Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-11-14
WASHINGTON.
WHERE MR.. BLAINE MISSED 1T
Slender Threads of Hope-Ths Latest
Bond Projects Spinner's Double Team
The Governmnt Clerk Hard Lines for
Chalmers-A Grim Joke.

tney aid not the stalwarts comprised the m a.
Jority of the Republican party. But Blaine
got more than he wanted. 1t is all nonsense
at the result of Tuesdays elections. On
the contrary he is as much cast down as the
most stalwart Of the Radicals. Modest Demo
ton OF much solidity. He could have then
played either of two games that he had on the
ooard he could have worked to become the
leaoer OF the N sJ 1,ify OF the Republicans, with
nope to 1884; or he could-and he was as
ready for this game as the other-have played
his cards so that he might be able to induce Ii q
DetnocFaflc party to take him up. But both
tness ambitions are In the air. The half breed
Republicans, 1t Is evident now, ara not in them
serves suf11cientiy powerful for him to expect
the Presidency at their hands; and the Demo
Gratis are so vividly on the topmost wave that
.ney cannot-even il they at any time desired
Lo-have any hing to do with fragments Of the
republican wreck in the trough of the sea.
am told by personal friend of Mr. Blaine III at
sna1 gentleman is fully alive to the situation,
ana that he does not for these reasons extract
any JOY from Tuesdays deluge.
THE RECENT REPUBLICAN DEFEAT.
The crushing Republ can cefeat of Tuesday
last SUN continues the absorbing topic of CON
versatlon In The departments here. The gov
ernm snt clerk is curious character Mercurial
in temperament, ,extFavagant almost tn imnrovi-
dence he lives a hand to mouth existence niti-
ful to contemplate. He owes his position to
the influence of some Congressman or Senator
AS long as his 1nfiuence" is gooa his tenure of
ONCE IS pretty secure But when this hacker is
relegated to private lfe or belongs to a faction
not in accord with the administration then his
troubles begin. There is alwsys a pressure for
place and the Incumbent is In daily. al n ost
nourY, dread or being forced out to make room
for the favorite of some one in position
to demand it. Under these circum.
stances there can be no incentive to
with religious regularity. and gives just as lit
tie In return as he can without laying himself
liable to dismissal. The hours are easy. Work
begins IN the winter at a. m. and closes
promptly at 4. They are an hour shorter ia
the summer. The average salary for women is
$50 month. Quite a numoer are paid 81, 200,
and, In some case s. s. ,40O year, but the latter
are exceptionally scarce Few men receive less
than $l,2OO They usually begin at that salary.
An Intelligent man who attends to business,
and whose influence" can be relied upon find s
little difficulty in securing promotion every
Two years A promotion always means an in
crease of $500 year; 81, 500 is the maximum.
Promotions above that make one a pc ty off,
cIal. Such officials are known as chiefs Z" They
nave charge OF a division in some bureau and
the control OF a limited number of clerks. The
pay OF these chiefs in the Treasury Depart
ment is 81, 100. Above them come the depu.
ties and heads of bureaus, with general sala-
ries ranging from $500 to $1,000.
There are Is, ,00J government employees in
Washinston. Five thousand are employed in
the Treasury alone. As many more are in the
Interior and the remainder are scattered
buCOukn Ln6 war state, Navy and Post Office
Departments An in9ulgent government al iows
them months vacation each year with pay.
There is no stopp ge Of salary on account OF
sickness so long as the clerk can produce phy
sician's certif ate OF disability
It will thus be seen that government clerk.
sh p Is really ''sofJ'' thing when compared 70
similar plsiti0ns ip other w~iks Of life But il
r. Tires as much tfflrt TO get one as a coBsu
late Few clerks live within their income As
= rule they are hopelessIy in debt, and when
dismissal comes 1t Usu ally finds them without a
penny. 1t Is for this reason that the shop
keepers and property owners OF the District
m SC OF Vh m are democrats, would view
with real alarm the overthrow of the Repubi
can party. Anything ike wholesale discharge
| or government employees would caus- a loca
pa lc Men who have nothing can pay nothing
| and the loss to the creditor class could hardly
be estim9ted
Speaking to New York gentleman on this
subject last nigh & friend Of Tilden'S, by The
oy). he said: The clerical force of the gov
ernment are needlessy alarmed. As a matter
or fact, the Democrats could not Sfford TO dis.
charge these men for year at least. The
majority are trained clerks whose kno edge
cou d not be duplicated in many months Uf
course there would be c1anges, but they would
be very gradual. and every man would have
ample time to prepare for it before it really
came. 7ilden had his own theory about this.
