Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1885-08-22
WASHINGTON LETTER.
WAsHINGTON. Aug. 17th. 1885.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18th, 1886.
The President is deep in Adiron-
dack forest and the office-seeker
worries him only in his dreams. But
the dream Of the office-seeker has
vanished, as has also the dreamer.
Five months ago sleek, well-dress-
ed host of politicians came down
upon w hington. Confidence
blazed in their eyes and hilarty was
painted on their noses; their stem
torian voices, and loud American
laughter could be heard in the hotel
lobbies, in hundreds Of saloons, and
ON the streets. Like the poor In
dian they have passed away. They
read their doom in the decisive stiff
back OF the departing President.
Un-savory old sinners, Whiskey
bloated political workers, your serv-
ices are not needed, you are indeed
almost as unfit for place in the body
polite, as you would be in the Church
militant.
The President had not left Wash.
ington day before it was discover
ed, and the sad intelligence sent
sent abroad, that the White
House was in Republican hands.
The same old clerks and attaches
who were there under Grant, Hayes
and Arthur, are there still.
The Democratic President disap.
pearing in the woods and leaving
the White House to the tender mer-
cies of the Republican clerks is a
spectacle that makes the stoutest-
ed office-seeker sick and tired. All
the letters directed to the President,
even those marked "private" and
"personal" must pass through the
hands of these clerks, and very few
Of them, perhaps only about two
percent will ever be seen by the
President.
The pressure for Office during the
last five months has not been paral.
leled in the history of tie country. 1t
was expected that there would be a
complete change, and applications
were multiplied beyond anything
that had been known. The hard
times had thrown hundreds of men
and women out Of employment, and
hundreds Of applicants who had
known independence and wealth,
turned their faces toward Washing
ton. At first they applied for high
Offices, those commanding good sal.
aries and assuring social position.
Despairing of these they fell to beg.
ging for anything, and have finally
departed with nothing.
The ups and downs Of political life
are curious. A few days or months
make all the difference in the world.
Capt. G. H. Henry, who was Mar.
shall of the District under Garfield
and was looked upon as next to the
President, is now running his Ohio
farm just where he was twenty
years ago, when Garfield first found
him and made him a postal-clerk.
Mr.. Henry recently told how the
politicians treated him here while
Garfield lived. Said he: "They
worried ME almost to death. / was
flooded with invitations to dine
Senators, judges, generals, all were
after me with the men of low degree
urging me to do this and that and
to intercede for them. The moment
the crack Of Guiteau's pistol resound
ed these people did not know me.
So far as that was concerned, it was
a relief, but it was terrible com.
ment upon the weakness of human,
ity."
And so it is with every man who
has been near President, and in
fact, with the Presidents themselves.
Here is J. Stanley Brown, who in
1880 in Menter and 1881 in Wash.
ington was the most sought of any
man except the President himself
he is now just starting life as a
school boy. He has resigned his
clerkship to 60 to college.
About two hundred newspapers
come to the White House daily. I'm.
der former Administrations they
were nearly all paid for, the expense
often coming to as much as $4,000
per annum. Col. Lamont as soon as
he took charge of things, reduced
the subscription list nearly seventy
five percent. But there are just as
many papers as ever. The editors
seem determined that the President
shall read their opinion of him, and
if he don't choose to pay for it they
will furnish it free. Col. Lamont
also discharged the exchange clerk,
who had been drawing a salary OF
&150 ner month. The Colonal doas