The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-02-02
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
IFrom our Regular correspor dent

err ana MS investigating committee
propose to uncover. There is now,
there always has been, and there al
ways will be, rottenness in the ad
ministration of the Department of
Justice. so long as the marshaIs and
their army of deputies, assistants and
hangers-on are paid by fees instead |
of fixed salaries. 1t is to this depart
ment that Mr.. Springer's attention is
especially directed, and he has al
really asked for those persons and |
those papers that bear upon the con-
duct Of the Governments side of the |
Star Route trial. However, in this
particular case Mr.. Springer knows
that he cannot search Republican
Russian without finding a Democrat |
Tarter, which will cause the hundred
dollar a-day fellows to be let down
easily, in the shape of reprimand
for the ex Attorney General who en-
lployed them, and Brewster who con-
lttis0ed them in the case, when they
had an army of assistant Attorneys
| General at command, who certainly
could not have been less successful.
With Mr.. Springer in the House and
Mr.. Van Wyck in the Senate, it looks
as if there would be trouble ahead for
everybody, in office and out, who has
been imposing upon the Government
in any way, Van Wyck is driving
tandem team, too, getting after the
land grabbers to-day and the crooked
chaps of the Attorney Generals Office
to- morrow, to which will shortly be
added foray upon our present pen
sion system in which the Senator will
find plenty of material for the occu-
patton of his leisure moments.
1t costs the Government quite a
little sum annually to maintain an
average Congressman while in the
flesh, but when he puts off his NOR
tality and dons the robes of incorrup-
tibifity, the expense of getting him
under ground is simply enormous.
In the clerks report to the House, of
the expenditures from June 80, 1882,
to the same date in 1888, we find an
itemized bill amounting to S2.913.60
for the expenses attending the burial
of the late Major r. M. A. Hawk, Of
Illinois. Aside from the prOdigiOus
items of 1925 for casket and $3.50 for
silk sashes worn by the congressional
party attending the remains, there
are perhaps no items in the bill that
cannot be considered legitimate, but
the enormity of the aggregate of the
charges should move Congress to de-
wise some more economical plan Of
paying its last tributes of respect to
its deceased members. The fact cam
not be concealed that these Congress
sional burial parties have lapsed into
a sort of junketing tour, where whis-
key, wine and cigars play altogether
too prominent part, though due
care is taken that these particular
Items are represented under the guile
less head OF lunches, hack-hire and
the inevitable ct ceterd. Whether the
Democratic House Committee on Ac-
counts will suggest remedy or re-
port plan for cheaper disposition
Of its deceased members by limiting
the appropriation for that purpose,
remains to be seen; but the people
who foot the bills under the present
custom, will pray that the visitations
of the King of Terrors will at least
be postponed until Congress shall
have adjourned.
What great cause is to be subserved
or what great benefits are to be de-
rived from any further attempts to
explore the Arctic regions, nobody
can tell, for nobody knows. The Sem
ate is wrangling over bill that APP
propriates an indefinite sum to send
an expedition for the relief of Lieut..
| OlecIcy anu lllo puftyS tiiC ptlSoetssC vi
which is all we'll enough for it is in
the interest of humanity, but there
are other bills pending in both Houses
providing for large appropriations for
the fitting out of large expeditions to
continue the explorations, and ifthere
RS any North Pole to find it. Upon
this kind of folly the President has
already fully expressed himself, and
if Congress should adopt any measure
of this character it will be pretty sure
to meet with an unqualified execu-
tive veto.
The much talked-of and long.eX.
pected resignation Of Assistant Secre-
tary New, of the Treasury Depart
ment, has finally come. There are
several theories as to the cause of this
step, but the real reason is said by
those who profess to know to be the
dislike on the part of Mr.. New to
serve under Secretary Fulger. 1t is
probably true that he has hoped to
succeed the latter as the head of the
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