Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-04-10
Washington Letter.
From our Regular Correspondent.

WAsuIxGToS March 2S, 1885.
With the exception Of those who
have failed to get office, Democrats
here are we'll pleased with the ap-
pointments Of the new Administra-
ton, and favorable comment is
heard on all sides. Where there is
more than one applicant for an Of
fee, all, of course, cannot be made
happy, and it is considered wise and
polite i'll the President to appoint,
as he has often done, some one WHO
is not identified with the contending
factions. 1t is curious to note the
comments of the old-school Republi-
can politicians here, who estimate
every appointment and every action
of the new President by the low
standard which experience has
taught them to apply to depraved
Republican politics. They appear
to have no faith i'll r.f,im III the
civil service, or i'll the iulI roveimcnt
of the military and naval establish
ments. They consider everything
that is done or talked about in this
connection as hypocritical or senti-
mental. When Secretary Lamar or
ders the sale of bali dozen horses
and carriages that have been used
mainly for pleasure by his predeces
sors, but maintained at an expense
of $4,000 a year from the public
purse, the despicable pessamists who
faint the political atmosphere of the
capital shake their heads and say:
1.-The economy dodge will not pay,
the United States are wealthy, and
do not wish to see their Cabinet
officers live in a plain, mean style,
inconsistent with the dignity of a
great nation" If you tell them that
the disposal of the carriages has q
deeper significance than the nero
matter of luxurious locomotion, that
it is q hint and an admonition to the
hundreds of employees in the Patent
Office, the Indian Office, the Land
Office, the Geological and Public
Land Survey Bureaus, over which
Mr.. Lamar presides, you talk to
them in an unknown language, and
they will reply that the city is going
to ruin, that the money spent or
wasted helps trade, and has made
tue city prosperous.
The prosperity of local shop keep
ers and real estate owners is, of
course, a petty matter, but rs a sign
of the times l may mention that the
saloons, cigar stores, billiard rooms
and places of amusement have not
been for years as dull as they are
now. Drunken, tipping, gambling
and sporting Government employ es
have, wonderful to tell, learned that
they are not in favor with what they
were wont to call tho great unwashed
Democratic party. They have gone
homo very much disgruntled, OF
course, and deeply convinced that
the experiment of popular Govern.
ment is failure. The great body
of the Democracy, however, who do
not want the offices, but wish only
to see them we'll filled aud honestly
administered, do not share the de.
spair of the professional oiiice-seexer.
The new Administration has o
great work before it and it has four
years for its accomplishment. 1t has
as yet been in Office not four weeks.
A number of important offices have
been filled with men against whom
even their enemies can say nothing.
Some supeifluities have been re-
moved and more extensive removals
are being planned. The morale of
the service in all Government offices
is remarkably improved. For the
first time in his long official life the
Government clerk realizes that his
success and his future depends not
upon the backing of Blaine, a Ma
hone, or other powerful dispenser OF
patronage, but upon his own work
and conduct.
l do not think there will be any
ostentation of simplicity and plain
ness in the social environment of the
new Administration, but it is evident
that there will be less of mere dis
play and parade of wealth than has
existed in Washington since the war.
The eossips had talked and written
so much about the pew taken in the
somewhat aristocratic church on New
York Avenue, that large number
of snobs have been betrayed into
renting pews at this church. The
President, not wishing to make a
side show OF his religion, has rented
a pew in church in less fashion
able part of the city and nearly a
mile from the White House. He
has not yet attended church, but his
sisters occupied their pew last Sun
day. DEM.
A MAN named Hoeg was killed by
an Indian woman, in a drunken ca
|