Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1885-03-25
From our Regular Correspondent.
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Washington, D. c., March q, 80.

WASnINCl ON he ] ] EN-
Washington, d. c., March 81, 80
One of the blessings that came Of the
closing days of the 4Sth Congress was
the practical closing up OF the Census
Bureau. bureau that had entirely
outlived its usefulness and had only
been perpetuated ass sort Of hostelry
for an army Of political hacks. Here
it is five years, and half way up to the
taking of another Census, and yet no
decisive Information relative to the
products and industries of the coun-
try has been put into tabulated form
for public use. In all these years
many hundreds of clerks have been
kept upon the payroll in this bureau,
pegging away at nobody knows what,
for the result of their labors has not
been made manifest anywhere. |
should like to know, if anybody can
tell, what use it is to expcnd three or
four millions Of dollars upon Census
whose results cannot be made known
until the information is worthless p
To say that The statistics gathered by
the Census takers throughout the
country in thirty days cannot be CLASH
fed, tabulated and printed in less than
five years, is an affront to common
sense and au open insult to the pcooic
who pay the enormous oxpediture Of
money required to keep this army of
loafers in the Census Bureau.
The newspapers and the college pro-
fessors throughout the country are
discussing the origin of that beautifully
descriptive and altogether elegant word
SO freely used in the recent political
campaign-''mugwump." OF course
the term must have been coined by
some exquisiiely ordered brain, and
should therefore be charged to the ac-
count of the same gigantic intellects
that introduced those other elegant ex-
...ooo;o,, ,,,L;,l b,,o honon,o N port nj
our language, and represented by such
words as ''shenanigan," "disgruntl-
ed" "hornswoggled, "gallivantng,"
ard the whole vocabulary of like choice
phrases.
The "disgraceful scramble for office"
Of which Mr.. Jefferson spoke SO rep
rehensibly, goes bravely on. Neither
night nor day brings rest to the exc
cutive or department officials who have
the crumbs Of patronage at their dis
posal. The new Postmaster General,
Mr.. Villas, has received 1850 letters
since the 4th instant, every one of
them being a supplication for post
office. This is to say nothing Of the
armies Of delegation s and individuals
that have been constantly tramping
through the corridors of the Post Of
flee Department during the ten work.
ing days since the administrator
changed. Possibly the checklist por-
ton of the immense correspondence re-
coivcd from the present incumbents OF
the post offices, who ask to be retained
in their positions. These truly shame
less barnacles should be, as they doubt
less will be, the first to get bounced.
Probably the best radiance that our
Otice-riddcn Government has ever re-
joiced over, is the outgoing Of the flap
doodle Secretary Of War, Bobby Lin
coin. The fellow was brought into
the Cabinet by Garfield as matter of
sentiment, but his retention there has
brought nothing but opprobrious critic
ism upon the department and every
thing connected with it. This callow
egotist has managed to keep himself in
hot water during his entire official cx-
istence, and Of all the retiring members
Of Mr.. Arthur's Cabinet, he is the
only one who went without the least
mark Of remembrance from his sub
o"dinates. PHoNo.