Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1886-12-03
OF Il WASHINGTON LETTER.
Regular Correspondent.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 1856.

WASHINGTON, Nov. ~. 1876.
Again the White House is heavily
drapcd i'll mourning and workmen
are hu>ily engaged in winding sable
Cinhlrnns around the marble columns
OF tn Capitol, Executive Department
ami ether public buildings. The
Whit, House is looking unusually
clean. having been freshly reprinted
I,rtn!r. and the best bunting has
been used upon it in order that it may
not he diScolorcd in wet weather by
| the fading Of the cloth as was the case
when it was last drapcd. The first an
nuuncrmcnt Of cX-Prcsidcnt Arthur's
! death was received at the White House
| 10y Il telephone message from the As
>oriatrd Press. The news spread rap
ally over the city, and the flags on all
the public buildings were at once
placed m halimast The President
expects tn attend the funeral in New
York, and it is probable that commit
tees will attend representing both
branches oi Congress.
Since President Cleveland owns real
estate in the District OF Columbia, he
seems to take more interest i'll local
matters, and has been brought into
% lot
| ingtonians. He has always had broad
views Of the justice and necessity OF
liberal treatment of the capital city at
| the hands OF Congress, however, rs his
treatment of the subject i'll his message
showed.
In sclf-sought scclusion the Prcsi-
dent is now working hard on his sec
ond annual message, and it has al
ready taken quite definite shape.
Other officials, us we'll as the President,
have been compelled to go into tenn
porary retirement in order to find
quiet enough to perform important
work. The Assistant Secretary OF the
Treasury, Mr.. Fairchild, allows his Of
fee door, in the Treasury building, to
remain wide open even when he would
like to avoid disturbance, and contin-
ually he has constant stream of Wis
itors despite the care of the watchmcn.
When he has any work on hand re-
quiring concentrated thought, as is
| now the case, he hctakcs himself to his
private home rather than refuse him
self To- callers.
The Secretary OF the Treasury has
| just broken mp an abuse that has long
existed in his department. 1t was the
substitute system. Clerks have been
in the habit Of employing substitutes
and giving them part of their wages.
| Mr. Manning issued an order that
clerks must perform the duties for
which they were paid themselves, and
required them to appear for duty in
| person or he dismissed. 1t is useless
To say there were very few absentecs
the day the order went into effect.
| The system has been greatly abused
and has greatly intcrfcred with the
efficiency OF the force.
| 1t is too early to decide whether the
olcomargarinc law is equal to the ae-
cumpiishmcnt of all that it aims at,
but the first two weeks of its operation
leads the internal revenue officers to
figure up an income to the Govern
mcnt from Il million to a million and
Il hall from this source by the first of
| November, 1887. The manufacturers
of artificial substitutes for butter say
that the law has helped rather than i'll
| jurcd their business. The Treasury
stamp they think, gives certain dig
nifty to their goods which they did not
possess before, and many persons ap-
pear to regard it us Il guaranty that
the contents Of the package are pure.
In certain sense only the stamp may
he said to be a guaranty. The pur-
chaser is not cheated as to the charac
ter of the article he is buying. He
asks for clomargarinc or butternc and
he gets it every time. Whenever II
proper enforcement of the law is de-
viscd by Congress, he will also know
when he is getting poor article or
good one.
1t is said the leaders of the labor
movement, Mr.. Powderly and Mr..
George, may urge the President to call
an extra session of the Fiiticth Con-
grcss Immediately upon the expiration
of the present. This will be for the
purpose of considering Legislation in
the interest of the workingmen. AS
suming that the question is of such
finite legislation, the extra session
would he about the only means by
which the subject can be assured its
proper consideration. OF course moth
ing can be done at the approaching
short session, and to defer action until
the assembling Of the new Congress
would involve delay OF more than
year. Dem.
On the 22d inst, during fight at
Baker City, Martin Fleming struck
an unknown man on the nose with
such force that the stranger ex-