The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1885-08-23
RANDOM NOTES.

hsAsAN ~ W NA AsO hS'ps
Mr.. w. NJ. King, the new chief of the Seed Dlyl-
sion at the Agricultural Department, seems to be
| taking hold of his work with real vlgor. MIR. King
was well known by Commissioner Coleman before
the appointment was made, and II Is said that he is
peculiarly well posted on the various soils OF the
country and the seeds that will thrive there The
difficulty with this Department In the past and the
reason 1t has been brought into dsavor is because
| seeds were not judciously distributed. The De-
| partment Is now sending out wheat and rye. new
kind OF wheat which Mr.. King calls the Hougnton
farm variety he expects great deal Of. lie thinks
1t Is one OF the best ever distributed. lie Ia sending
ont new variety Of turnip seed into the South also.
Four varieties OF Italian wheat have recently been re-
ceved at the Department. which will be distributed
| to the various experiment stations.
Judge Thoman is all alone at the Civil Service
Commission rooms. lie starts In a short time on
very extended tour, attending examinations as he
goes. He will 60 to Milwaukee, st. Paul, Bismarck,
Portland, oregon; Boise City, Idaho, aud san Fran
CISCO From the time OF the organization of the
Commission to the present time there have been
I,03s people examined for the departmental service
called Judge Thcmans attention to an article in
Caldwell tohlo) paper, saying that there must be
something unfair abou; the examination at which
owen Kellar, the recently appointed clerk In Audi
| tor Chenowiths ONCE, was examined.
"Such charge seems particularly silly to any one
who knows how the examinations are conducted
| said the Judge In the first place. the name of the
person being examined does not appear except on
the first slip Of paper, which is sealed up In an en-
veope. After that he goes by number all through"
The Judge then sent for MIR. Kellar's papers, and
showed that the charge that COL Taylor had recon-
| mended kellar was false. Kear writes sort Of
schoo-boy hand but the papers show that he passed
Republican officials of Noble County, Ohio, and by
| a local physician there.
Judge ThOman corrected a somewhat common
error to the effect that Dorman b. Eaton Is presi-
| dent of the Commission. He said that there is no
president Of the Commission, but all the members
are on an equality. When they are all present Mr..
| Eaton takes charge OF the correspondence on Mon
days and Tuesdays, DR.. Gregory on Wednesdays and
Thursdays. and Mr.. Thoman on Fridays and Satur-
| days. When only one member of the Commission is
present that one docs the business of the three so
| far as possible.
| The money-order portion OF the Sixth Auditors
ONCE Is pretty well settled in Marns Hall. This is
a decided improvement in the way of expedIting the
business of the Department. Mr.. McConville has
now got the business well in hand. He found 1t
| over month behind, and although he has cut down
the force materially, he nevertheless has nearly
caught up win the work.
There Is probably no place on the American contl-
nent where 1t has cost SO much moral stamina to be
| a Democrat as on the Western Reserve OF Ohio In
| many townships there were not half dozen Demo-
Gratis TO be found, and they regarded by their
bgoted Republican neighbors as little better than
| criminals They were constantly badgered and
abused and tabooed. When President Cleveland
was elected these few men felt that they at last
| lived to the salvation n hp put
| after month went by and no changes took place In
the post Offices The old Republican postmasters
began to talk saucy again. They said: "Cleveland
| Ia good enough Republican for us. How Is your
Democratic President any way?"
This was little more than the Democrats could
endure. They came in with perfect flood OF petl-
| tions upon Senator Payne, and when he returned
from his recent European trip he sat down with his
private secretary, Mr.. HOssack, and they made out
long list for the guillo,ine. MIR. HOssack brought
that list to Washington last week, and the good peo-
pie OF the Western Reserve now have Democratic
postmasters. No Democrat has locke and unlocked
| mall bag In that region since the days OF James
Buchanan. great many Of the good people there
who think the war is still raging in the South were
very fearful when Cleveland was elected that the
| coored people would be enslaved again. The work
which Mr. Stevenson has been doing there In recog-
nizing the Democrats cannot fall 10 have decided
effect upon the coming election
Mr.. Lamar, who was recently made private secre-
tary OF his father the Secretary of the INTERIOR s
very pleasant, approachable gentleman. He was
living In Texas when appointed, but was formerly
engaged in the mercantile business in Mississippi
He says that times are pretty hard In the rural
gions OF the South. The planters have, very many
| OF them, got almost hopelessly behindhand The
merchants are obliged to trust ont their goods, de-
pending on the coming crops OF course The risk ia
considerable In this and the merchants are Obliged
to demand large profits. When the crops are small,
| or failure, the result Ia simply disastrous.
At last there Is 10 be q systematic effort made TO
correct the longpreyailing evil OF having people In
the Departments here appointed from one State and
| credited 10 another. ! am told that about three
fourths OF all the people In the Departments are In
reality from very small number Of States but they
are charged up to various portions OF the country
as to keep the balance all right. In the past men
have been told that II they would GO TO some new
State for little while they would he appointed to
ONCE. They have accordingly packed their grip
| SACKS and gone, And In a very short while have
turned up here in good positions. There IL COM
plete list OF all the otcehoders In the Interior De-
partmant being made, with the States to which they
are accredited and the ones to which they really be.
long This list will be made the guide aud basis OF
| appointments in the future.
Messrs. Lamar, Bayard, and Garland are the only
members OF the Cabinet in the city. They are the
Southern members. and the heat OF this city Is not
30 oppressive 10 them as the others.
"This climate IL not uncomfortable to Southern
ers," said Mr.. Lamar, tho private secretary OF the
Secretary OF the Interior g. have worn a wooden
suit without inconvenience all the season, and have
felt that 1t was strange that people should 20 aboni
| with seeTsucker suits and In their shrt-seeves /
don't want any better weather than we have had
here"