The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-05-10
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

by either party, Inere Is great uedi
of clandestine work going Oh which
is calculated to defeat the objects of
the law itself, and to entirely annul
the principles upon which the law is
based. 1t is the method of its adj
ministrrtion that has made the Civil
Service law the laughing-stock of the
politicians of both parties, and the
scapegoat for any amount of official
cupidity. In the first place the selec-
| ton of three men for commissioners
who are as impractical in matters of
business as almost any three. men
that can be found, was peculiarly I'M
fortunate, for since their advent upon
the discharge of their duty they have
simply been engaged in complicating
the law and putting upon it all sorts
of ridiculous constructions. The effect
of this has been a complete ignoring
of the spirit of the law,sif not letter,
by all the heads of departments and
even by the President himself. These
commissioners, having practically
made the statute dead letter, have
made yoluminous report to Con.
greSs, placing the blame for its fail
ure upon the omissions in the law,
which they exhaust language in their
appeals to Congress to supply. But
can see that Congress means to let
this Civil Service business severly
alone, and permit it to work out its
own destruction, as it surely will I'M
der the imbecile ministrations of the
present triumYirate.
One by one the Democratic candi-
dates for the Chicago nomination
come up smiling, and one by one
they as gently slide out of view-as
the pictures in dissolying panOra-
ma. There was Payne, Bayard, Thur
man, Cleveland, Holman and MOrri-
son and any one of a dozen others
who had exceptionally good starters,
but there seems to have been some
unseen-but by no means unfelt-in-
fluence which came from the direc-
ton of Gramercy Park, that moved
the old Democratic spirit to sigh for
the old ticket and new trial of agil-
ity between Mid age and Senility. I
am thoroughly satisfied that the rank
and file of the Democracy, that is the
confirmed Bourbon element of it,
will listen to nothing but the renOmi-
nation of the old ticket intact, and
they are to be in Chicago with their
forces we'll in hand for the accomp-
ment of their purpose. No one has
been able to convince Mr.. Tilden that
he is not the most available material
obtainabe in this Presidential year,
and perhaps there is no one to ques-
ton his consummate ability to drive
as energetic campaign by means of
cipher dispatches and the usual para
phernalia of politics.
The nomination by the President
ofMr. James A. Connolly, the Little
Giant" of Illinois, to be Solicitor of
the Treasury, is one of those surpris-
es that we are all prepared for. /
know that Mr.. Connolly is a friend
Ex-senator Cullom, and I do not know
but that he is equally friendly to
Senator Logan, but putting Logan's
candidacy and Arthur's appointment
together must acknowledge that l
am a little torn up in a speculative
way. But Connolly, though Lilli-
putian in physique, is nothing short
of a genu Brobdignag in mental
character 5, and in lung power
vastly su. or TO that of the late
William Allen, or any of our coast
fog-horns. He Is an A l lawyer, and
ranks the same as a politician, which
accounts for my notion of the incon-
gruousness of the thing.
Mr.. Joseph Medill of the Chicago |
Tribune, and Boss Hesing, also of
Chicago, have been waiting upon the
Committee on Post Offices and Post |
Roads of the present Congress, to get |
that body to take off the tax upon
the intelligence disseminated among
the people by the big daily newspa.
pers like the Chicago "Tri6ooae," in
the abolition of the pound rate of
postage to which those newspapers |
are now subject. Mr., 10 Medill and
Boss Hesing are perfectly willing
that the tax upon the intelligence |
disseminated by the weekly papers |
of the country should continue on,
because it is burden 50 light that its
imposition is scarcely noticeable
Now let us see about this. The Chi
cago "Tri6u1e," which prints its edi-
ton 365 days in the year, pays an an.
nual pound postage of S5,896. The
Times, of the same city, which like
wise publishes its edition every day
in the year, pays something like
$4,000 per year for postage on that
part of the edition that is subject to
the nOund rate. The ChicaOO Weak.