San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1884-01-03
WASHINGTON LETTER.
lFrom Our Regular cOrrespondsnt,l
WASHINGTON, DEC. "a. 1888.

two ago to look over the morning
mail of a prominent western Senator.
He receives daily over one hundred
letters on every conceivable subject,
offering praise, advice, making re-
quests for places, for bills, books, de-
partment errands, speeches, seeds,
plants, foreign papers, etc, etc, but
the greatest number were from ex-
soldiers concerning pensions or de-
handing new laws on the same sub
iect. The Senator in question, aims
to read all his letters, but it would
consume all his time to attempt to
attend to all his demands personally.
His secretary, if happensto have one.
must do that, and it keeps him busy.
The idea of making members OF
Congress in Washington agents for
their constituents is q ridiculous one.
But almost every district has wealthy
men whose interests are engaged
here in some way. These men do
not scruple to ask favors Of their
representatives and the latter do not
dare to refuse their demands. The
consequence is that the Legislative
duties of a prominent member are q
mere bagatelle compared with his
correspondence and official errands
His desk in the House is his Office in
epitome. He works there at his
writing and only on rare occasions
gives attention to what is going on,
The business for which he is sent
here.
The resolution offered the other
day to remove the desks from the
Hall Of Representatives, is step in
the direction of needed reform. The
innattention to what Legislation there
is in progress is a burning shame,
and an impeachment to business.
Members do not try to understand
public questions. If any doubt sug-
gests itself they oppose an objection
and the bill or measure loses it's
chance, perhaps for good. There are
more measures slaughtered because
of inattention than for any other rea-
son. 1t is an easy way to meet the
burden of public duty, but it is by
no means the best way. think that
the idea of removing the desks so
that members will have to attend to
what is going on, is good one, and
when the public come to appreciate
it, it will be demanded. Certainly
something should be done to keep
Congress from idling away it's time
Or devoting it to purely personal and
oXLraneOuS naUIcrS.
1t has been commonly reported
that Mr.. Blaine, few months ago,
erected q very large residence in
Washington. Some people have
wondered why his name has not ap-
peared in any of the lists of tax-pay-
ers. The explanation az given to me
is that Mr.. Blaine bought his build
ing lot from Hon. William Walter
Phelps that he has never had his
deed recorded, and that he now pre-
fers to have his whole property
stand in Mr.. Phelps name. Mr.
Phelps is taxed for about $150,0O0.
Consequently no valuation of the
Blaine mansion appears in the tax
list.
The object of the bill recently in
troduced in the House to examine all
the clerks now in Office is said to be
to create vacancies in order to fill
them by civil service methods, and
thus insure if possible q performance
of the proposed reform. For it
is clear to oil here that the en-
deavor to divorce departmental ap-
pointments from politics has had the
appearance of being little more than
device to keep Republicans in office.
Sould Democratic administration
come into power in March 1885 it
would find that less than ten per cent
of the five or six thousand classified
employees in the departments have
entered through the non-partisan
methods of the civil service law; the
other nlne-tenths being the appoin-
tees of Republican administrations,
for political reasons mainly. 1t
would, in fact, take q good many
years at the present rate of progress
to bring the departments into such a
state as would offer no excuse for
wholesale removals to a Democratic
administration. The civil service act
has been in force nearly ten months,
and yet there are not much above a
score appointments to its credit in