Chariton courier. (Keytesville, Chariton County, Mo.) 1878-current, 1885-06-19
WASHINGTON LETTER.
tFrom our regular correspondent
Washington, June IS, 1885.

4
:, Washington, June Is, 1885
The tug Of war still comes on ant
goes on between the administration
and the office-seekers. The tuggins
| is to a great extent among the Office
. seekers; that is they tug against ont
another; but the president has tC
bear the brunt and suffer the weal
and tear. He is, no doubt, becOm:
ing very weary OIL the delegations
that persue him relative to compare
lively unimportant offices. Perhaps
Ii no minor Office has made greater de-
fmands upon his time than the
Charleston, S. c., collectorship. The
rival delegations have been persist
ent in their claims upon his attention.
He told them last week that they
must agree to settle this matter be-
tween themselves, and if they did
not do so soon, he would be compell-
ed to settle it in a way that would
not suit any Of the contending fac
tions.
The work of turning out the idle
and incompetent and the otherwise
offensive partisans goes on SLOWLY
but surely. The term offensive
PARTISAN" is in the mouth of every
one here, and it Is in danger of beng
not only abused but misunderstood.
It should be known that these dis
charged employees were not cast out
merely because they were jealous
Republicans, but because their zeal
in politics wholly interfered with
their duties as government employees
They are those who have been draw
ing pay from the public treasury but
performing no public service, because
their time has been entirly taken up
with partisan work. While there
were doubtless very important fac
tors in the Republican organization,
collecting campaign money, falsify-
ing ststlstics, skilled in the art of
making the worse appear the better
part'' upon the stump, and through
the press they were the vampires Of
our political system, sucking its
blood and lulling it with lies. Many
Of them have been discharged and
many more will be discharged. No
matter who their influence and back
ing may be, the time will come for
them to go into scandalous retire
ment, and they will go.
It is not alone in the discharge Of |
idle and worthless partisans that this |
administration is making itself mem
orable. There are other and per-
haps more important reforms going
on These reforms are not palpahle
and visible to the unskilled eye of
the public at large, but their culmat-
ed weight will be seen in the reports
Of cabinet officers when congress as
sembles next fall, in the message
Of the president and especially in the
greatly reduced appropriations that
will be asked for the public service
for the next fiscal year.
1t is well known that frauds upon
the revenue have long been practised
by impostors in conniyance with GUS
ton house officials. So great had
this evil become few years ago,
that it was found necessary for con-
gress to appropriate 800, 900 TO aid
in the detection and exposure of
these frauds. But even this fund
designed as it was for the prevention
Of eyasions and Irregularities, was
soon perverted to as fraudulent uses I
as those to which it was appropriated
to correct; and it is matter of mo-
torious history that the greater part
Of this 500, 900 year went into the
hands of disreputable gang of po-
Iitical bummers in New York, PhiIa-
delphia and other cities as reward
for their partisan services. Here
was one attempted reform, but the
of 1t was like that of most
reforms, that 1t was a
backward rather than forward
step.
Such is but one of many greater
in the customs service
which Secretary Manning as prac-
tical business man, set to work to
eliminate upon his taking charge of
the treasury department; and how
he has succeeded is best told in the
of prominent Republican,
Of this city to correspondent of the
New York Herald.
81 have occasion by nature of my
work, to know what is being done in
the trersury and by the administra-
ton in the way Of reforming long
and very grave abuses, and
say to yon. that in the important
matters with which / am necessarily
this Democratic administra-
ton has done more in three months,
than has been in fifteen years be-
fore. |"