Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-03-22

FIGHTING FOR FUTURES.
Such was the Course Of the Last Congress, hut
the Darkness Is as Thick as Ever.

FIGHTING FOR FUTURES. /
Such was the Course Of the Last Congress, hut
the Darkness Is as Thick Ever. 1
Special Correspondence.
WASHINGTON. d. c., March 16.-No |
previous Congress ever closed with so |
much of political uncertainty in the pos
sibilities of the future. The old issues
forced upon the country by four long
years of war failing to inspire the
masses in the hustings and the forum,
party managers in Congress have not
been fortunate in finding new issues
with talismanic power to inspire
either the leaders or the rank and file
of the party. They were confronted by
an anomaly unlike any previous pre-
cedent, and both parties in Congress
were handicapped because there was
no great question upon which the scat
tered ranks of either party could be
rallied, There are numerous efforts
made by the republicans to snatch sue
cess out of the possible mistakes of the
democrats, but they were keenly alive
to the necessities imposed upon them
by the approaching campaign, and
thus the opportunities for proiiting by
democratic blunders were not so num-
crous as formerly. Under these cir
cumstances the session was
NOT SOURCE OF UTILIZATION
to members of either party who were
fortunate enough to be reelected, much
less to those who had been forced to
surrender their Legislative honors to
others. 1t was truly a sad sight to look
down from the galleries upon the galaxy
of statesmen that were scattered to the
four winds BY the fall of the speakers
gavel at II NJ on the 4th of March.
One hundred and forty-eight members
of the last house were SO satisfactory to
their constituents as to secure re-elec-
ton. One hundred and seventy-seyen
defeated ones took their last lingering
look upon familiar faces, said their
good-byes, and left to be comforted in
the quiet and calm of the loved circle
at home. Some still linger about the
capital, hoping that the President out
of sympathy for their discomfort may
find a niche somewhere into which he
can put them, where they can earn
living during the. sombre days of the
fu ture.
THE NEXT HOUSE
will be filled with new-fedged politi-
clans, and as the democrats will have
tifty-seven majority over all, they may
be expected to have things their own
way on that side of the capitol.
The business of the Post Office de-
partment shows the marked increase
and growth of the country, as well as
the experiences of the clerical force IN
the various bureaus of that department
In 1861 itcost 81, 165 to settle each / 1000
money-order and postal accounts, while
in 1882 the cost OF settling the same
number was only 1922 The number
of postal accounts settled by each in
1861 was |, 144, while in 1882 the num-
Der was increased to 1870. Quarterly
postal accounts numbering 307, 800 were
settled during the year 1861 by 156
clerks, and during the same period last
years, 79S, 312 money orders were issued,
handled, and audited by clerical force
of 1l4-making an average of TITS
settled by each clerk, being about $50
for each working day of the year.
These figures show that there is no
ground for the charge that the public
service is laggardly done, or that it
needs civil service to reform the meth
DDS by which work is transacted.
THE DISTRICT
was fairly treated by the late Congress
in the way of appropriations; $3.50, 900 |
was provided to take up the old decayed
wooden pavements and replace them
with our excellent asphalt roadways
which are famous all over the country
as being the finest drives found in any
city on this continent.
The failure to provide for the continu-
alton of the work of reclaiming the
Potomac flats will be serious draw
back, and will involve no small loss to
the contractors and to the government.
The water supply is provided for. and
the surveys are SO far finished and test
pits made that the whole scheme will |
soon be laid before the Secretary of War
for definite action preparatory to adyer-
Using the work of building the nine |
foot conduit, which is calculated to be |
large enough to pour volume of Poto-
mac water into the city sufficient to sup
ply population of $50, 900 one hundred |
years hence. The supply from the
Potomac is exhaustless and as it sweeps
DOWN THE MOUNTAIN GoRGEs
of Maryland and Virginia for two hun
dred and fifty miles, with no cities,
towns, factories, or mills lying along its
banks, the citizens of the capital will |
not be subjected TO the use of impure
and filthy water, as is the case with |
many cities in the land.
The question of what is to be doue |
with the Mississippi IN the near future |
is one that is soon to call for the most |
candid consideration of statesmen and |
the judgment of the most expert en-
gineers IN the land. The shifting and |
rapidly disappearing banks for thou
sands of miles along its course, added |
to the sand and earthly matter that is
carried along by the current to be de-
posted in the river bed on the lower
level. is raising the river bottom so high |
above the adjacent lands that'levees are
becoming enormously expensive and |
insufficient as safeguard against de- |