The Hartford herald., 1885-04-01
Washington Letter.

~ashfngton Letter.
March 20, 1885.
The situation in Washington is full
of interest, but not at all startling All
the Government offices feel the thrill OF
"A new life, and the sensation To office
pol holders is novel and alarming.
With President at the head of al
fairs who has breakfast at eight O'clock,
ana who has finished an ordinary days
work at an hour when his predecessors
were in bed; who listens politely to the
twaddle Of ofiice-seeking delegations
and then sends the Office to seek the
unheralied man who dismisses half
the clerical parasites of his household,
for a "starter :" who thinks before he
acts and ard acts before he speaks
there h much to cause surprise to
those who are accustomed to old time
men and methods. The example at
the White House would be infectious,
no doubt, and would have its influence
on the Departments in time, but it
begins TO appear that the administers
tion has not relied on the slow process
of infection. The Cabinet officers
whom he has chosen, some of them at
least, appear TO be men of deed who
have taken hold with courage tempered
by judgment. Useless clerks have been
discharged expensive perquisites of
horses and carriages have been dis
pensed with ; and the broad and intri. |
cate jungle of the civil service is being
surveyed and mapped for improvement.
IL is curious to observe the alarm
and galvanic energy that is actuating
the large body of political bummers
and drones who have drawn pay for
years and years without doing any
legitimate work, without, in fact,
having any legitimate work to do. !
These men and women would be will |
ling to do anything now that would
have the semblance of work and are
put TO absurd straits to appear to be
doing something.
There are clerks OF another class who |
have plenty TO do but whom it has
been heretofore impossible to make do |
their work. There are many of this |
class in the U. s. Patent Office where |
the work of examining and passing |
upon applications of inventors has
fallen in many classes from six to |
twelve months i'm arrears, compelling
the applicants for patent to wait often
more than year before their patents |
are granted. There are nearly y hun
dred and fifty examiners in the Patent |
Office and the force is ample to keep
the work up to date, but under the lax |
mismanagement of the last eight years,
many of these examiners have spent |
their time outside of the patent Office,
or in reading, talking, and flirting with |
the female employees of the Office. |
During the last week a change has
come over the spirit of their dream.
They have been ordered, in so many |
words, to stop their gossip, reading,
and dishonest loafing, and to bring
their work up to date, even if they
have to WORK at night. The cure that |
this order has accomplished appears
miraculous to those unacquainted with |
the real nature of the disease. The |
examiners are now doing more in a |
week than they have done before i'm a |
month, and at the present rate, their |
desks will in three months be cleared |
of long and shamefully neglected ac-
emulation.
The plaintive cry of previous admin
istrations to Congress has been, "Give
us more clerks more clerksr Mr..
Cleveland's ringing command to the
clerks has been, 'Glve us more work.
and the clerks, no longer backed by their
Republican influence, are buckling to
it in way that is edifying.
There is some discomfort and grumh-
ling at the policy and the appointments
of Mr.. Cleveland, but it is sporadic and
comes mainly from disappointed indi-
viduals. There is one fact that the
great body Of the Democratic party
knows and r,joices in, and the merely
political and ofiice-seeking class will be
taught TO know it sooner or later. Mr..
Cleveland was not an office seeker
himself and has doubtless no love for
ofiice-seekers as class. The Office
sought him, not to reward him for
what he had done, but because he was
believed to be able to begin a desper-
ately needed regeneration. Represent
ing ideas and principles that are as old
as humanity and as eternal as De-
mocracy, he is happily a new and un-
entangled man. With new man and |
new men, let us have new methods.
The great heart of Democracy may
well be Indifferent to private pangs
and chagrins in the boundess joy of
rescued and reunited nation.