St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-10-16
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From Our Regular Correspondent.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4th, 1886.

tjnguisled by nothing momentous or
sensational. The President and his
Cabinet, with the exception of the
Secretary of State and the Secretary of
the Treasury. are now in Washington.
Ii is understood that Mr.. Manning will
resume charge of the Treasury portfo-
Ito early next week. Never before has
this great department been managed
with such economy and systematic eff
cheney as under its present head. The
financial policy of the administration
has met the approval of all political
parties, and last month the National
debt was cut down $11 100000. Intelli-
sence from all sources indicates gen
eral revival of business, and the gloomy
predictions of Sherman, Blair and other
Republican Virgins, that Democratic
success would mean National bankrupt
cy are now derided by their recent
dupes. The indications are very clear
that before the two and a half remain
ing years term of the present admins
tration are concluded, the afore- men
toned Virgins will be brought to fur
Their confusion. Much has been done to
simplify the complicated and ponderous
Civil Service establishment which the
Democrats came into after twenty five
years of Republican mismanagemcnt[
and debaucllery, but there is time to
accomplish much more. Mr.. Benedict's |
first move was to discharge over three
hundred employees and nobody in
Washington is surprised to learn that, |
Daladoxical As it may seem, more and |
better work is accomplished with the |
reduced force. The condition in which |
MIR. Benedict found the Government |
Printing Office proves cOnclusively that |
the change was not made to soon. Peo- |
pie who had any chance to observe the |
inner workings of this great establish |
nent, have long known that the reputa- |
ton for efficiency obtained by Public
Printer Rounds was myth created by |
the little mutual admiration society he
had collected about himself. The fact |
that when he stepped out he was spend
ing each day about twice as many
dollars as Congress had appropriated to
run the office leaves nothing further to
be said.
The Mass. Civil Service Reform Asso-
citation has written to the President
asking for list of all those appointed
to positions in all the departments un-
der the Civil Service law, embracing
the state each appointee halls from and
their politics, together with their ages
and general character. Upwards of
thirty clerks have been employed for
some days in completing the list which
will contain about $50 pages of legal
cap. No one except the President
knows what is wanted with the list. 4
member of the Cabinet said to-day that
he supposed the Association desired to
know how the Civil Service law is re-
spected, and eff it does not suit the
ideas of the aesthetic reformers will
not be surprised to hear that the Asso-
citation has issued a proclamation to the
President directing him to remedy what
they think are evils" 1t has cost the
Government, clerk hire about $3.50, to
prepare the list.
In the Postofice Department, which
includes by far the largest number of
unclassed employees, the offices appear
to be about equally divided between
Republicans and Democrats. In the
Department Of Justice some sixty per
cent Of the unclassifed employees are
Democrats, while in the other Depart
ments the proportion of Democrats is
less than half-in one case
not more than ten per cent.
The fiction that Senator Sherman and
other Republican orators are proclaim
Ing from the stump that the present adj
is hostile to the Union Vet
Grams can be easily refuted by figures at
the Pension Office. The statement that
the Confederate element is beginning
TO dominate the Pension Bureau" is a
lie out Of whole cloth. There are en-
plcyed at present in the Pension Bureau
$50 clerks from the Southern States.
Of this number 278 are shown by the
official records to have been appointed
by the previous administrations aud
only SO by Gen. Black. These SO clerks
were appointed after examination by
the Civil Service Commission, and as
the age limit-forty five years-is still
in force, but very few Of the number
conld possibly have seen service in the
army. As matter of fact,
but five of them were ex-Confederates,
while sixteen ex-COnfederates were
appointed by former administrations.
The recent appointees from the South
are young and energetic men of the
new generation that has sprung up in