions for candidates for the Speak
ership have been made solely with a
view to this question. There is an
other important question, however,
which no party can afford longer to
ignore. 1t relates to the reform If
the civil service. The Democrats
could not do wiser thing than to
pass a law that no clerk shall be re-
moved from an Office i'll which he has
proved himself honest and compe-
tent. To enact such law would be
right, as well as polite. 1t would
make Democrats of Il large number
of Government clerks, and of the
friends of civil service reform every
where. 1t would deprive their adj
versaries of their NEST telling taunt
that all the Democrats want are
the spells of office.
CHEHALIs.