The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-09-10
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our Regular Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D. c., Sept s, 1888.
The time is approaching for the advent
of the female adyenturesscs who infcst
the capital at each recurring winter, to
haunt the gallery, the lobbies, and the
waiting room of the capitol and ply their
vocation. One Of the most notorious, and
at the same time one of the most success
ful of these female lobbyists has just died
in Philadelphia almshouse. In her
youthhood she was fascinating to the
disenthrallment Of statesmen and diplo-
mats and men supposed to be inyulnera
bic to female charms. She led them all
in her train, for she was perfect adept
in the art she had chosen for her Wash
ington existence Yet she was incapable
of intrigue, and nobody ever for a moment
questioned her chastity else her usefulness
to herself and her art would have been
past. She was prudent TO IL degree that
enabled her to accomplish her work
successfully, and many dollar did she
lay by to be expended upon a thriftless
husband. Few of the women who pose
as lobbyists in these days amount to
much in that line, because the times and
the names of the law makers are essen
tally different from those of thirty years
ago. .......,
These women lack circumspectiOn and
tbaU aro wanting in olpnogf avorty ,,acna
sary quality for the gaining of influence
enough over the votes of congressman to
make their purchase an object. C0nse-
quently year by year the female lobby
decreases in number, so far as the brazen
professionals are concerned, but their
places are more than filed by the per
slsient female WHO desires, and makes her
desire equivalent to a e.nand for, clerk
ship in some one of the departments.
For lack of nerve, or some other cause,
these persistent creatures are not hustled
out even after they have threatened the
life of the official who has politely in.
formed them that there are no vacancies;
and one young lady who has already
perforated the son of senator, has signi-
fled her intention of repeating the opera
ton upon the secretary of the treasury in
case of his refusal to approve her applica-
ton for place in his department Such
pranks as these are not calculated to
invest the public mind with the expediency
and prOpriety or justice of filling up thu
departments 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 Off
GERS in the upper part of South Carolina
have been on the still hunt, at the price
of $50 per still, for some years past; anC
this is another instance of the alertness
of the watch dogs of our plethOric treas
ury. The mode adapted for this new
tangled compound felony. is to hire
characterless persons to put up old stills
in some vast and remote wilderness and
when the JOB is complete these revenue
officers come down upon that old still
like the wolf upon the Assyrians, capture
the material and get the government
reward of $50 for the seizure. These
captures are always made in the night
because internal revenue officers car
always see better at that time. The same
material Is then logged off to do duty il
some Otherpart of the state, the samt
officer selling it again and bagging an
other $50, and so on until there is no res
for the old still. And beside the reward
OF $50, which these officers receive fOl
each seizure, they get first-class send.of
from the department for their adroitnes.
and official cunning in smelling out the
existence of these illicit stills in mountain
Businesses, where no man but a revenue
officer would ever think of looking fol-
one, and the rhetoric of the department
is expended in the elaboration of its won
derful achievements in the direction oil
extinguishing Illicit stills that never began
to have an existence.
Attention is just now being attracted to
one OF the minor evils of too high tariff
by reports that there is a great amount Of
smuggling across our Canadian frontier
1t is even said that for every dollars
worth of goods on which duty is collected
$1,000 worth of goods are Struggled into
this country from the British Provinces
A little reflection is all that is necessary
to show that the contraband traffic over =
line of this character, stretching thou
sands of miles, must in the nature OF
things be enormous. 1t would require &