The Press., 1885-05-07
-r- 4 r
 WASHINGTaDN LETTER.

NF E. vRk s | 5 < Prt tssdent Cleveland is greatly distress l ed and embarrassed by the continued ill., ness of his private secretary. He has of ten been heard 10 say that Col. Lamont is the only man in the world whom he can not do without Executive business does not move with rapidity and precision at the white house now, and the secretary IS so completely broken down that it is nn- certain when he can resume his duties. The presidents appreciation of him was illustrated on Wednesday, when Col. and Mrs. Lamont and their two little children were installed as guests at the white house for an indefinite time. Col. Lamont has been qnartered at the Arlington hotel, and the president had him removed to the ex- ecntive mansion, with his personal effects, little chairs, baby carriage and all. The president has been advised by physicians to give less time to official duties and more to recreation, lest he too become victim of over-work. As soon as he moves out to Soldiers Home he expects to change his habits. He will drive to the white house each morning to transact business and then return, reserving his afternoon and evenings for recreatioll sss2
 A tedious process is going on now iu the
 United States treasury vaults, away down under the center of the building. The of flee of United States treasurer is about to pass from republican to democrat, and,
 as is customary when the keys of the mon- ey vaults change hands, a careful count is made of the cash which Uncle Sam has on
 hand. There are $1O,OOO, 900 in silver dol lars to be counted The silver is in bags, $l 900 in each bag, and the manner of de
 termining whether the contents of each
 bag is up to the standard is ny weight. J<a over 8 pair of scales and scanning the reg ister. One man places the money bags on
 the scales, another looks at the register
 and tells the weight, and tbird makes
 the entries in note book, The scales are
 of the finest make, and sensitive to the
 most infinitesimal pressure, so that if one
 of the dollars in the one thousand contain ed minute fraction more or less than the
 prescribed standard, the three men open
 the bag and count the contents The
 clink, clink of the silver goes on monoto-
 nously, and the count will consume about
 eight days more. M M
 The president has made a number of
 foreign appointments during the week,
 and seventy-five new democratic post
 masters every twenty -four hours is the
 work of the post office machine nova days. l The postmaster-g is taking up the
 cases of fourth class post offices at present. There are about two thousand vacancies of
 this class. After they have been attended to, it is the intention to consider those
 where removals are in order. Reform, so called, in the departments here goes on
 in about the same way. As things go on there is scarcely person in government employ, except those recently appointed,
 who does not feel that be is likely to be
 turned out at any moment. It is difficult
 for clerks to perform good work under such trying circumstances. a ~ x
 There has been. some talk of an extra session of congress, and if war breaks out in Europe the question will probably come Into prominence at once. It is held by some that the relations of the United States with the belligerent powers will render it desirable that congress should be
 in session ready to assist the president in
 any emergency. n X
 The city is beautiful now with it's miles and miles of shade trees, in fresh green
 leaf, its numerous parks full of towering
 trees and shrubs and fountains. The streets of Washington are among the crowning glories of the capital. To visit ors, especially to those from other cities where narrow, rough and tortuous thor. oughfares predominate, they are in the ma ture of a revelation. It has been the boast of this city that it has the cleanest swept streets in the world, but just now, in this era of reform, when so many clean and wholesome things are promised. some o1 its streets need the broom. The contract ors sweep all they are paid for. The trou ble is, there is not enough money to tn, square yard, owing to democratic pneur iousness. Even Pennsylvania avenue il : not, at times, as we'll washed and swept a, it should be- A new and increased appro priation for street cleaning was fount
 necessary, and there will soon be a return : of cleanliness and salubrity, as well.