Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-10-09
wAs.nncros LETTER.


sensational. The President and ais Cabi-
net, with tho exception Of the Secretary
Of State and the Secretary Of the Treas
ury, are now in Washington. It Is I'M
derstood that Mr.. Manning will resume
charge OF the Treasury portfolio early
next week. Nevsr before has this great
department been managed with such.
economy and systematic efficiency 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 wrs cut
down IL 100000. Intelligence from all
sources indicates q general revival OF
business and the gloomy predictions OF
Sherman, Blair and other Republican
Virgins, that Democratic success would
mean National bankruptcy are now de-
rided by their recent dupes. The in
dications are very clear that before the
two and a half remaining years term Of
the present administration are conclu.
ded, the aforementioned Virgins will
be brought to further confusion. Much
has been done to simplify the compli-
Gated and ponderous Civil Service estlb.
lishment which the Democrats came
into after twenty five years OF Republic
can Encouragement and debauchery.
but there is time to accomplish much
more. Mr.. Benedict's first move was
to discharge over three hundred en-
ployes and nobody in Washington is
surprised to learn that, paradoxical as
it may seem, more and better work is
accomplished with the reduced force.
The condition in which Mr.. Benedict
found the Government Printing Office
proves conclusively that the charge
was not made too soon. People who had
amy chance to observe the inner work
ings Of the great establishment, have
long known that the reputation tor ef-
ficiency obtained by Public Printer
Rounds was myth created by the little
mutual admiration society he had col
lected about himself~ The fact that
when he stepped out he was spending
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 AS
ISOLATION 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. A
member OF the Cabinet said to-day that
he supposed the Association desired to
know how the Civil Service law is re-
spected, and "if it does not suit the
ideas OF the aesthetic reformers I will
not be surprised to hear that the asso-
ciatiorfhas issued 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 Post Office Department, which
includes by far the largest number OF
unbiased 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 all the other De-
partments the proportion OF Democrat
is something 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
ministration is hostile to the Union
Veterans can be easily refuted by fig.
ures in the Pension Office. The state.
ment that the Confederate element il
beginning to dominate the Pension
Bureau is lie out OF whole cloth.
There are employed at present in the
Pension Bureau $50 clerks from the
Southern States. OF this number 27s
are shown by the official records to
have been appointed by the previous
administrations and only SO by Gen.
Black. These 50 clerks were appointed
after examination by the Civil Service
Commission, and as the age limit-for-
tv-five years-is still in force, but very
few of the number could possibly have
seen service in the Confederate army.
As matter Of fact, bu. five OF them
were ex-Confederates, while sixteen ex-
Confederates were appointed by former
administrations. The recent appoin.
faaa from, tho go,,th a ra ,,ou,,c, aoI a..