The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1885-08-28
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our Regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON. ID. G., August go, 1885.

Although the President and five
members of his Cabinet are absent
from the city, there is no hitch and
very little friction in the work of the
Departments of Government. The
Assistant Secretary of State Ex.Gov.
Porter is in charge of the State De
partment, while Mr.. Bayard is
spending week at his Delaware home.
The Secretary of Treasury has left the
Department for a few days in the
hands of Assistant Secretaries Fair
child and Coon. The able Assistant
Z. M. General Mr.. Stevenson has
charge of the Post Office Department
during the temporary absence of Mr..
Villas. The War and Navy Depart
ments are in charge of their respective
Chief Clerks while Secretaries Whit
ney and Endicott are taking a brief
rest. Secretary Lamar of the Interior
Department and Attorney General
Garland are the only members of the
Cabinet who remain at their posts.
Stepped in the suns of Arkansas and
Mississippi the dog days heat Of
Washington has no terrors for them.
The hotel keepers of summer resorts
are much given to advertising the fact
that Cabinet ministers and prominent
officials of all sorts are stopping at
their health-giving inns, where the
scenery is grand and the thermometer
at rs degrees. Attorney General Gar
land has been much annoyed at adver-
tising of this sort, and when it was an.
nounced last week that he was at
Rock Enon Springs he got mad and
gave notice the he had not been away
and did not intend to go. He tramps
down to his office as early as seven in
the morning and seldom leaves until 6.
When he goes out he rides in a street
car and lives as plainly as the lowest
grade clerk in his office.
Secretary Lamar also lives very
plainly. He is occupying for the sum
mer the house of Senator MCPHERSON
of New Jersey and he takes daily ex-
ercise in the saddle.
There are three members of Con-
gress who have houses in Washington
and at present are residing here and
making this city their regular home,
Notwithstanding their legal residences
are many miles away. Mr.. G. r.
Breckenridge, member from Arkansas
whose home is at Pine Bluff, has a
house upon Capital Hill, and with his
family has been there all the summer
and intends to remain. Hon. John S.
Barbour of Virginia, lives in Wash
ington also, although Alexandria is
his legal residence. Mr.. Barbour also
resides on Capitol Hill. Mr.. Benjamin
Butterworth, who, while Commission.
er of Patents, took house ont at lie
Droit Park, has had his family there
ever since, and has paid little atten-
tion to his home in Cincinnati.
Mr.. w. M. King, that new chief of
the Seed Division at the Agricultural
Department, seems to be taking hold
of his work with zeal vigor. Mr..
King was well known by Commission
er Coleman before the appointment
was made, and it is said that he is pc
culiarly we'll posted on the various soils
of the country and the seeds that will
thrive therein. The difficulty with
this Department in the past, and the
reason it has been brought into disfa-
vor is because seeds were not judicious-
ly distributed. The Department is now
sending out wheat and rye. A new
kind of wheat, which Mr.. King calls
the Houghton farm variety, he expects
a great deal from. He thinks it is one
Of the best ever distributed. He is
sending out new variety of turnip
seed into the South also. -Four varie-
ties of Italian wheat have recently
been received at the Department, which
will be distributed to the experiment
stations.
The reported breach between the
President and Mr.. Tilden has fallen
very flat. Few persons took any stock
in its truth, and as was very likely the
expectation of its author. Somebody
else will probably take Mr.. Tilden's
place in day or so as the "bitterly
and vindictive Demo
,rat," and so the good work will 60 on
until the name of every prominent
Democrat shall have been dragged in.
This is not very good campaign mate
'ial, but it is valuable as any good Re-
)ublicans can now lay their hands on.