Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-03-26
WASHINGTON LETTER.
[From our Regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON, ID. c., March %, lSt

WASHINGTON, ID. c., March %, 1856.
One of the blessings that came of the
closing days of the 4Sth Congress, was
the practical closing up of the Census
Bureau, bureau that had entirely out
lived its usefulness and had only been
perpetuated as a sort of hostelry for an
army of political hacks. Here it is five
years and half, way up to the taking of
another Census and yet nodecisive in
formation relative to the products and
industries of the country has been put
into tabulated form for the public use.
In all these years many hundreds of
clerks have been kept upon the payroll
in this bureau, pegging away at nobody
knows what, for the result of their la
bors has not been made manifest any,
where. / should like to know, if any,
body can tell, what use il is to eXpend
three or four millions of dollars upon a
Census whose results cannot be made
known until the information is worth
less? To say that the statistics gath
cred by the Census takers throughout
the country In thirty days cannot be
classified, tabulated and printed in less
that five years, IL an affront to common
sense and an open insult to the people
whopay the enormous expenditure of
money required to Keep this army of
loafers in the Census Bureau.
The newspapers and the college pro-
fessors throughout the country are dis
cussing the origin of that beautifully
descriptive and altogether elegant word
so freely used in the recent political
campaign" "mugwump." Ofcouse the
term must have been coined by some ex;
quisitely ordered brain, and should
therefore be charged to the account OF
the same gigantic intellects that intro
duced those other elegant expressions
which have become a part of our Ian
guage, and represented by such words
as "shenanigan," "disgruntled, ""horn-
swoggled," "gallivanting" and whole
vocabulary of like choice phrases.
"The "disgraceful scramble for officen
ofwhich Mr.. Jefferson spoke so repre-
hensibly, goes bravely on. Neither
night nor day brings rest to the execu-
tive of department officials who have
the crumbs of patronage at their dis
posed. The new Postmaster General,
Mr.. Villas, has received 4,500 letters
since the 4th instant, every one of them
being a supplication for post office.
Thisis to say nothing of the armies of del.
egations and individuals that have been
constantly tramping through the cor.
ridors of the Post office department dur.
ing the working days since the admins
tratiOn changed. Possibly the cheek.
lest portion of the immence correspond
ence received by the Postmaster Gener
al is that received from the present in.
cumbents of the post officers who ask te
be retained in their positions. These
truly shameless barnancles should be
as they doubtless will be, the first tc
get bounced. " 'r
Probably the best riddance that oul
office-ridden Government has ever re
joieed over, is the outgoingo of the flap
doodle Secretary of War, Bobby Lin
coin. The fellow was brought into the
Cabinet by Garfield as matter of senti
ment, ,buth retention there has brough
nothing but opprobrious criticism UP
on the department and everything con
| nected with it. This callow egotist ha
maraged to keep himself in hot waite
during his entire official existence, an,
of all the retiring members of Mr.. All
thurs Cabinet, he is the only one VIII
went without the least mark of remem
brance from his subordinates. l.
| tnl @t ''" 1859 PHONO,