The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1882-07-27
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From u Regular Correspondent.
WASHINGTON, D. G..
.Julv "a 1870

July. "a, 1882.
The "irrepressible confiet" Of the
present time is the contest between
merit and patronage in thecivil ser
vice. The question hobs up serene
ly every now and then in some form,
in Congress and on: of Congfess, and
it is bound to cause a gooddeal of
discussion and make a good deal Of
trouble, to the party in POWER at
least. for some years to cone. But
it does not need a microscope, nor
even a common pair of spedacles, to
discover that the present Congress
will not lie awake nights topromote
civil service reform. A proposition
to incorporate a small appropriation
in the sundry civil bill to defray the
expenses of the civil service commits
sion created by the revised statutes
was recently beaten out of sight
Men of the George William Curtis
stamp may continue to Eociferate
and agitate, but the contributions
will continue to flow in to III. Hue
bells committee just the same, and
we shall have exceedingly cold wealth
er in August. before and Very pfo-
nouced reforms are accomplished;
Speaking Of Iaya Habbell Reminds
me of the fact that he wants to she
coed Ferry as Senator frorE3tichi
gan, andjs directing his1a1tfgies to
some extenkin4tha direction. A
new soldiers paper has been ,estab-
Wished under the auspices of the
~cSmsnattee, Indirectly, and lis tp, be
fsentgraSuitously all over the West
@especiallyStto Michigan. 1T lfiss
ttles with attacks upon FerrysSf a
rather mild character. =
+ AAanew lot of Cabinet specoIatiShs
have broken out, and the gdssips in
the hotel Hobbies insist thai thersis
really going to be a change. Ellis
time it is the Secretary of State that
rumor says must go. The Chill
'fPeru business has no doubt been
the subject of talk in several Cabinet
meetings, but it is not thought there
has been any such an amount Of
character of discussion given it as
the gossips state. According to the
story, the President has been goad-
ed into thinking of a change by the
: comments of the Blaine journals,
who think Mr.. Frelinghuysen's pol
icy has not been aggressive enough.
1t is thought that had Blaine been
at the helm of diplomatic affairs the
f insulting letter recently sent our
Government by Martinez, the head
of one of the little and weak South
= American Republics, would never
have been written, or that if it had,
he would have received such ar an
. swer as would have stopped him from
; offending again in that direction
Those who r hanging about the
projected Cabinet change declare
that it is the Presidents intention
to make Gen. Grant his premier, an6
|, that his past career is a guarantees
that he will be aggressive enough t.
suit even the most warlike of the
r admirers of the Blaine management
t of foreign affairs.
One of the %recreations of Wash
ington life in the summer is stroll
ing about the White House goundl
on Saturday afternoons during tn
I Marine band concerts. There con
certs are really yerypAm1. AM
rEthe grounds GEaz-yy ~bessE, tn,
r combination suficing to attract
large concourse nearly every Satur
day. tits a good place TO meet PEG
] pie and get q Whit of the cool breez,
: sweeping up from the lazy old Poto
mac. When the President is at hom,
n he usually appears with a party o
friends on the rear porch, to take il
the scene and the music at d distan
from the miscellaneous and Demo
i cratic throng upon the lawn. Con
t gressmen and Senators and promi
nent visitors to the city often mipgl
with the listeners and the scene. il
frequently n of great brilliancy
On a recent occasion a group of New
r York men were chatting in the shad
2 ow of a grove, just below the Whit
. House, when ~ex-Secretary Blaine
Z with MI. Walker Blaine, s~aupteret
8 leisurely down the lawn and toward
this group. The ex-Secretary wa
s looking extremely well, and seemed
to be perfectly at cas- and comforta
BILE in the midst of the throng of PEG
. pie. He was known to some of tn,
e New York men, and he chatted will
t them about the weather, the Whit
House surroundings, and the sor
rowful scenes witnessed from tn
lawn a year previous when tn
wounded President was brought t,
> the real porch and waved his hant
o to one of the ladies who stood BY t,
t see him carried in.
g Among the prominent character
seen about Washington for some day
past is B. Gratz Brown, ex-Unitec
States Senator and Ex-Governor O
3 Missouri, and candidate for Vice
s President on the ticket with Greel,
n in 1872. His long, red whiskers hav
Eeen conspicuous at the Star-rout
{ trial this week, where he is in atten
e dance in the interest of Mr.. j. E
r Price, one of the accused. This il
d his first visit to the Capital for fiji
teen years, and he is greatly impress
ed with the wonderful improvement
{ that have been made in the streets
q the parks, the public buildings, an,
the general architectural appearanc
of the city; but it's with a somewha
j lonely and melancholy feeling tina
he looks in upon the Senate cham
i Der to find 81 few familiar faces
y The only Senators there now VIII
were his colleagues are Anthony
Edmunds and Sherman. Promo.
nh Ndnnr