Before it was fully matured he had been chea
ed out of the Presidency. and / can't say ex.
actIy whatit was. The idea, however, as to
divide the Democratic party into two factions
on the distribution OF patronage Then when
demand was made for certain places ha would
say that the other side wanted them and they
must Settle the matter between themselves He
would thu avoid good deal Of embarrassment
at the beginning. and give the poor devils of
clerks chance to find another position -
THE PUBLIC DEBT.
There never has been a session of Congress
for years at which whack was not taken at
the public debt The next session will be no
exceOtlon to this rule. 1t is the intention to
attempt the funding Of the four per cent. bonds
into three per cents. These bonds, which are
not redeemable until 1907, can be converted
into threes at the consent OF the holders. There
are now two propositions by which to do this
The fours are now at a premium Of twenty per
cent Senator Jones, of Nevada, PROPOSES
TO give 5000 in threes for $3.50 In fours
adYantsge-while it would reduce the
rate of interest-that it would increase
the principal of the public debt Another
proposition which Senator Jones also talks Of
ana wnlcn Is approved by the Comptroller OF
the Currency, is to convert the three per cants
into fours upon the basis that the threes would
be at premium of five per cent. The fours
being at premium of twenty per cent
it is proposed to give the difference fifteen
per cent to the holders in cash. This would
not increase the debt, but would make con-
siderable iDroad upon the surplus revenues as
The amount OF four per cents. outstanding il
S739 9S9 600. 1he reserve can, however stand
1t. This plan will be recommended by the
Comptroller Of the Currency in his annual re-
port. It is also understood that Secretary Fol-
ger viii recommend it to Congress It ia a
method that would please the national banks
Under It's operations they could for Is per cent
less than is nov required to dep sit fours to
secure their circulation deposit the new t1rees
That 10 per cent. wou be a considerable
amount 10 add to the circulation OF the country
The banks could have that much more money
to lend at good rate of interest. One of these
schemes, probably the latter. may be adopted
with some notifications. The tendency is thus
gtFOnRIV maFka0 fn mt oil fbo 10 of
Der cent. And it should be remem bered that
when in the last of the Hayes administration
the Democrats passed per cent funding
DILL over the opposition of the Republicans
that Hayes, at the dictation of the leaders of
the Republican party, act ciuated thereto by the
big moneyed interests. vetoed that bill It is
well to remember these little things.
DIFFERENCE.
prominent officer OF the Treasury with
whom l was talking to-day got upon the sub
j9ctof General Spinner when that gentleman
was United states Treasurer. He said: You
know at that time one horse and sort of an
express wagon was allowed the Treasnrer's
ofhce. General Spinner wanted a two horse
carriage to ride about 10. So he bought an
other horse out OF his private means and paid
$50 towards the purchase Of a carriage The
government paid the balance. Then he was
all right and used to have q very nice time
riding and taking the ladies of the Office out
for an airing. Every once and a while repairs
were needed on the carriage Do you think
I16V were HceO6Q upon any DaFt OF IL DOuRlE
by the Generals $5Of Not much. Tue breaks
we're always in those portions Of the carriage
owned by the government; and the latter paid
for the mendiDg 1t was little funny that IT,
should happen that way every time, was it notg
After awhile one of the horses W mt blind. He
became useless Which horse do you think 1t
was that went blino? Was IL General spin.
ner'si Not by any large meJority. 1t was the
governments horse that was so afh cted." "
DIRE 1NPUpENoE.
NJ wabufar Chief CLARK ~ the n-oon,,--.
Department, is fnicsy and consequential. He
hangs on the observance of small things
with as much official requirement as
IL the fate Of the nation was involved
It was he who brought abont
the set of rules for the Treasury Department
which are ridiculous altogether, and petty In
many OF theie requirements. A beauti ul COPY
OF these rules adorn the wall in Mr. Wrhst..rsSs
room. He was Mortified the day after the alec
ton 10 discover that they had been Tnutilated
The muttatton contained a grim ,ka One
portion OF the rules reads: mo cleT K shall 90
out except"-and here follow the ex.entions
Somebody had taken pen ami scral cbed a hat
follows after toe word "out" thus making Ihe
pronunctamento read mo clerk shall 20 out y
an arrow was inserted after out and pointed
TO foot note at the bottom. That foot note
was: THESE rules do not q ply after ISS4r'
WHAT THEY TALK. OF NOW.
have stated in previous letters and dis
patches that the Republicans do not now even
make a pretense OF believing that their fac
ITO Will ever make peace 80 that things can
oe 80 patched up as to make decent fight In
15 "a against an united Democracy They ADMIT
that the Jig is up unless the Democrats make
mistakes. What do you think they put down
as the two leading mistakes which they expect
will be made to their advantage? The first is
they hope that the Democrats will elect Ran
dali Speaker Of the House. The second Is they
hope that following that mistake they will in
1884 nominate Ben Butler for the Presidency
AZ there IL not much chance of either of thess
things being done you can see "a by electric