San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1884-09-18
WASHINGTON LETTER.
wAsHrsoros Sept. 8, 1884.

WARRINGTON sept o, 1901
Gen. Benjamin Franklin Butler has
at last called halt upon the fusion
business. He is afraid Of giving
Cleveland majority Of the electoral
college il the fusion with democrats
goes much further Buffers ambi-
tious scheme is TO split up the cleo
toral vote 30 AZ to deprive either
Blaine or Cleveland Of majority, in
which event he has hopes that he
might make some sort Of trade that
would put him on vantage ground.
I met prominent Butler man the
other day and he told me that chief
object of the generate trip west was
to look into the question OF fusion.
1.-THE leaders Of his party my infor-
mant said, frankly offered to obey
his orders in the matter. He told
them to wait awhile; that if fusion
with democrats should become desir-
able it could be effected within the
next several weeks without losing
anything" It is plain that Butler
does not want to help either Blaine
or Cleveland. He is trying to beat
them both, and for that purpose is
endeavoring to hold his Falstaffian
forces in hand.
Apropos of the talk OF late to the
effect that Butler is failing physically,
and that there is no doubt that he
begins to experience the weakness
of age, the following from gentle
man who visited him when he came
to Washington several months ago,
but few days after the adjournment
of the National Democratic Com
mittee, may be of interest. The
visitor was invited to enter the
generals private office, and was very
pleasantly received. Gen. Butler sat
in an easy cushioned chair, fixed on
springs, so that the occupant could
maintain either half-reclining posi-
ton or sit upright at a desk. In
the first portion of the conversation
he was leading back in the chair to
the full extent of the backward action
of the springs. A messenger entered
with receipt for coal or something
else that required his signature, and
it was with apparent effort and dis
comfort that he took an upright posi-
ton. He began by putting both
hands behind him in the arms of the
chair for support, as if suffering with
weak spine Little by little, and
with grunts that evinced pain, indeed,
they may be called groans, he swung
himself forward. His movement was
like person suffering with acute
rheumatism, and it seemed that every
effort caused him pain.
Senator Logan has rented for one
wear from next November the greater
portion of the handsome house OF
Mrs. Case on Iowa Circle. The
Logans have boarded for fifteen years
since they left their house on Capitol
Hill But they are weary of board
ing, especially of it's vexatious publ
city, and want to have a home OF
their own again. During the winter
season they are often so over-run
with callers that they scarcely have a
moments privacy from breakfast to
bed. time. The house which they are
to occupy was formerly occupied by
Mr.. Yung Wing who was then Score
tary of the Chinese Legation here.
The house is furnished in excellent
taste, and am informed that Mr..
Yung Wing paid $500 month for it.
One Is apt to think when they see
the streams of live humanity bound
for the different Departments in the
morning and returning at night that
these are schools of high standard
to develope the art. ITO learn by
rote, instead of through exercise OF
reason, to perform perfunctory tasks
which lead to no result is the best
discipline in the world to turn out
masters in the art" When, for inst
ance, we look upon the mighty system
in which the books of the nation are
kept we bow in wonder that man can
have been SO ingenious as to comph-
cate things to such an extent; we do
not understand it, and therefore think
that simplicity ought to be held
paramount. But simplicity means
ease in balancing books and the
possibility Of curtailing expense, and
the former is not by any means a
sine qua non, and the absence of the
latter brings in votes of my coustitu-
ents at home" SO it is all right.
l-LESoX.
BlaIne's Tribute 10 Hendricks.
In his Twenty Years in Congress