The Washington critic., 1885-08-20
POLITICS IN VIRGINIA.

POLITICS IN VIRGINIA.
The following story is told on Colo.
mel Villas by the Washington corr3-
spondent of the Cincinnati T6legrdm.
We don't vouch for the truth of it any
more than we would for that of an in
dorsemcnt on a postoflce petition.
Among Postmaster General Villas visit
ors yesterdaywas man from Weldon, N.
c., who sent in card on which was
scrolled, Colonel A. p. Jones of North
Carolina" The Colonel called to urge
the appointment of his son as postmas-
ter at Weldon, and upon being admitted
to Mr.. Villas parlor-thc officials would
not admit him to his office ut the De
partment-hc at once announced the
purpose of his visit my dear SIR
replied Mr. Villas sharply, you should
not annoy me ut my residence about
official matters. Call at the Depart
mcnt and
Eyes, my dear sir; but" replied the
Carolinian gravely, II called at the de-
partment, and a big yellow Niger re-
fused to admit me. was bound to see
you somewhere about this matter, and
to that end, as Shakespeare says, called
here. My son is good Democrat, sir,
and want you to appoint him post
master at Weldon, sir, in place of that
knock knced, cross eyed republican,
who holds the place now" Have you
preferred charges against the present
Incumbent inquired the postmaster
general mo, sir; but | tell you right
here he is q rampant, fire eating good
for nothing radical. Amt that enough"
mo, it is not. You will have to pre-
fer special charges against him in
writing, and then sustain the charges"
ooh! ! will, chY" rejoined Colonel
Jones, with sarcastic leer. "But Mr..
Villas, or Vee-lah, would like to ask
you who preferred charges against
your predecessor, Frank llatton. And
1 would inquire further if the charges
were specific and in writing, and if they
were sustained. The charges | prefer
against the Republican postmaster at
Weldon, sir, are the same general
charges that the country and the Demo
cracy preferred against Hatton and his
party" Villas did not answer the in
quirics, but remained silent, and the
interview came to an end. Colonel
Jones will present his sons case to the
President when he returns from his
summer vacation.
w.,
About two hundred newspapers are
received at the White House daily,
writes the Washington correspondent
of the Chicago NewS. These include
the large metropolitan dailies, as well
as the less pretentious sheets. Only a
small proportion of these papers are
paid for. Under former regimes almost
every newspaper of prominence had
among its list of subscribers the Presi-
dent of the United States. The amount
thus expended was charged to the con
tingent fund.- and frequently exceeded
$4,000 per annum. An exchange clerk,
as he was called, was employed at a
salary of $3.50 month to read these
papers and make such clip
pings MS We're supposed to be
of interest to the Executive.
Almost the first of Colonel Lamont 3
official acts was to dismiss the exchange
clerk and reduce the expense of news
paper subscriptions ut least 70 per cent
The effect of this new departure has
been noticeable only in reducing the
revenues of the newspaper publishers.
The number of papers received mt the
Executive Mansion is fully rs great as
ever. Newspaper editors are de-
termincd he President shall know their
opinion of him, and if he will not pay
| for the information they will send him
the paper free. New York State heads
the list with the largest number Of
dailies. This is not surprising When it
is remembered that the President,
Colonel Lamont, and two members
of the Cabinet live in that State.
In the list of cities Chicago comes next
to New York, with Boston third, Phil
adclphia fourth, and Cincinnati fifth
The representation from New England
is very small. The Pacific slope, in
Guiding California, Oregon and Nevada,
sends but one paper. The South has
also feeble representation probably
not dozen papers in all being sent
from that section. These exchanges are
carefully read each day by Colonel La
mont, whose journalistic training en-
ables him to go over them rapidly and
Gull out such articles rs it may be al
visable TO preserve for reference. These,
carefully arranged in chronological
order, are pasted in scrap-books under
thc heads of tariff, finance, civil service,
foreign policy, appointments, current
comment, Indians, personal and the
like. Colonel Lamont has Il quick, re
tontivc memory, and such is his control
Of this faculty that he can tell the
President, with whom he is closo,a |
every day, The sentiment in regard to
any particular policy in any section
of the country he may mention,
The system of preserving newspaper
opinions by the occupants of the White
House dates back to the formation of
the Government. Under President
Hayes the present plan of arranging
Mc.e clippings in scrap-bool, was hrs.
inaugWatcd. He was very particular
that everything relating TO his Admin
istrGtiOn should be saved, and scarcely
Il week passed that the books were MOI
carefully read. Garfield, during his
brief iucumbcncy as Chief Magistrate
paid close attention to the scraps, A.
they are called, Garfield was very sen
sitiNc to newspaper criticism, but hi
cagCmcss to obtain knowledge ofpub
lie sentiment, rs expressed through the
| press, was such that nothing, however
hostile on vicious, was overlooked, Ar
thur was more indifferent The clerk,
at the White House say he seldom rca,
the scraps except during the few
weeks preceding the meeting of Con
gress, when engaged in the preparation
of his annual message and when Ii
had in contemplation some particula,
nomination whose effect he desired tC
see upon the country before absolutely
committing himself. In such cases ht
would allow the information to LEAH
out semi Officially" and then follow
the press comments carefully to see how