Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-08-14
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Ihe independents and Carl Schurz Exposed
Statistics of the Blue Book-The Harper's
Grievance.
From our Regular Correspondent.


party may continue to exist without tn
aid of DR.. Carl Schurz or DR.. Georo
William Curtis, both of whom hay
been the spoiled pets of the politician
for twenty-five years. Schurz got ma,
in 1872 because the party refused to re
cognize him as its leader and the EN-
bodiment of its mission as party, des
tined to sway the affairs of Government
He thought then as Curtis does now
that his abandonment of the Republi
can organization was equivalent to it
destruction, but to his dismay the part,
never thrived better than after his leay
ing it. The other disgruntled sore-head
who also counted upon a general anC
complete collapse of the party aftel
they had soured upon it, were Trum
bull and Doolittle and Palmer and Graf,
Brown with a few followers. and who
has heard of either of them since? Tc
be sure they linked their fortunes will
tho Democratic party, but that reminis-
cence with its old wheel-horses to take
care of, has always kept them in the
background if indeed it did not fear to
trust them at all. Schurz was the film.
siest member of the Cabinet of the
| flimsiest administration that the coun-
| try has had. His administration of the
Interior Department was an entire devo-
ton to the business of covering up and
cloaking the rascalities of the Indian
Bureau and other departments when ex-
posure had been threatened, and vet he
is brought forward by the latter day
saints of the Democratic party to draw
up an indictment against man whose
shoe latchets he is moi worthy to unloose.
BY the second volume of the BLUE
Book which has Just made its appear
ance, we are made acquitted with a
good many of the minor details of Of
fice-holding which fail to reach us
through the ordinary channels. The
"Bue Book no longer ago than the
reign of Mr.. Buchanan, was a volume
containing not more than one hundred
and sixty pages. The enormous multi
plication of offices necessitates now two
volumes of a thousand pages and more
each, which are published every two
years for the use of Congress. The
second volume which pertains distinc-
lively to the Post Office Department, in.
forms us that there are upwards of 3d.
900 postmasters in the country, who
receive salaries ranging from nine cents,
received by the postmaster at Redalia,
N. c.. to $4,000, received by the post
master at New York City. There are
2,400 of these postmasters who each re-
ceive salary of less than $40 per an
mum, and yet not one of the 2,400
would resign except under the weight
lest kind of a consideration. When
postmasters were paid salaries in pro-
portion to the number of stamps sold,
there was lively interest in being
postmaster even at the smallest cross
roads office, and the demand for stamps
from these small offices became SO
great that Uncle Sam began an investi-
CATION, only to find that postage stamps
had become the staple currency of the
realm and entered into all sorts of
trade, commerce and barter. Then Con-
gress stepped in and said that salaries
should be paid in accordance with the
number of stamps Cancelled at the Of
flee, and this has Cancelled much of the
desire to be q country postmaster Be-
side the innocent postmaster in North
Carolina, there are thirty-four others in
the country whose salary does not reach
one dollar per year, and dozen of
these are in North Carolina which state
contributes just one-ninth as much post
al revenue as the cost of transporting
her mails. Ordinarily the work of max
ing up quarterly report in country
post office, requires a well-balanced
mind, a patience beyond that of Job,
and a full week of time. In ninety
seven cases out of one hundred, the
work is not then done to the satisfaction
of the department, and the whole bust
ness is returned to the eXasperated post
master 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 it will come back for readiustment
A hundred years of postal service in
which the methods of keeping postal
accounts have not received the slightest
have furnished our mad
houses with most of the inmates that
politics and religion have to answer for.
The letter written by one of the
Harper brothers to William Walter
Phelps, asking him to intercede and get
Mr.. Blaine to send his Twenty Years
in Congress to that firm TO publish. |
confirms what Lsaid in a'previous let
ter, that the real reason for Curtis op-
position to Blaine proceeded from Mr.
Blaine's declination to have his book
published BY the Harpers. The letter
in question is most humiliating CON-
mentary upon the present course of
Harper's Weekly, in that it chooses the
most extravaganza expressions to be
found in the language to sound the
praises of Mr. Blaine as a statesman. a
scholar. diplomatist and good fell
low generally. The change in senti-
ment, when we consider what caused
it, is simply disgusting.
JUNIUs.
Political Points.
Burlington Hawkeye: Young Poll
ticianH wants to know what the 'iS'' in
S. Grover Cleyeland's name stands for.
Sheriff, my son, Sheriff. He used to be
sheriff of Erie county. 1t requires a
man of quick sYmpathies. broad views,
profound judgement, comprehensive
scholarship, universal training, and far
reaching insight into things, to be