National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1885-09-12
THE PRESIDENTS PROMISES.
CHARLOTTE SMITH ASKS WHY HE HAS
NOT FULFILLED THEN.
An Open Letter to Mr.. Cleveland on
Jotteronian Simplicity--IIor A rra,gn-
ment of Secretary Lamar, and n Caustic
Review of Things in General.

hehU OF secretary Lamar, ana OHuAtic
Review of Things in General.
To PRESIDENT CLEVELAND: Unless your IN an
DRY Is remarkably short you remember my
calling on you In Albany, where business urged
Inc to go soon after your election to the
Presidency. Ny object IN visiting You while
was In Albany was TO learn your status on the
labor question and what the industrial women
were to expect from your administration. |
was very cordially received by you. aud you
voluntarily promised to remember the indus.
trians OF the country and would do nil you
could for their interest and prosperity aud
that you would be their friend. You also re-
member you made these promises first, us gov.
ctnor Of New York; second, MS President of the
United States elect, aud third, on the honor of
man. You also invited me TO call on you when
you got to the white house In firthcranrc OF
your promises. We shook hands on the com.
pction NJ tho contract, TO iondly dream that
you would not forget them, and you to quickly
igrg0t them, rs tue sequel has proved. Rather
than to appear ohciOus IN the matter | d.
fcrfcd my visit To the white house until after
all the crowd OF oihcescokers had been re.
wurded with an Office or informed til 1t thoy
could not obtain one. I did not wish to be
looked upon In the light OF IN ufliccIeeksr, as
! never was one nor ever expect to be.
Regarding your promises rs slcrCd and hon.
cstly believing you meant Just what You aaid,
I Wns willing to wait aud see what uction
would be taken by your Secretary of the In
terror, Mr. Lamar In the appointment OF the
statistics homo and abroad tor that orgdnizl.
ton, | concluded you would instruct MIN to
appoint some females among tines, agents TO
prevent an unjust discrimination on account
uf sex, and rs a compliment as well ~ an act
Of Justice 10 the females who constitute Mt
least nc.half OF the population OF the country
II IL q fact well known 10 you, or should b.,
thut the bureau of labor was constituted IN the
Interest of the men, women, and children of
the country, with the distinct understand
ing among the trainers OF the bill that woman
should have separate department, presided
over and managed by woman, whose duty
was 10 act IN behalf and TO the interest OF the
female induStrinns Of tho land. That this OK
press provision was not embodied In the bill
was an oversight only on the part of tho franz
ers vi the bin The bureau was not designed
to be an n'ylum for brokcn.down politicians
ana playcd-out partisan buns. We wanted no
ornamental iigtirehcads to draw and cxpend
the funds appropriated for its mnintcnance, no
political dudps TO solve scientific problems.
Labor Is n stern reality, and the induitriGns
were In earnest when they asked for nn1 oh.
tanned the establishment of this bureau. We
wish men aud women cmployed-not duacs
or boys and we trust you Will give your a1ten.
ton 10 the matter
Many labor organizations OF the country r,-
quested should be Il candidate iorthc position
Us chief the wonnns department, mud so In
formed their immediate senators aud members.
More than hundred senators and members
signed an application asking the President to
tablishment Of this bureau q Mr.. Wright, OF
Massachusetts, was appointed commissioner,
and he very coolly proceeded TO organk, 1t; to
dispense the patronage among his IN he friends;
defined his own duties. prescribed his own
regulations, aud ignored woman entirely In tina
| formation of the bureau. was very indignant
at this outrage on the part OF the commissioning,
and ventilated his course In the public
press of the country at the tims.
and tho comments of tho public
press sustained my action In the premises. If
nfi l.ai pala ri bua .NttI Ntryf 10
criterion to 20 by, i had the sympathy as
well as the good will of the people in my
protest against this outrage against the interest
of the wage women of the lana. had worked
hard to have the bill passed to establish this
| bureau. ! have spent thousands OF dollars of
| my own means, which earned Us publisher
| of the Inland Magazine aud other publications,
| to have such n bureau at the national capital.
| ] was recognized as the representative OF the
| wage women of our country aud possess their
| confidence and regard.
| Accepting the fact that no woman would be
| recognized In the formation of the bureau, |
| never dreamed that woman would be ignored
i'll the appointment of the hlleen agcnts. |
was soligitcus however, and very naturally
called to see Mr.. Lamar In regard to the APP
| pointments, and to the very last moment he
| induced me to believe he would act fairly In
| the matter.
