Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-09-25
JOHN SMITH.

JOHN SMITH.
His Budget from the Capital -
Short Stops.
Special Correspondence of tho ISrER.OcEAN.l
WAsHiNGToN, Sept. 2O.-The city is as
dull now as it ever was in the summer,
and maybe a little duller. Before this
truly good administration came into
power the clerks, chiefs and heads Of
bureaus used to think, read and talk
politics. They had word from their
friends all over the country and this is
splendid place to feel the public pulse.
Nowadays everybody is afraid to think
and very few are bold enough to talk
and say that his.soul is his own. Thus
has reform seized the very intelligence,
will and entire manhood of the govern
ment employees. Chief clerks act as
spies and brother clerks act as detectives.
Sneaks there are in departmental as
we'll as in business life.
The general land Office has the best
working clerks in this city. They are
still hard at the patents, trying to catch
up with the work which IS so far behind
OH account of the asininity Sparksy. 1t
is q pity that that old dufrer couldn't be
compelled to sit at a desk day and night
all during the summer with pen in hand
working to catch up with his own WORK.
Instead of that he is off ga~livanting
around the land and getting rested for
another onslaught upon the settlers,
while his clerks are working like beav-
ers to make good his errors and fool
methods. Ibelieve That the clerks could
do twice as much work as they are doing,
although they are busy, if they had
George Engle here to swear for them.
If they could raise a fund and give En-
gle a good fee and have him come on
and stand in Sparks room and damn
every day for al hour, the clerks would
be happier and they could work faster
and more easily.
Mr.. Secretary Bayard must bring his
man Sedgwick home and put him in
hook. He is one Of the worst of all the
bad breaks this administration has made
in the matter of selecting men for offices
Of responsibility and important trust.
Mr.. Sedgwick has had u glorious drunk
in Mexico. He travelled there at the ex-
pense of the United States, and then got
beastly drunk at the expense of the
Jockey club in the City of Mexico. lie
decorated himself with paint and then
decorated the town with some paint that
was left. He wound up in a house Of
prostitution, and if he has a wife with
long finger nails he will probably remain
in Mexico. If Mr.. Bayard could have
found any more continental ass to send
to Mexico, I suppose he would have
sent him. But Sedgwick is probably the
most thorough ass in the country.
The new public printer is here and is
getting familiar with his Office. lie is
we'll spoken of by those who have known
him for years, but it is the judgment Of
your modest scribe that MI. Benedict
will turn out Il failure. lie went into
the office and Mr.. Rounds had prepared
for him a great many statistics which
would assist HIM in becoming familiar
with the vast business of the government
printing Office. Mr.. Benedict did no
accept the work, and gave MI. Rounds
to understand that all he wanted was fol
him to vacate his desk and let him have
it. Mr.. Benedict seems to be n o
those fellows who "know it all" from thu
start. Such men are failures. They
cannot be or become great in any sense
:, I have told you several times, ant
shall probably mention the matter sew
eral times more, that the Washington
. negroes are a lot of criminals of the wors
sort. Freedom they translate to meal
r license. They are liars, thieves, villains
l cut-throats, pick-pockets. They are
+ pest to the city and a disgrace to the ma
t ton. This city ought to have not les
9 than 1000 well drilled policemen, an
they ought to be instructed to shoot an
: club every negro found guilty of a heir
Gus or criminal offense If caught in tn
act. He should not wait to have hin
g found guilty by a court In other words
g a little lynch law would do W~ashingto
s negroes more good than the law, whic
v is made for civilized people.
The theatre season has opened, an
= we are having quite a gala time ever
p evening. Opera and drama have com
to us, but we await the coming of col
rs gross to bring us both tragedy and con
edy. Congress will be a comedy. tia
= ways is. And the presence o: thos
u comedians in this city always bring
n Barrett and the other ~tragedians.
IS The divorce mill ground out seventee