The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-11-07
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
Correspondence Of the MINER.

40 SSAAA INV -" VAS ~A~
mouths of the politicians at the Capt.
tai. The wonder as to the real causes
for defeat has not abated among Re
publicans here. Positive assurances
were had from Governor Foster,
.'Sir William the RAM" (the Hon.
William Lawrence, First Comp
troller Of the Treasury and other
party leaders that matters were sail
ing beautifully at the Buckeye, and
that the majority would be fully 20
600. After these sanguine assurances,
one is met at every political corner
with such questions as: "How could
Foster have made such a mistake::"
"What was the real cause for de-
feat?2" But there has been a dearth
Of answers. A prominent Republic
can, woo has recently held an i'm
portant Federal Office in Ohio, said to
me the other day in answer to the
above question: ''I'll tell you what
did it. Three weeks before the cleo
ton the State would have gone Re-
publican had a vote been taken
then. Just at that time, however, a
story was put into circulation to the
effect that if Ohio went Republican
this year Governor Foster was to go
on the Presidential ticket with Mr..
Arthur in 1884; that this arrange
ment had been made at the White
House during MI. Fosters last visit
there. When the story became well
circulated" continued the Ohio
man, "Garfieid's friends became
more than indignant. They swore
no such trade should lie carried out
with their assistance, and their ar
dor in the CANVASS cooled at once.
They had not forgotten" he said,
chow Garfield's friends have been
treated by this administration; how
they have been turned out one by one
wherever they could be found, until
to-day no Garfield man holds any
place OF Importance in the whole
country. They believed there was
something of truth in the story, and
dete. mined to make the consumma-
ton of such a scheme impossible,
even if they had to let the Democrats
carry the State. This is what did
it, said the speaker, "although there
were other easons for dissatisfac-
ton. We could get no help from any
quarter. The President. who might
have aided us had he cared to-, was
off galivanting. Not a member of
the Cabinet was in the city for
weeks"
find a generally injured feeling
prevalent among Ohio Republicans
here as to this apparent Indifference
of the President as to the success of
the party in the Ohio elections. But
there Is a good deal of human nature
in Mr.. Arthur, and the argument ad-
vanced for his iudif-renca. is that,
lor him to feel any deep interest in
a state election in which Republican
success meant the advancement of
Mr. Sherman, would argue that he
was either more or less human. The
result was the President went a fish
ing, and let the factions in Ohio take
their own course.
The next fishing excursion of Mr..
Arthur will probably be to the
streams of the Louisville fishermen,
and he will use one of the finest fish
ing rods ever manufactured in the
United States, In connection with
the ieweled silver reel presented to
him upon the occasion of his visit to
Louisville last summer. The reas0n
for this is that lsst week Governor
Proctor Knott and a delegation of
Kentuckians called at the White
House and, with formalities very in
formal, conveyed to the President a
witty and complimentary message,
and a fishing rod eight feet in length
from its rosewood butt to a lance
wood tip. In the butt is emblazoned
on silver, "Chester A. Arthur" An
invitation was also extended to make
the first cast with the new rod in the
Louisville streams. The President
was pleased. So was the delegation.
And then Governor Knott and MI.
Arthur spun some of their best fish
stories.
The President continues to while
away his time very pleasantly in his
cottage on the hill at Soldiers Home,
and he reveries on the recommends
tons of his coming message in the
smoke of his after-dinner cigar.
He drives into the city about noon
every day, regularly, and peri
odical Cabinet meetings are held, at
which no work of Importance
%transpires. Mr.. Arthur is a
man who improves greatly on
acquaintance. In personal con-
versation, he gives every evil
dence of classical culture without any
of that which leads you to suppose
that the talker is trying to impress
you with his learning. He is very
susceptible and gallant, and there is a
charm about his manner which quite
capt. Yates the society maids of Wash
ington. This is doubtless what gives
rise to the many matrimonial pros
poets in which the President figures.
The war now being ragged by the
Secretary of the Interior upon the
swindling pension and claim agents
grows ir energy. The regret is that
the good work has been delayed so
long. Among the latest batch OF sus-
pended attorneys is Belva Lockwood,
Washinpton's female LAWYER. l..