The Osceola times., 1886-10-16
WASHINGTON LETTER
From onr Regular CORE. poadent }

WARRINGTON, ID. C., Oct. II, 1886.
This is the busy season in the De-
partments at Washington. The heads
Of divisions, The chiefs of bureau and
Cabinet officers are preparing their
annual reports. The President is
writing his message. The Govern
mental history of the year must be
epitoinizcd; the balance sheet must
be struck of, and the chief executive
must suggest, by way of rec"mmen-
cation, the measures he will sane
ton, provided they receive the APP
proval Of legislation. All the mem
bers OF the Cabinet, except the Sec
retary of State, have returned. Mr..
Bayard was shrcwd enough to post
pone his vacation until autumn and
is now resting away from the city
during the season which, in Wash
ington, Is most trying to the corpus
humans.
Extracts from the reports Of yari
ous Government officials prove by
i'rcfutable figures that the present
administration has saved the Gov
eminent millions Of hollors. Tha,
the public Offices are better kept and
that public work is better done is
not so susceptible of mathematical
demonstration; but it is fact patent
to every one acquainted with the
public service. During the past two
weeks over five hundred useless ON.
ployes have been discharged from
the government printing office alone.
Notwithstanding this great decrease
in the iorcc, the work of the Office
has not been impcdcd. The public
land commissioner, General Sparks,
says in his annual report, "The de.
velopment Of the past year under the
agencies of the new administration
have justified every word said in my
report for last year in regard to
widespread, persistent land robbery.
The report states that tho total area
over which fences have been or arc
to bc removed either with or without
resort to the courts is 2,7l4,026 acres,
mostly in Colorado. The recommen.
dation for an additional force of not
less than one hundred special agents
is renewed, as is also that in regard
to adequate means for protecting the
timber on the public lands. About
l7o, 900 acres Of land have been re-
stored for public settlement; I,4S5
cases, involving 2?5,00O acres, have
been held for cancellation.
President Cleveland is more spar
ing than any of his predecessors were
of the appropriation made by Con-
gress for the contingent expenses OF
the White House. The con,ingen,
fund covers stationery, kilograms
books for library, purchase OF new
carpets and furniture, cost of keep.
ing carriage and horses, etc. The
appropriation for Grants last Prcsi.
dental year was only $4,000, and
Grant spent every cent. Hayes, n,
the end of his first year in the Whit,
House had an unexpended balanc,
of 10 cents out of a contingent iunC
of $1,000. For his last year he had
a contingent fund Of $4,000, out ol
which he saved $50. Arthur manar.
ed to save only 1896 out of the So.
600 contingent fund OF his first year
and that was the lar rest balance he
had OIL hand at the end of any veal
while he was the occupant OF tn,
White House. Mr.. Cleveland saved
$2,34S,Sl during his first year ont o.
q contingent fund of $1,000.
| Without an act Of Congress the
Secretary of the Navy cannot abol,
ish q bureau or organize ono. But
he can distribute the work and trans.
fer some of it from one bureau to an.
other. One Of the man features o
Secretary Whitney's plan of reor,
ganization, as submitted by him to
Congress, would be bureau nf sup.
plies, hat is, a bureau which woalo
do all the purchasing for the en,ir.
Navy Department. Another woult
be 70 arualgamate several bureau,
20 that every caro- involved in the
construction q ships would BE- CON