The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-09-13
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Our Regular Correspondents
WASHINGTON, D. c.,
Sapt 9 1892

SSPo. u, AOOo.l
The time is approaching for the adj
vent of female adventuresses who in
fest the capital at each mourning win
ter. to haunt the galleries, the Hobbies,
and the waiting-rooms of the capital
and ply their vacation. One of the
most notorious, and at the same time
one of the most successful of these
female lobbyist has just died in a
Philadelphia almshouse. In heryouth-
hood she was fascinating to the dis
enthrallment of statesmen and diplo-
mats and men supposed 10 be invul-
nerable TO female charms. She led
them all i'll her train, for she was a
perfect adept in The art she had chosen
for her Washington existence. Yet
she was incapable of intrigue, and no.
body eve for 4 moment questioned
her chastity, else her usefulness to her.
self and her art would have been past.
She was prudent TO a degree that n
abled her I accomplish her work sue
cessfully, and many n dollar did she
lay by to be expended upon a thrift
less husband. Few of the women
who pose as lobbyists in these days
amount to much i'll that line, because
the times and the names of the law
makers are essentially different from
those of thirty years ago.
These women lack circumspection
and they are wanting in almost every
necessary quality for the gaining of
influence enough over the votes Of
Congressman to make their purchase
an object. Consequently year by year
the female lobby decreases i'll number,
SO far as the brazen professionals are
concerned, but their places are more
than filled by the persistent females
who desires, and makes her desire
equivalent to a demand for, q clerk
ship i'll some IL of the departments.
For lack Of nerve, or some other cause,
these persistent creatures are not hus-
tied out even after they have threat
ened the life of the official who has
politely informed them that there are
no vacancies; and one young lady
who has already perforated the son of
a Senator, has signified her intention
of repeating the operation upon the
Secretary of the Treasury i'll case OF
his refusal to approve her application
for a place in his department. Such
pranks as these are not calculated to
invest the public mind with the ex-
pendiency and propriety Or justice of
Filing up the department with this
sort of clerical help.
There has recently dawned another
era of Investigation under the auspices
of the Internal Revenue department,
upon the reported discovery that the
revenue officers in the upper part of
South Carolina have been on the still
hunt, at the price of $50 per still, for
some years past /; and this is another
instance of the a%lertness of the watch
dogs of Jul plethoric Treasury. The
mode adapted for this ~newfangled
compound felony is to hire character
less persons 10 put up old stills in
some vast and remote wilderness and
when the job is comp,eat these reve-
nue. officers come down upon that old
still, like the wolf upon the Assyrians.
capture the material and get the Gov
erment reward Of $50 for the seizure.
These captures are always made in
the night, because internal revenue
officers can always see better at that
time. The same material is then lug
ged of to do duty in some other part
of the State, the same officers Selling
it again and bagging another $50, and
SO on until there is no rest for the old
still. And besides the reward of $50,
which these officers receive for each
seizure, they get a first-cIass send-off
from the department for their adroit-
ness and Official cunning III smelling
out the existence of these illicit stills
in mountain fastness, where no man
but Il revenue officer would ever think
Of looking for one, and the rhetoric of
the department is expended in the
elaboration Of its wonderful achieve
ments in the direction of eXtinguish-
ing Illicit stills that never began to
have an existence.
Attention is just now being attract
cd to one of the minor evils OF a too
high tariff by reports that there is a
great amount of smuggling cross our
Canadian frontier. 1t is even said
that for every dollars wo!th of goods
OH which duty is collected $1,000
worth of goods are Struggled into
this country from the British Provin-
ces. A little reflection is all that is
necessary to show hat the contra
band traffic over a line of this char
acter, stretching thousands of miles,
must in the nature of things be enor-
nous. 1t would require a vast army
of custom-house officers to prevent it,
If a suit of clothes, a pair of boots, or