National Republican., 1883-02-03
ON THE AVENUE.
Small Taik Ahout Men and N1eosur,


Gated by his predecessor Senator Chilcott.
The latter courtcously introduced the new
arrival to his associates, and gracefully re-
tired to public life. The new senator appeared
somowhatill at first, but he will get used to the
school house before the expiration of his term
ofoilice in March. Heis high h-shouldered man
of medium height, and is rather awkward in
his carriage. His big head, which is covered
with straight black hair, sits ungracefully
upon o thin neck that protrudes with turtle
like uncertainty from his body. His face is
large, square, and bony, and heavy droop
ing mustache conceals n wide mouth, and
teeth that arc not what the ladies would call
perfectly lovely" He is not an ill.loolSing
man, but there is nothing especially strik
ing about his appearance to distin-
guish him from a thousand other men
to be seen on the avenue every day of the
year. He is moulded with common clay, like
the rest of u.s. but as n beauty in a brick red
gown observed to her companion, as they
emerged from the gallery, "he is awfully rich"
He is worth five times as many millions as ho
had thousands four years and half ago.
Aladdin with his lamp could not have done
much better.
A"w
Secretary Folger is sitting In the crater of
n volcano, and he is in imminent danger Of
being blown into space any moment. His
clerks are greatly wrought up, and on the
verge of open insurrection. They mean busi-
ness. Like the gentleman who owns the Naval
| academy at Annapolis for the present, Secre.
tary Folger insists on the enforcement of cer-
tain rules which he thinks are necessary to the
| regulation ofhis department. and, like the An
napols cadets, his clerks are hot about it. They
disapprovc of his harsh and unjust orders,
and after hours they congregate in the neigh
borhood hotel rotundas, where they know
there is no earthly possibility of the secretary
hearing them, or hearing of them and tongue
lash him numerically. They are prohibited
from visiting in the halls and swapping bits
Of gossip with callers or fellow clerks. The
ladies are debarred from holding receptions
| in tho corridors, and although tho people,
who have business in the building,
arc happily relieved from the ncces-
| sity of butting and pushing and
elbowing their way along the passages, the
employees feel that they have been robbed of
life's sweetest privileges. They are squirming
! in base humiliation under the iron heel of
dcspotism, and, rs free men, they have God
given right to squirm. Up TO date none of
them have resigned, but when they assemble
on Potomac flats and feed their wrath on great
! gusts of east wind they grow bold as Swiss
mountaineers-bu it is noticed they are at
their desks punctually the next morn
ing as usual. Whether the secretary
of the treasury will insist upon
Al. a ~. q.
ulated eight or ten years ago, which were in.
tended to keep the clerks down to their work
during office hours, remains to be seen.
"These rules have been dead letters for
years." said one of the treasury moguls.
"Thcy were issued much as q man would
shoot paper bullet at a comet. The noise of
the explosion created momentary excite
ment and was then forgotten. Tho daily
levees, receptions, promenades, and courting
scenes in the halls went on as usual. There
is nothing in the rules to excite the wrath of
tho clerks. They are founded on business
principles, aud they should be enforced with
discretion, of course"
ne
The Hawaiian treaty resolutions and bills
having been taken from the senate committee
finance committee, report may be expected
soon. The question has not come up yet, but
it is understood that n majority of the COM
mittee is decidedly in favor of an abrogation
of the reciprocity agreement, or at least a
modification of the treaty to compel Claus
Spreckels to pay duty on sugars like other
sugar importers. The matter will come up at
an carly day.
e"a
Several retiring congressman are making
arrangements to drop into "soft jobs when
their term expires, Gen. Tom Young is sup.
posed to be booked for the Cincinnati collec,
torship, Russell Errett and w. s. Shallen
berger are after the Pittsburg pension agency
Charles G. Williams of Wisconsin, will plant
himself in n Dakota land office, and Mr.. Jor
gensen of Virginia, will expect to be simi
larly provided for. There are others yet t.
hear from.
a"a
Ex-senator Mcdonald having reached thu
conclusion that Washington is no place fol
him politically, has been hurTying through thu
legal business that brought him here with
view of returning home at the earliest prac
ticable moment. He will probably leave fo
/ Indiana in day OF two
a"m
: As soon as Mr.. Blaine discovered that ex
Gov. Cornell was at the Arlington he hasteneC
TO call on the distinguished gentleman from
0 New York, and give assurances of his undy
: ing regard, The greeting is said to hGv
f been ovcrpowerng, and withal something o
l II surprise to Gov. Cornell, who had not pre-
. viously known how high lie stood in tn
esteem Of the eX-premier.
= 80
A party who is interested in military mat
ters has dug up from the congressiona
archives the report of joint committee o
= the fortioth congress on tho subject of ord
nance, tho following paragraph Of which, h
thinks the senate committee on millitar
= affairs might ingraft in itsIorthcoming report
as exactly applicable to the existing condition
of things;
. 1t therefore appears that Notwithstanding
/ series of elaborate experiments extending over
s long period Of years, and the practical eXperlenC
{ of our recent war, the ordnance officers Of tn
- government have not yet determined upon eve
. the fundamental principles Of thisart, and posses
- no positive knowledge Of the problem they hay
II SO long sought TO solve. Mechanics is an eNat
l. science and ignorance of that branch Of it IN
yolved in the construction of guns would seem
show either want of knowledge of its principle
failure to understand their application, or supel
If fciality Of investigation surprising in men who's
10 minds have been from bOyhood trained In the d