Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1886-10-07

with THESE, and with driving and
shopping. An efficient house keeper
makes it unnecessary for her to be
concerned about the cobwebs and
"a-polishing the handle of the big
front door," Her more arduous
duties of shaking hands and smil-
ing for three consecutive hours, and
of reiterating for the thousandth
time agreeable nothings, have not
yet begun. 1t has been chronicled
that Mrs. Cleveland's first remark
on seeing the White House, on her
return from her vacation, was "They
have painted it white!" 1t has also
been painted in the interior, as some
unfortunate Newspaper reporters dis
covered at the Presidents last re-
oeptlon. Their elegant cut away
coats can now be had at half price
at second hand dealers.
The president intends to hold the
regu lar Cabinet meeting tomorrow
and expects Secretaries Bayard, La
mar, Endicott, Whitney, Postmaster
General Villas, Attorney General
Garland, and acting Secretary Fair
child to be present The absence
OF some of these gentlemen has
been so long continued that their
| presence will be almost surprise.
Notable among these delinquents is
the Secretary OF War. 1t is a mat
tel of notoriety that his absenteeism
has actually thrown the control of
the War Department into the hands
of its employees for several months
past. There has been no serious
hitch In the work, because the rou-
tine business of the Department
goes on as well as ever, under the
careful management of experienced
Republican clerks, just as it would
go on if there were no such person
as the "Hon. Secretary of War;" at
salary of $4,000 per annum. But
there are number of important
public matters that the officials of
the Department have not authority
to attend TO, and in consequence the
public business must suffer.
If some employe of the War De
partment were to absent himself
from his desk for few days over
his regular vacation, he would be
promptly dismissed. And yet Mr..
Endicott remains absent for months
at time, paying only hurried visits
to his office, and spending the great
er part of the year in New York or
at his home i'll Massachusetts, and
the President seems to take no
notice of this unprecedented state
of affairs.
Mr. Cleveland has certainly not
made fortunate selection of men
to I'LL public offices. Mr.. Bayard
has been, in several instances,
strikingly ill-starred in his appoint
ments for the diplomatic and CON
sular services. Mr.. Manning's
health has been found unequal to
the duties of his office. Mr.. Gar
land has been implicated IN a no.
torious scandal. Mr.. Endicott has
abandoned his duties to his subor-
dinates. Commissioner of Patents
Montgomery spends much of his
time devlslng how TO escape the
performance of his work; and there
are scores of instances, far too many
to be enumerated, of good Republi-
can clerks in the departments hay
ing been dismissed, without the
pretense of a complaint, to give
place to tritiing Democratic para
sites. Over three hundred Demo
Gratis have been appointed recently.
But the Democratic heads of De
partments have been wise anouph
to retain some Republican officials,
so that the change in the quantity
and quality Of the work performed
is noticeable only to careful OBJ
server
Money! to I ,O9n