Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-03-18

| Sontdin innumeraDie letters begging fOr mis- In
| huence to get an Office. but if his popularity is
| on the wane at home these letters will become
few. He can tell when the bosses have de-
cided to put him out by the fact that no man
will think his influence worth asking for. Thus
1t happens that the man of experience in pub
lie life, while he hates to be bothered with ap-
plicants for office, breads still more to have
them leave him, for when the latter event oc-
ours he realizes that his days Of political exist
ence are numbered"
us this universally the case?" was asked.
well, no." replied the ex-senator: .'but il is
sufficiently the case to be accepted as a rule.
| There are, however, instances Of public men
| who come upon the stage with the announce
ment that they will recommend no man for Of
flee. and these intrepid spirits receive little
trouble from the hungry and thirsty among
their constituents, and again there are reckless
| or careless statesmen who don't care whether
| they are reelected or not and who won't help
| the ambition of their constituents, and these
men ara soon found out and let alone. But
both OF these men play game that is against
them. They sometimes win and win glori-
| ously but more often they are turned down
| after one term"
SENATOR EDMuNDs' CONSERVATISM.
An instance OF a man who rarely recon-
mended men for Office was Senator Edmunds
| of Vermont He was a Senator for many years
and always kept himself free from the dicta-
ton Of his constituents, but he had a very con-
| sentative constituency, and they treated him
well. Not expecting anything they were never
disappointed. and tine legislature Of the state
was in such good order that it simply kept on
re-slecting year after year and gave itself no
trouble. In the same way the careless man
who does not care whether he is reelected or
not often gets a reelection simply because he
does not try to procure what SO many others
are striving for
If any man ought to know about Office seek
ing 1t Is q Senator, and If any man ought to
know what Office seekers are like it is q resident
OF Washington. This magnificent city Of ours
has the finest parks and streets in the world
and 1t may also boast Of the most complete and
varied assortment of Office seekers on the face
OF the earth. Not even China with its million
candidates for one small Office can compare
with Washington, for there all the Office seekers
are OF one nationality. while here they are Of
every nationality. There is always the Ger
man who must be appointed because he is a
German and can catch the German vote; there
is the Swede who demands recognition because
he has never allowed himself to become any
thing but Swede, has surrounded himself with
none but Swedes and has kept these Swedes, as
Swedes, In a compact body so that they have
voted together a unit The glory Of the
variety Of our interests is beautifully illustrated
by the Office seekers.
CLASSES AND RACES TO BE SATISFIED.
Germans and Swedes must be appointed be-
cause Of the German and Swedish interests;
bankers must be appointed because OF the
financial interests of the country; clergymen
must be recognized to satisfy the churches;
farmers must have Office because Of our agri-
cultural interests; manufacture must be taken
care OF because Of the manufacturing interests
All OF these classes are subdivided and the sub
divisions demand their share. Horse raise-s
put forward candidate; produce merchants
have favorite son; the collarmakers will wilt
and fall if one Of their number is not honored,
and the tailors declare the styles will not change
unless the government absorbs one Of their
number into Its ranks. Lawyers back up law
yers. doctors back up doctors. Where are the
dudes IN this arrangement? Why. the man
magnificent dudes swoop down. like bright
and demand con.ula.es, Missions
and secretaryships Of legation, and they de-
mand them because they are dndes. There are
strange CO Atradictions involved in this system
Of Office seeking. missionary wants little
berth abroad because he is a good Christian,
and on the same day the President is requested
to appoint Mr.. Solomons or Mr.. Isaacs because
he is q good Hebrew. Just think of the SYM
pathy and many-sided phases Of the Presidents
character. He receives, say, twenty appli-
cants for Office in a day, and during that time
he has been called upon to have all the feelings
Of a German, Frenchman. farmer, a mcr-
chant. a Christian and Hebrew. He has also
been expected to share the solid comfort of q
millionaire who wants foreign mission because
he is rich man, and the grinding care Of
wretched pAuper, whose wife and family will
starve unless he has place in one Of the de-
partments.
THE DREADFULLY POOR MAN.
SIN your experience" said the writer to the
ex-senator quoted at the beginning of this
article, (which class of Office seekers is the most
disagreeable?"
THE dresdfully poor man." he answered
when the poor wretch writes to me unfolding
his misery and misfortune 1t is bad enough.
Here can comfort myself with the reflection
that he may not be speaking the truth, and, at
any rate, poverty is much easier to look at BY
letter than 1t is when actually before my eyes.
But when the man comes and appears before
me saying he might well starve in Washing
ton as anywhere else, and has been able to bor-
row little money on the strength of my encour-
aging letters, and will wait here and do what
ever may be necessary to get the place he
wants-then it is hard on the public man whom
he depends upon. have had one or two such
men fasten upon me in the course Ut my career,
and they haunt me yet. One was poor fellow
who wanted to be . messenger, and his only
claim was that he needed the money. He was
slow and stupid, but he was needy. Iapplied
high and low. but every vacancy was filled.
told him to wait and he waited, but he came
to see me nearly every day and grew
visibly emaciated before my eyes. I
gave him money and he took it. but
1t was clear to me that I couldn't 60
on supporting him forever. So I grew
desperate aud made superhuman efforts to get
him place. As he grew more hopeful he be-
came moro intimate and used to call on me
just at the time was in the middle of dinner.
To 60 out in the hall and see his hollow cheeks
always destroyed my appetite. I haunted the
departments to such an extent that one kind
Secretary dismissed man from the force to
make way for my retainer. I thought was
rid Of him, but in two weeks he succeeded in
getting dismissed and came back on my hands
| again. The whole thing had to be gone over
with once more. landed him In S6O0 year
place, where he had nothing ON the face Of the
earth to do but to 81: in q chair all day and look
| in front Of him when he wasn't reading the
newspaper. But inside Of q month he quar-
! relied with another man, whose duties were the
| same as his own, over q question Of right OF
way In the matter of the newspaper. They came
| to blows and my man was bounced again. II he
had only taken to drink could have abused
him and cast him Oh, but his habits were ex-
| emplary. I got him back again and the next
time he was discharged was out of town and
whom came back to tho Senate he had gone
away. don't know what has become Of him.
I have never dared to inquire I Am nov in
private life. Perhaps he went homsAnd worked
against me-"
WILL GET sLAxxD AxywAf.
| Nov, tins experience Il hardly worse than
the experience Of most public msn. The worst