Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-04-16
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

customed 10 addressing empty
chairs. however, and the General
took it in good part. Looking
around at the vacant seats he said
| there seemed to be but little reason
for making a speech to so slim an
audience, but he would proceed to
soliloquize for awhile for the benefit
of the Congressional Record.
The prospect is that Congress
will last as late as August, The
work of the session in the House is
unusually far behind for this period
of the year, and those who know
best thinl, it will not be possible to
finish it before that time. If the
Democrats had n good, strong,
party lef der in the House, he could
have that body ready for adjourn
ment hy the first OF June. But
every question that comes mp now
excites frivolous debate which no
one seems able to suppress. The
changes in tue rules from which so
much was hoped at the beginning
of tie session have not worked adj
vantageously for business, and the
calendar is becoming more and
more clogged every day.
| asked a Senator who was speak
inc about the sham economy of the
new Administration, if the House
would engage in a quarrel with the
Senate as to the number and sal
aries of the Senate employees. or
course, replied he, the same farce
will be enacted this session as for
many sessions past. The House
will pass a bill making its own es-
innate of the needs Of the Senate.
Then the latter body will add to
the bill what it wants and there
will be a discussion as to the inc
qualities of salaries. The Senate
will agree to equalIze things by
raising those Of the House employ
ees, and will finally get what it
asks.
The Senators all think they
should be allowed private secre-
tary to be paid ont of the public
Treasury. Many of them employ
one which they pay out of their
own purses and in addition have a
stenographer to assist with their
business. A Senator said, "The
public is not aware of the extent of
public work an industrious Con-
gresham has to perform in the way
OF correspondence and department.
al business for his constituents
Neither do they know what it costs
one to live here who pays any re-
gard to the dignity Of disposition
lie said his expenses here during a
session were largely in excess of
the yearly salary he received. He
happened to be rich enough not
to want the Government to pay for
his clerical work, but he held that
there we're many who could not af-
ford to pay for theirs and we're
compelled to do so much of the de
tail and drudgery of a Congress
mans life, in no way connected
with legislation, that they had lit
tie time to give to the real duties
for which they were sent here.
There is a representative in the
House from North Carolina, Mr..
Bennett, who expects to win great
applause down South by an attack
he has made on civil service and
everything like the merit system.
Like Senator Vance he has castl-
gated the President for not turning
Republicans out more rapidly. 1t
is difficult to see what instigated
Senator Vance's recent famous on
slaught against the civil service law
since so many members of the
Vance family are IN Government
employ.
Hon. w. w. Phelps of New Jer-
sey has expressed himself in adj
vance regarding the new tariff bill
which is now ready for the House.
He was speaking Of the apprOprla-
ton for the foreign mail service as
one of the few progressive meas
ures that a Democratic House had
permitted vote to be taken upon.
TO be sure, he said, Mr.. Morrison
had brought in a bill reducing the
tariff 20 per cent. in order that the
Democratic party which had clipped
20 per cent. from the poor mans
dollar, might clip 20 per cent. from
the poor mans pay.
We have just been subjected 20
| another Monument scare. Quite
an excitement was created by a ru.
NOR that the Washington Monu.
ment was cracking, presumably
from settling Of the ground
Many persons in different parts OF
the city leveled their opera glasses
on the threatened structure. The
supposed cracks were at a point
800 feet from the ground, but they
were not cracks at all. They were
only streaks of cement made more
plainly visible by the recent rains.
The explanation Of the streaks be
ing seen only near the top is that
in the haste to complete the monu-
ment the workmen neglected the
cleaning process to which the rest
of the structure had been subjected.
The iron stairway to the top OF
the Monument is now practically