The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1884-08-16
FROM WASHINGTON
Special tc the CARBON ADVOCATE.

Special tc the CARBON ADVOCATE.
WAsHINGToN August s, 1884.
While Washington has never been par
ticulnrly proud of her hos,elries, she
meyer supposed that any of them wer. so
depruved as to tumble down upon the
heads of guests without a moments warn
ing. Yet such was the case with the
United States Hotel last Surday, whose
walls slew five persons outright and |
manned a score more. A kind Provi- |
deuce postponed for an hour the casual |
ty that would have overwhelmed sixty |
ing room. How many more of these
ramshackle man-traps there are in the
city. no one knows but the Building In.
spector, and he won't tell. While Yankee
ingenuity is being pat to its best to de-
wise re.escapes, a new kind of horror
presents ITSELF against which there can
he no protection save the faithful dis
charge of the duty of those assigned to
look after just such specimens OF rotten
ness rs this.
Bv the second volume of the Blue
Book" which has just made its appear
ance, we are made acquainted with
good many of the minor details Of Office
holding which fail to reach us through
the ordinary channels. The "Blue
Book" no longer ago than the reign OF
Mr.. Buchanan, WAS a volume containing
not more than one hundred and SIXTY
pages. The enormous multiplication OF
offices necessituIes now two volumes OF
thousand pages and more each, which
are published every two years for the
use Of Congress. The second volume
which pertains distiuctively to the Post
Office Department. Informs us that there
are upwm ds of $4,000 postmasters in the
country, who receive salaries ranging
from line cents, received by the post
master at Reduliu, N. O., 10 So coo, re-
ceived by the postmaster at New Eork
City. There are 2 400 of these postmas
ters who each receive q salary OF less
than $40 per anhum, and yet not one Of
the 400 would resign except under the
weightiest kind of a consideration.
When postmasters were paid salaries
in proportion to the number of stamps
sold. there was lively interest in being
| OF ha legt
roads Office, and the demand for stamps
from these small offices became so great
that Uncle Sam began uu investigation
only to fiud that postage stamps had be
come the staple currency of the realm
aud entered into all sorts of trade, com
merce and barter. TLen Congress
stepped III aud said that salaries should
be paid III accordance with the number
OF stamps Cancelled ut the Office, and this
has Cancelled much of the desire to be q
country postmaster. Beside tue nlne
cent rost master in North Carolina, there
are thlrty-four hers in the county
whose salary does not reach 81 per year,
and dozen of these are In North Caro-
lima which State contributes just one
ninth as much postal revenue AS the cost
of transporting her mails. Ordinarily
the work of making mp quarterly re.
port ia country pGstoiiice, requires n
ws)l-balanced mind, a patience beyond
that OF job, and iull week OF time. IL
uluety-seven cases out of one hundred,
the work is not then done to the salts
faction OF the department, and the whole
business is returned to the exasperated
postmaster to be done all over again
and that postmaster does not live in the
United States who sends his report to
Washington without serious misgivings,
and, might say, absolute certainty that
1t will come back back for readjustment.
A hundred years OF postal service III
which the methods of keeping postal ac-
counts have not received the slightest
simpli6cation, have furnished our mad
houses with most OF the inmates that
politics and religion will have to answer
for.
Ex.Speaker Kiefer having dehed the
+ newspaper men to do their worst, has re-
ceiyed the full benefit OF their attentions.
and his political cadaVer is now lying in
, state at Springfield, OHIO. Not news.
paper in his district could be cajoled into
his support for a nomination. and there.
fore Kiefer started one of his own, with
the usual disastrous results that come Of
IL bad politician blowing his own horn.
The defeat of Kiefer puts an end TO a
man whose life has been nothing but a
continued public calamity and the coun-
try owes debt Of gratitude TO the news
paper correspondents of Washington who
have oompassed the abolition of one OF
the worst of our political pests.
3 There has been very great and very
> noticeable change here within few
, years, and it may be due to the increase
r OF business representation here or to the