New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-11-04
WASHINGTON LETTER.

one OF Lne mOSI conspicuous. OppOItuu1.
ties to show friendship for CIVIL Ser
vice reform has been thrown away.
The victim, in this instance, is Assist
ant Secretary Coon. He has been
recognized as the active, working chief
of the Treasury Department under
several heads. and no man has ever
held the position who has evinced more
fidelity in the discharge of his duties.
When the change of Administration oc-
Cured, Mr.. Coon went to Secretary
Manning frankly, and proposed to re-
sign his place, saying that he had always
been Republican and always expect
ed to be one. The inexperienced Mr..
Manning especially requested Mr.. Coon
to remain, assuring HIM that he would
be of the greatest service, and that his
remaining would be considered in the
light of favor.
Mr.. Coon's retention in office has
been one great source of the confidence
the Civil Service Reformers continue to
profess in the sincerity of the Cleve-
land Administration. They pointed to
his case as resembling that of the I'm
der Secretaries in the English Govern
ment, who remain through all changes
of Cabinet heads.
Thus the party abandons its. Civil
Service hypocrisy. Mr.. Coon goes,
not from any dissatisfaction with any
official act, but because Mr.. Coon SER
vices are not quite as indispensable
now as they were to the raw men who
took charge of the Government eight
months ago.
The ideal Democratic President is a
dispenser of public plumber as the per-
sonal perquisites of politicians. It
would be impossible to educate the
average Democrat up to that reform
theory which the Democratic party
protested last year in order to get the
few hundred boiling Republican votes,
which saved 1t from defeat. They
hunger for the flesh pots, and have
profound contempt for any theory of
reform that does not hinge on spoils.
General Rosecrans, the register of
the Treasury, has succeeded in getting
his office into miserable tangle. Work
can scarcely 60 on there by reason of
the removal of efficient Republican
subordinates, and the appointment of
incompetent Democrats to theirplaces.
Again. history repeats itself. AS a
military commander in Tennessee, it
will be remembered, Gen. Rosecrans
got his army into similar fix, and had
to be displaced.
Senator Sherman stopped in Wash
ington on his way to Virginia, where
he went to add few last touches to
the campaign. He was serenaded at
the Ebbitt House by some of his many
Washington friends.
Secretary Manning is studying hard
in order that he may, when Congress
meets, be able to answer some of the
questions which will be propounded by
the astute financial students, who COM
pose the Senate Finance Committee.
The way he carries himself before the
committee will have much to do with
his future standing. The duties of the
Secretary of the Treasury are probably
more exacting than those of any other
Cabinet position, and the interest to
see how Mr.. Manning will deport him
self this winter is not surprising. The
Capitol is already being put in readi-
ness for Congress, which meets in five
weeks.
The shipments of coin from the vari-
GUS sub-treasuries in Washington, since
September %, amount to 1926, 900, 600
in silver coin and about $5,000.OOO in
gold. All of the gold came from Cali
fornia. It is estimated that it will take
q month to count the coin already re.
ceived atthe Treasury.
Some interesting facts concerning the
wonderful growth Of Dakota are pre-.
sented in the October report of Mr..
Dodge, the statistician of the Depart.
ment of Agriculture. The increase in
population from 1917 to 415,664
within the five years that have passed
since the census Of 1880, has already
been published; but it is only by COM
|parison between this incipient common.
wealth and some Of her older sisters,
long since admitted into the family Of
States. that q just idea can be gained 81
her wonderful progress. Such com.
parison has been made by Mr.. Dodge,
and it appears that in the number Of
farms which increased from q. 435 in
1880 to 50, in 1885, Dakota outranks