The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-05-21
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our Regular Correspondent

Nrrou our REGULAR COrrcbpOnuentD
WASHINGTON, May 9TH, 1886.
\ great deal OF complaint is heard
from different directions about the dila-
toriness of congress and nothing is more
common than to hear members them
selves, with degree OF disgust, express
the opinion that little will be done this
session beyond the passage of the nee
essary money bills. But congress is not
entirely ut fault in this matter, although
it is the custom and fashion to say SO
and think 30. Some of our lawmakers
on Capitol Hill are greatly to blame for
Incidence and Indifference, but they are
not all incompetent or inefficient or
wantonly negligent.
A prominent western representative
remarked few days since that congress-
men had become merely the clerks of
their constituents to do their bidding,
and he said ''be the Civil Service law a
good thing in itself or otherwise, it has
done nothing towards saving our time
for Legislative business.
1t is frequently urged that the great
trouble is that the House of Represen-
tatives is such large and unwieldy
body that it is impossible to transact the
business brought before it with dispatch
There are so many self-constituted pro-
tectors of the established order of things,
that every proposal for anything like a
<I, llaa OF OF IN
counter. But as for the size of congress.
the French Chamber of Deputies and
the English House of Commons are
much larger bodies. and yet they have
no difficulty i'll accomplishing their
work.
One of the chief troubles is that the
home constituencies of the House are of
such size and such persistency that
members are greatly pressed for time
to look after their manifold and mex
orable wants. The correspondence of
members is largely on the increase and
the requirements of their constituents
are imperative on both sides, notwith-
standing the change of Administration.
The postmaster of the House of Rep
resentatives says the mails for members
eraging ID 600 letters daily. This lis an
average of forty letters per member but
i'm fact some members get but few let
tiers, while others often get several hun
dred communications in one day. Near
ly every pensiOner, or wOuld-be PEN
i sioner now has his or her member to at
tend to the business, and in some in
stances, constituents even get their
members to make the collections for
them. A Southern representative who
receives large mail was asked what
they all had to write about. He said
the bulk of his letters were applications
for offices and recommendations of in
terested friends; that there were a num-
Der of men i'm his district of whom he
never heard or seen around on election
DAYS, who thought all they had to do to
get offices was to secure his endorse
ment,
Representative Curtain, the old war
governor of Pennsylvania, has great
amount of work to GO through in this
line. Pension cases come to him for at
tention from all over the country for he
| hao tho reputation of looking out for the
old soldiers whenever called upon. He
has the undivided time of a stenograph-
er, and at times needs other clerical as
sistance, although he is himselfa rapid
and hard worker.
Gen. Ben. LeFevre, of Ohio, also pays
and the sending out of deeds. dOcu-
ments, etc., to his constituents. He has
the name of every resident i'm his dis
trict and an office where his clerks have
opened books on which these names
are recorded with whatever is sent to
each one. The General also keeps set
of pension books i'm which are entered
the names of all claimants who have
sent their cases for attentiOn-without
fee, of course, and to this business he at
tends daily after congress adjourns.
Speaking of pensions reminds me that
tunnellng under the Civil Service law
has made him the most popular Demo-
cratic official in Washington among the
hungry spoilsmen. He has adopted Il
system by which he actually appoints
the assistance of the Civil Service Com
mission. When vacancy occurs in his
office, the G. S. Commission is requested
to transmit to him the names of three
or four candidates who have passed the
Civil Service examinations. The Civil
Service rules do not allowa candidate's
politics to be questioned, but Gen.
Black institutes quiet inquiry by call
ing for their papers which show from
what states and towns candidates come.
Then he consults the congressman rep
resentIng their respective districts as to
their politics, and if they are found to
be Democrats, one is selected for ap-
pointment. If they should all be Re-
publicans, the Civil Service Commission
is called upon to send another list of
names until Democrat is found.