Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-08-20
REPUBLICAN NEGLIGENCE
GLAZING LAXITY IN THE WASH.
INGTON DEPARTMENTS.

GLARING LAAIIE IN THE WASH
INGTON DEPARTMENTS.
MANY Valuable Papers Picked out of the
Rubbish Heap by AssOrters-An At
tache on Spree-SenatOr Cameron's
Ailment-The Botanical Instincts of
Politicians
WASHINGTON, August 19.-It is time
that Secretary Folger was back. Things
in his department are at skies and sevens.
and need the attention of his judicial
mind. Two days ago package of cam
celled bank notes were found. and created
some hubbub. The notes were yaIueless.
but the fact showed a gross carelessness
in the redemption division. Another in
stance of haphazard management has
come to light. 1t is rule of the DEPART
ment that all the waste paper shall be
saved and sent to the paper mills at New
York, to be again converted into large
sheets. After the department closes at 4
O'Clock in the afternoon the waste baskets
are gathered up and their contents car
ried TO a room in the basement of the
building. Here the different varieties of
paper are separated before it is put in baps
for shipment. While this work was in
progress last Thursday there was dis
covered in a roll OF brown wrapping
paper that came down from the
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
three sheets of bank notes with three
500 bills on each sheet, making total of
S4oU. They were national bank notes on
the Mount Carroll Bank, of Illinois. The
young lady who made the discovery i'm
mediately notified the Assistant Superin-
tendent, who took charge of the money
and turned it over TO the Acting Comp
trOller OF the Currency. All the parties
interested in the transaction were eau
toned not to say anything about
the matter until an investigation could
be made. 1t is difficult, however, to keen
secret such gross carelessness. espec-
tally when there are two or three talka-
tive clerks III the Bureau. On Friday
several dollars worth of internal revenue
stamps were found among the waste
paper from the Internal Revenue
Bureau. The bank notes referred
to were about all ready for
circulation with the exception of the sig
natures of the President and Treasurer
OF the bank for which they were printed.
The Treasury officials refuse to talk on
the subject, but say that carelessness of
this character is likely to cost some per
sons their positions.
AN ATTACHE ON A SPREE.
An attache of the Brazilian legation
to the Seventh ward station with his
right hand badly cut and inquired for the
President OF the United States, or the
Secretary If State. Neither one was at
the station, and he told an incoherent
story about having been assaulted in ano-
tOriOus house nearby. He incidentally
displayed pistol and threatened to use
it on somebody. He was finally pacified
and was driven to his residence. The
tOrpIGn attaches ;~I,
ment for ordinary Otfenses, otherwise this
particular one would have been iugeed
for having given himself away at the
station.
SENATOR CAMERON's ILLNESS.
The recent news received from Senator
j. ID. Cameron is not encOura ging He
has had the best possible treatment from
Sir Henry Thompson, famous English
physician and surgeon, but thus far the
disease has not yielded Senator Came
ron is now in Scotland and amid the
heather-croWned hills to which Clan
Cameron withdrew after Callander's ia
nous field, where they were well-nigh
eXterminated. He is seeking strength
that he finds difficult to attain. If he
should not return in time for the coming
Congress it would make but little differ
ence to his party, as he is paired with
Senator Butler, of South Carolina.
THE BOTANIsTs OF POLITICS.
William r. Smith, Superintendent of
the Botanical Garden, gives some inter
esting notes of the botanical tastes of
public men. ''All political bickerings.v
he says, ''cease when they come to the
garden. Many time they come down
here from the hill, after hot fight. and
cool off and shake hands. Flowers are
sensitive. Political bitterness would
poison the air and kill them. and no floral
slaughter can be allowed | remember
way back when Galusha A. Grow and
Keats and Preston had been amusing
themselves up in the House with
actual DloWs-no warfare of words,
but real fisticuifs. BY chance they ali
met here on their way down the hill, and
there was something soothing in the fra
GRANGE OF the place that calmed their
nerves and brought about an era of
peace" One of the most enthusiastic
bOtanists is Mr. Dana's candidate for
President, Congressman Holman, of In
diana. "WhO in the world" asks Mr..
Smith, would ever pick him out for a
lover OF toWers. AS public man his
reputation rests on his close scrutiny of
the public funds, a sort of Watchdog of
the Treasury. Hated by people who want
to run their arms in the public crib, he
is generally looked upon as a man with
narrow views. 1t seems a strange con-
tradlction in terms that such
character should be lover of
flowers, but he certainly is. No one has
been In Congress since | can remember,
and that is long time, with more de-
voted and intelligent love for a garden.
He is very frequent visitor, and one can
see from his conversation that he watches
every new phase OF science as closely as
he does the money-bags of the
Treasury. 1t seems to be a mental
eXhilaratiOn for him to commune
with these curious plants from all over
the known world, and study patiently
into their secrets and hidden life. He is
quite as familiar with the botanical names
and habits of the plants and flowers as
most professional botanists, and he Just
picked it up as recreation, and his spare
time is nearly all devoted to it,
OF Sunset Cox, Mr.. Smith saws that he
has decided botanical instincts, He can
learn more and learn it better in a shorter
time than any man he ever saw in botany,
For instance he will strike one snag after
another that he didn't know anything
about and the next morning he will come
around as fresh as daisy with his men,
tai channel dredged out and his chart in
good working order. But then this doesn't
apply to his botany alone, its lust the
same with everything pISp