But when the appointment OF the fifteen
| agents was announced there was NOT u woman
among them, the Secretary being so hard up
for male material that he conferred IN agency
| OIL II Colorado horse thief
This conduct on the part of Mr.. Lamar was
| most unaccountablc, for among my indorsi-
| tons hold the following:
~ know of no woman better qualified for the
| position OF chief of the womnns department of
The labor bureau than Mrs. Charlotte smith.
l.. q. q. LAMAR.
| As one compliment deserves another | can
very cheerluily and very truthfully pay to
| Hon. l.. q. &. l.. the following tribute:
81 know of no man less qualified for the
Office of Secretary Of the Interior than l.. q G..
Lamar. CHARLOTTE SAITH.
President W. n. |. League.
The ignoring OF the female industriaui In
| these appointments was q direct insult to tn }
| industrial element of the country. His con.
duet on the whole shows the dependence TO b.
| placed in the promises public men. hailel
| his appointment rs Secretary of the Interior
| with pleasure, not on my own account alone
| but on account of tho industrial element of the
country, and congratulated many labor orsani.
| cations on the fact that we had friends In high
| places; that tho laboring man and woman
| would be recognized as well as the capitalists
| by Cleveland's administration.
| Soon after he was sworn into Office rs SeCre-
| tary of the Interior called to congratulate
| him, and to discover his intention as to
| woman 8 representation in tho labor bureau
did not fail to observe that the conduct OF Mr..
Lamar rs Secretary and Mr.. Lamar as senator
| were very different As senator he had nothing
to grant Inc but his indorsatlon, which was
very cheap. AS Secretary he had Offices to be-
| stow. found disposition on his purt to do lse
the question. md whenever he could find M
excuse he would dodge out of the room under
| the plea of want OF time, important papers, &c
soon discovered that his interest IN the CAUSE
of the wage woman was not great enough u
engage his serious attention, and that the
working classes had no friend in Mr. La.
mar He has no sympathy In common
with a poor man. Under his authority and
by his permission the labor bureau is made a
mere toy, erected as an ornament designed for
no practical purpose, The sole mission is 70
exhaust the appropriation to prevent Its being
covered into the treasury. The commissioner
was allowed to nominate and recommend
every agcnt Mr.. Lamar appointed-eyen the
| horse thief The Secretary has no time ~
think for himself; he hns suborlinates 10 do
his thinking. He offered II gratultous insult to
| the country In the appointment of Judd, but
women. Honor and common justice required
the appointment of women rs agents In such
number as TO give the sex q fair repre- scntatton
Finding that women stood no chd,ic1 of rec
| ogni,ion in the labor bureau, and desiring to
| give employment to some deserving wage
| women In the laundry, visited Mr.. Lamar,
| and requested that the washing of the towels
Of the department be awarded to me. This
was also refused under tho plea that the wash
ing was put out by contract and economy ut
the price at 10 cents Per hundred Ths SAVING
administration to the parsimony of lovers Of
the country and retail dealers In small things
Aspirit of petty saving and niggarily parsl'
mony seems to pervade everything belonging
clip the following from the Evening Critic
of the 7th instant as u sample of Democratic
| GCuHOuly on lHc puIl VI luS Bicth MI kIoNlni
country which you preside over with hundr1d'
of millions lying idle in the vaults OF III
treasury:
"a REToRM AS IS A REroRM-Anoshet re-
form has been inauguruted In Washington
The treasury towels are TO be lot out TO the
lowest bidder. Heretofore tho work has bsen
given to necessitous women at tho rate oil
about 30 cents a dozen, but Secretary Manning
has discovered that the Chinese laundrymi ~
will do the snIne work for about q cent apiece
This work heretofore gave employm INT "a
eighteen. ngcsssltOus women With children VIII
were widows OF the soldiers who bore the ilal
when the nation was in jeopardy. the ao