The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-04-01
WASHINGTON LETTER.
IFrou our Regular Correspondent
WAsHINGToN, March IS, 1SS,


With the exception Of those who have
failed to get Office, Democrats here are
well pleased with the appointments of
the new administration, and favorable
comment is heard on all sides. Where
there is more than one applicant for an
Office, all of course cannot be made
happy, and it is cousidsIe ed wise and
polite in the President to appoint, as he
has often done, some one who is not
identified with the conteuding factions.
1t is curious 70 note the comments of
the old school Republican politicians
here, who estimate every appointment
and every action of the new President
bv the low standard which experience
has taught chem to apply to depraved Re
publican politics. They appear to have
no faith in reform, in the civil service, or
in the Improvement Of the military and
naval establishments. They consider
everything that is done or talked about In
this connection as hypocritical or senti-
mental When Secretary Lamar orders
the sale of half dozen horses and carri-
ages that have been used mainly for
pleasure by his predecessors, but main
| tanned at an expense of $4,000 year
| from the public purse, the despicable
pessamists who faint the political atmos-
phere of the Capital shake their heads
| and say: "The economy dodge will not
pay; the United States are wealthy. and
do not wish to see their Cabinet Officers
| live in plain, mean style, inconsistent
with the dignity of a great nation" Ii
| YOU tell them that the disposal of the
carriages has a deeper significance than
| the mere matter OF luxurious locomotion,
| that it is hint and an admonition te
| the hundreds of employees n the Patent
Office, the Indian Office, the Land Office
| the Geological and Public Land Survey
Bureaus over which Mr.. Lamar presides
YOU talk to them in an unknown Ian
guage, and they will reply that the city
is going to ruin, that the money spent OF
wasted helps trade, ana has made the
city prosperous.
The prosperity of. local shop-keepers
and real estate owners is, of course, a
petty matter, but as sign of the time,
| may mention that the saloons, cigar
stores, billiard rooms, and places of
amusement have not been for years as
dull as they are now. Drunken, tip
ping, gambling sporting government,
employees have, wonderful to tell learned
that they are moi. in favor with what they
were wont to call the great unwashed
Democratic party. They have learned
with unpleasant suddeEess that this new
! Democratic administration has a pen
chant for several varieties of cleanli
ness. This revelation has sobered them
and they are. keeping better hours at
home and in Office, and their health
and breath are selsibly improved.
The crowd of professional office-seek.
ers has very sensibly diminished. They
have gone home very much disgruntled
of course, and deeply convinced that
the experiment of popular government
is a failure. The great body OF
the Democracy, however. who do not
want the Offices, but wish only to see
them well filled and honestly admins
tered, do not share the dispair of the
professional ofice-seeker. The new
administration has great work before
it and it has four years for its accom-
plishment. 1t has as yet been in Office
not four weeks. A number of impor
tant offices have been filled with mer
against whom even their enemies car
say nothing. Some superfuities have
been removed and more extensive re
movals are being planned. The morale
of the service in all Government Office,
is remarkably improved. For the frs
time in his long official life tn.
Government clerk realizes that his sue
cess and his future depends not upon tn,
backing of Blaine, Malone, or othel
more powerful dispenser of patronage
but upon his own work and conduct
/ do not think there will be any osten
tation of simplicity and plainness in tn,
social envirnmeDt of the new admisstra
ton, but it is evident that there will bt
less of mere display and parade Of
wealth than has existed in Washington
since the war. The gossips had talked
and written so much about the pew
taken in the somewhat aristOcratiC
church on New York Avenue, that g
large number of snobs have been
betrayed into renting pews at this
church. The president, not wishing to
make a side-show out of his religion, has
rented a pew in a church in a less
fashionable part of the city nearly a
mile from the White House. He has
not yet attended church but his sisters
occupied their pew last Sunday.
c. A. S.