McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1884-12-18
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Washington, D. c., Dec. IA, "a


more affected than any other by a
change of administration at Washing.
ton, are the small shop-keepers who
have been in the habit of giving un-
limited credit to the Government
clerks. Up to the very day of cleo
ton, the continued ascendency Of the
Republican party was SO assured that
one dealer here increased his out
standing accounts $4,000 in one week,
and now he is trying to get settle
ment for at least part of the $75,-
600 marked 'doubtfnl" on his ledger.
The clerks, as rule, are beginning
to practice little more prudence in
the outstanding of their resources, and
naturally enough they think that the
payment of honest debts is poor way
to economic. They therefore laugh
at their creditors and simply tell them
that judgment day is good day to
settle up, and if that is to busy day,
the day following would do.
The last session of Congress adjourn
ed leaving any number Of appropria-
tons for any number Of public build
ings to be erected here. there and ev-
erywhere. The general craze not on
ly among Congressman but among
their constituents is for public build
ings, and the more expensive the bet
ter. On the calendar now at this ses.
sion are bills for expanding seventy
millions for Government structures,
the most of which there is not now,
and will not be for many years, any
earthly use for, but by the paternalis-
tic tendencies of the Government, they
must be expected whether they are
needed nor OF. A town out in Texas
wants two hundred and fifty thou
sand dollar building for its postoffice,
although the Office fails by consid-
cradle amount to be self-sustaining,
and what is true of the Texas town is
true of almost every place that is now
clamoring for public building.
Two events that are calculated to
cause a sort of social earthquake,
transpired here in one day, last week.
One was the suicide of Prof. DeWol-
owski, who had the musical tutelage
of all the best families of Washington,
and who was also confronted by his
own daughter with charge of incest.
And the other was the elopement of
the affianced bride of New York
banker with an office clerk. The last
named event creates some sensation
because the female partner in the
elopement is Of the upper strata in
Washington society, and the circum-
stances of her flight peculiarly cruel,
because fifteen hundred invitations
had gone out for one of the SWEETEST
of the swell weddings Of the capital,
which was to have taken place on the
18th inst. The treachery of the girl
i'll the case was brought about by the
attempt of the old folks to saddle a
husband upon her whom she did not
and could not love, and the verdict of
the jury is that she served them right.
One of the first things that the new
Democratic administration should do
upon its accession to power, is the I'M
ceremonious bouncing of the land
scape architect around the capital,
whose denominations abound on every
hand. In the outrageous devastation
that has been wrought here under the
name of improvements, the once beau
tiful plats of ground both east and
west Of the capital have been trans
formed into an unsightly and incon-
gruous field of concrete walks with
small patches of shrubbery here and
there that have as little attraction as
the burdock plants that line a coun-
try road. The large and magnificent
trees whose foliage made the west en-
trance to the capitol really superb
resort for the stranger and an attrac
ton to everybody, have all disappear
ed under the blighting edict of this
taste-forsaken architect, and their
places are supplied by walls, walls,
walls, some with a purpose, bat more
without any other purpose than the
of money and contribu-
ton to the inevitable contractor. If
the dignifed character of the capitol |
and its surroundings must be preserv-
ed, we must get rid of the landscape |
idiot who would reject the stately trees |
in these grounds as beneath his ideal /
of landscape beauty. DON PEDRO.
THE late Peter Cooper once said Il
ain all the towns wherea newspaper
is published, every man should adver-
tise, even if it is no more than a card |
L Il L., NOW, ~, r,o